Calls Pour in to Local Financial Planners

In the past couple weeks, the stock market has been on a rollercoaster ride that more resembles Valleyfair instead of Wall Street

On Jan. 26 the Dow Jones industrial average had a record high, but on Monday there was a 1,150 point free fall, the largest drop in six and a half years.

Prosperwell Financial analyst Nicole Middendorf is trying to put this “whiplash” into perspective.

“I wasn’t expecting that we were going to have a thousand points down,” Middendorf said. “But this is how it is. It’s a different market from the stand point of technology and things are moving that much faster. Corrections used to be months on end, Maybe now things are weeks on end.”

In the past couple days Middendorf has received a flood of calls and e-mails from clients. Many of them want to invest and put more money in the market. Middendorf believes that no one should panic and that a fluctuating Dow is the new normal. She says don’t make emotion-based decisions if you are doing long-term investing. Middendorf is also forecasting more peaks and valleys in the stock market.

“It’s going to be a rollercoaster,” Middendorf said. “Put your seat belt on and get ready. Maybe you have the ability take a little bit more active role in your finances or maybe not. But you either need to look at your allocations and see where you are and how well your money’s diversified, how are you going and how are you set up if we are going to have that continuous volatility.”

On Tuesday, the Dow Jones lost 567 points right after trading began, only to close with, coincidentally, a gain of 567, a 1,000-point swing.