A year ago, the answer would have been easier. But today’s market has most advisors and analysts bamboozled—anyone telling you they are 100% confident in a decision is lying.
This shift isn’t because they are bad at their job. The variables are simply too complex and unpredictable for a professional to offer a simple recommendation.
A monthly poll from WMIQ Advisor Sentiment Index that gauges financial advisor feelings on the market found that 43% of respondents expect the markets to decline in the next six months. Only one-third believe the economy is in a positive direction. Long-term sentiment is optimistic, where more than half think that both the markets and economy will improve in 12 months or longer.
But feelings on the future are not facts. They are forecasts. Even optimistic advisors are planning for risk to better protect clients from losses.
So, what does that mean for investors, savers, and retirees today? When looking at how to invest in a volatile market, we need to backtrack and consider what investing was like in more stable conditions.
The capital marketers is an ecosystem of bonds and stocks. Bonds and fixed income are generally easier to research, monitor, and forecast—they are mired in math. When the economy shifts, anyone with a working knowledge of interest rates and bond pricing can understand whether it makes sense to buy, hold, or sell in their situation.
The stock market, however, has always been different. Over the decades, it became clear to me that the stock market matched the economy less and less with each year. Warren Buffet and William Graham’s concept of investing in well-performing companies no longer applied. It was not obfuscated by hype, manipulated numbers, and industry bubbles.
Still, there were some indicators advisors might rely on to provide strong recommendations: Inflation, geopolitical events, supply chain disruptions, and similar events. Relative stability in the market made this possible.
Today’s financial markets are different, and so is the economy. While stocks and economic property (or decline) aren’t necessarily linked, the two still offer insight into financial realities. Below, I’m going to give the top three reasons investing today is a different playing field.
It’s challenging to get a clear view of the economy because number integrity is now questionable.
President Trump fired the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner after a negative employment report. But even if current numbers are correct, they aren’t confidence-inspiring. By the end of March 2026, we had significantly dismal numbers:
Twenty-five percent of unemployed people have been jobless for 6+ months.The only events with higher numbers are the Great Recession and COVID. Outside of these exceptions, people are jobless longer now than after every recession dating back to 1950. In addition, the unofficial unemployment rate is 4.3%, it only counts the labor force and not individuals that have given up on finding a job or are working part-time and want full-time work. The number then doubles to 8%.
These statistics don’t even include those working multiple jobs to make ends meet, or those underemployed.
If 8 million people were job searching in 2025 and only 118,000 jobs were created, what does that say about the real economy? Even if stocks go up for a day or a week, we’re seeing tangible difficulties that have not yet translated into market dips.
However, knowing the on-the-ground number allows us to better access risk for when the economy and stock market collide.
Investor sentiment in the market has always been emotional. Fears of economic downturn, eagerness for gains when a new innovation enters the fray. Emotion often dominates stock market gains and losses. Today’s market takes this behavior to a new heights of unpredictability.
Never before has the stock market been so dependent on words and off-hand comments. I’ve never experienced a market so volatile that a single word from the sitting president transforms market sentiment—either for better or worse.
It’s impossible to give accurate advice or predict stock market valuations when performance depends on how a public personality believes things will go—often with a positivity bias towards his own policies.
A key component of any Republican platform is deregulation. We’ve already seen that this is a core goal of current SEC leadership—albeit, this is more muted than other financial regulators. For example, while the SEC plans to reduce disclosure requirements, it is extending regulation for cryptocurrency and fraud mitigation.
However, we have seen interest in banking deregulation, with the administration interested in decreasing the requirement for banks to hold onto extra capital. This “excess capital” is actually a buffer in case of instability, meant to help banks remain solvent.
Lower safeguards increase risks to investing in the market, thus increasing volatility and causing many investors to look at more conservative portfolios.
Despite newer risks and shifting financial markets, investing is still cemented as the best way to save for retirement and offset inflation. Market-related assets like a 401(k) and Roth IRA aren’t going anywhere.
However, for more peace of mind, some mindsets and planning fundamentals will have to change.
Volatility is a factor of life for many investors in this era. We cannot expect strong returns, and if interest rates are forced lower, so too will CD and fixed-asset rates decline. This means fewer conservative options for assets. While no advisor should mismatch client risk tolerance with portfolios, options may become scarce and investors should consider repositioning their financial plan to deal with risks and potential losses. I’m not writing this to elicit panic, but to urge caution.
One way investors can improve their resiliency during volatile periods is to strengthen their emergency accounts and liquid cash. This means using high-yield savings or cash management accounts to offset inflation without hindering access to money.
Cash management accounts (CMA) are not banks. They do not lend your money out. For that reason, they are less susceptible to defaults. Many offer functions of a bank, however, such as providing a debit card and check book.
Don’t try to time the market is timeless advice, especially when it comes to portfolio management. More now than ever, it can be helpful to consider long-term investing over short trades. However, depending on market shifts, you should be open to selling and reinvesting earlier than expected—given the volatility, it’s best to have a long-term plan with some flexibility. Having a loss limit will help.
Similarly, diversification matters more than ever right now. This doesn’t just refer to stocks or indices, but overall asset classes. Having an array of different asset options can mitigate losses and help you weather the storm.
Your risk level may change more rapidly. Job loss, early retirement, return to work from retirement, weddings, new children or grandchildren, inheritances—all of these impact how much risk you are willing to take in the market. Do a self-check-in every quarter or six months to determine if you are still aligned with your portfolio allocation.
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