Scary Times: Three strategies to reduce your anxiety

Lately, clients have been coming into my office and expressing shock and awe at how well their portfolios have done. I’d love to take the credit, but for the most part it’s been due to a mismatch between reality and a perception caused by media coverage. Things just aren’t as bad out there as you might believe if you based everything on what you heard in the media.

Never in my life have so many people sat in my office in despair and with a deep sense of anxiety. Even when Covid hit, I did not see this much angst. Tariffs, trade wars, regular wars, cell phone and laptop searches, border woes, fear of detainment, on and on the list goes. In no way do I diminish these. They are all cause for real and legitimate concerns. But maybe they are causing too much fear.

Just recently (on April 4) the CNN Fear & Greed Index hit the most extreme level of fear that I personally have ever seen it hit. The CNN Fear and Greed Index is used to gauge the mood of the market with zero signalling maximum fear and 100 signalling maximum greed. While it can’t predict the future movement of prices, it is a way to gauge whether stocks are fairly priced. What should our response to this onslaught of dire news be? I’m a financial guy, so my normal response to that comes from a financial perspective. And so, I quote Warren Buffett, who said in his 1986 Chairman’s letter for Berkshire Hathaway, that it’s wise for investors “to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful”.

On a non-financial level, it’s somewhat more challenging. I’m honestly not really sure what our response should be. I do, however, know a few responses that we shouldn’t have. On a deeper, frankly far more important level, we know that “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Tim 1:7) and that “there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” (1 John 4:18).   

We know that the “treasure in our heart” shouldn’t be our money. But that may be easier to say than to do. Especially for some. So here are a few tricks that have worked for me and some people I know. They may not all work for you but give them a shot; try them and see.

1. Start by asking God for help.
   1. Acknowledge your fears in prayer and ask God to free you from them and to give you wisdom. Be prepared to take steps on your own as well, though.
2. Next, give some thought to what you should do.
   1. Ask yourself or your advisor (financial or otherwise), “what’s the realistic worst-case scenario here, and in your opinion should I take any reasonable steps?”
   1. Just don’t look. Turn off twitter, facebook and the news. Or at least limit it. It can be very difficult to stop engaging, but it can also be very freeing.
3. And, finally look at how you can change how you think.
   1. Focus on the good things in life rather than the not-so-good. Be thankful. Every day remind yourself multiple times through the day to find something to be thankful for.
   1. Reframe your thinking. Don’t focus on what is happening now. Focus rather on how far you’ve come. For example, instead of looking at your investment return YTD, look at it since the beginning of 2024. Or maybe even since the time you started to invest.

I should acknowledge here that for some people there is more to it, and they need medical help. If you are having a really tough time reframing your thinking; if your fear is debilitating or you sense that it’s becoming problematic, you may need to share your anxiety with your physician. Fear, depression and anxiety can be caused by chemical imbalances in the body and may require medication.

It’s clear that God did not intend for us to live in fear. For most, for the vast majority of us, our fears are first world problems. While I don’t want to diminish the feeling of the fear, I do want to diminish the import of it. Most of us could lose half of our wealth and still be far better off than 90 percent of the rest of the world. According to an old 2018 Credit Suisse report a net worth of $93,170 US is enough to make you richer than 90 percent of the people around the world.

So, no matter what happens… fear not, rejoice and be glad.

“Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.”

• 1 Peter 5:7 (NIV)