Amid scary headlines of war breaking out in Europe and higher prices of oil and gas, it's best to sit tight, especially for individual investors, some experts urge.
Instead of making panicked moves in retirement and other investment accounts, financial planners said it is best to view these geopolitical shock events as short-term.
The biggest impact will likely be to oil and gas bills, said Tim Chubb, chief investment officer at Girard wealth management firm in King of Prussia. "Higher energy prices, more than trade, is where we'll see the impact for the U.S."
Geopolitical uncertainty has roiled the stock markets — measured by broad benchmarks like the S&P 500 index. The market had already crossed into correction territory — 10% below its January high — before Russia's attack and bombing of Ukraine.
Put simply, stocks are cheaper at the moment, and that's usually the best time to buy, said Chubb. Relative to their growth prospects, for example, "this is the most oversold we have seen technology stocks since 2014 and 2015."
"I always put more money into my S&P 500 index fund during market shocks like these," said Dan Young, who teaches finance and marketing to doctoral business students at Goldey-Beacom College in Wilmington, Del. "Stay invested. There is no need to make any drastic changes to an investment portfolio."
Wall Street is now watching to see if that will juice inflation even more, and prompt the Federal Reserve to reconsider interest rate hikes at its next meeting in March.
There's growing concern that cyber warfare — a Russian specialty — could be on the near-term horizon for U.S. companies, which could increase spending to prevent sophisticated cyber attacks against targets such as datacenters and networks.
