At Oxford Financial Partners, our fundamental belief is that it’s never “different this time.” Our longtime clients, going back a decade or two, could have cried that the sky was falling on any number of occasions – and sometimes that is what seemed to be happening.

The reassuring answer comes in the actual client experience. Consider people who retired in the mid-1990s. Think of the distressing events in the news since then. In the late ’90s, portfolios were booming during the run-up of the dot-coms and tech stocks. Then came the tech stock meltdown and the 9/11 attacks. Later in the decade came the housing market crisis and recessionary upheavals as the economy contracted and jobs vanished. We saw some truly troubling times. But where are those retirees today?

If they had a sound plan and followed it, they could withdraw income regularly, and they still have more money today than when they started their retirement. Remember those five words of wisdom: it’s never different this time.

Things Aren’t Getting Worse

Things are pretty much better than ever before in the history of the planet. Yes, some people are still hurting and need our help, but the vast majority of Americans wake up each day with a roof over their heads, clean water and more than enough to eat.

We need a healthy dose of gratitude for how great things are today. How soon, as a society, do we forget the trials faced by those who went before us? There are still plenty of people alive who recall the depths of the Great Depression, the food rationing of the Second World War and the atrocities of a world in turmoil.

Today’s challenges are real, but they are hardly worse than what we have managed to endure. We came through our troubles then, and we thrived. We always come through stronger and full of promise. Such is the cycle of humanity. And such is the cycle of the markets.

The fifth principle of Power of 5 Investing is not just that it’s never different this time. Underlying all of this is a fundamental belief that things always get better. Interested in learning how to take advantage of this truth with your investing? Get a copy of Power of Five Investing today!