Media Bias with Scott Hinde
Clients always approach me and ask me, “Don’t you think the world is crazy? Are you sure we should be investing?”
And I tell them, “The world is always crazy. It’s just the media that makes things seem even more crazy than they are at times.”
I’d like to take a minute to just talk about the bias of the media. You have to realize the media is not there to educate you or to help you reach your financial goals. The media is there to get eyeballs, to sell advertising.
So, if you go into it as you watch the news or you read Internet articles with that in mind, I think it helps to put things in perspective. When the markets are in turmoil, the media loves to use words that provoke fear, like “The market crashes,” “The market plunges … dives,” “The Federal Reserve increases interest rates.” They try to evoke fear, and that causes you to want to watch more. Again, it solves their issue as far as getting more advertisers.
What we try to encourage clients to do is to look long term — look at their long-term goals and not pay attention to the day-to-day fluctuations in the market and especially what the media is portraying to try to get you to be fearful. The main thing is to focus on your long-term goals and be prepared for the certainty of uncertainty, which we know is going to happen.