URBANA, Ill. (WAND) – The rules of investing in the stock market are fairly simple: buy low and sell high.
However, after some fluctuating numbers in the stock market, there have been some wariness about people choosing to invest or not.
“You see it going really far down. You see it rebounding the next day. What’s the source of that uncertainty? I think it relates to the policy environment in the United States, explains William Ridley, an Assistant Professor at the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
President Donald Trump’s decisions on tariffs have made things more difficult for businesses, and in turn, has created weariness for investors.
“It’s that uncertainty rather than just the tariffs themselves, that I think is driving so much of this economic malaise,” says Ridley.
Ridley believes that if there were more consistency in some of the new tariffs and policymaking, that would be able to help resolve some of the concerns people have with the current stock market.
Not only can this uncertainty affect how you invest, it can alter the worth of your current investments, including your 401k.
“If the stock market does enter into a correction or a long term downward trajectory, I think that could affect folks, their ability to retire. They might have to push retirement by a year or two, depending on what the stock market is doing, depending on how their 401k is doing,” says Ridley.
However, unless you are retiring in the near future, Ridley says that it’s best to keep investing in your 401k, instead of taking money out of it, and risking it being taxed.
“You don’t want to take money out of your 401k if it’s going to incur an early retirement penalty. Nor do you want to stop putting money into your 401k because regardless of what’s happening in the short term, with these fluctuations and things going up, things going down. In the long run, the stock market tends to move in one direction, and that’s up,” said Ridley.
For those who are interested in learning more about the stock market, and potentially even beginning investing, look below for some locations that offer investment advisors.
Northwestern Mutual in Decatur
Rooted Wealth Advisors in Springfield
Holder Wealth Management in Champaign
University of Illinois Community Investment Advisors in Champaign
Some other brokerages that tend to be popular include Vanguard, TIAA, and Edward Jones.
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