Trade the FEAR, Trade the VIX

Does the Volatility Index (VIX) belong in your investing portfolio?

The flood of articles advising us to sell or buy is confusing to say the least and the conflicting advice may lead to inaction. Every day I see articles breathlessly informing us “He called the last Bull/Bear market and this is what he says now….”. There is no shortage of experts who called it. It seems half the Investment Advice industry is calling for a crash the likes of which would make our Depression Era grandparents cringe and the other half claim the Bull market is just getting started.

Understand the Investment Advice industry is just that, an industry and one that thrives on fear. They make money by inducing us to change investments. Fear of losing it all, or Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) two emotions that we are hardwired to grab our attention. But that doesn’t mean that one of them isn’t right.

I am a long term investor, I have a steady strategy that has been crafted over 40 years of investing. https://medium.com/@rjames.clarke/in-40-years-of-investing-this-is-what-ive-learned-5d2be8fe090d

I practice a buy and hold strategy and over the years this has worked very well for me. Not sexy, not exciting, but it works. But I do cringe when the market has a steep one day decline. Who doesn’t say to themselves, if I sold yesterday I could pick up a…