Does Your Garden Die in Winter?

I was inspired by Nick Murray’s recent article of the same name to start the year with a reminder of the timeless truths of successful investing—truths that matter every year, but especially as we face a familiar onslaught of forecasts, headlines, and commentary that insist this year is different.

This message is not a prediction. In fact, the outlook for 2026 is positive. But most market disruptions are never predicted. What is predictable—and already decided—is what we will do: stick to your personalized plan.

Early in my career, these principles didn’t need constant reinforcement. Today, they do. Personal media algorithms are designed to capture attention through fear, urgency, and outrage. That means this battle must now be fought more steadily and more proactively.

Why? Because helping you stay on track toward financial independence—especially when it feels hardest—is the most valuable service an advisor provides.

The Big Secret: Defining the Real Enemy

Here it is, plainly stated:

Market volatility is not the enemy.

The permanent erosion of purchasing power is.

Volatility is not something to be avoided—it is the price we pay in the short term to defeat inflation and build lasting wealth over a lifetime. When we correctly identify the true enemy of financial freedom, a counterintuitive truth emerges:

What feels the most risky is often the most prudent.

What feels the safest can be the most dangerous.

What Is Volatility? Prices Swing, Value Endures

Stock prices fluctuate far more than the underlying value of the companies they represent. The primary driver of that volatility is not fundamentals—it’s human emotion, particularly fear and shifting attitudes toward risk.

Investors routinely mistake emotion-driven price declines for permanent damage to company value. This confusion is most dangerous during bear markets, when fear peaks and the four familiar words appear: “This time it’s different.”

History shows that these moments—when confidence collapses—are often exactly when long-term opportunity is being created.

Returns Are Born in Panic, Not Comfort

The most powerful long-term returns tend to begin when investors are deeply uncomfortable:

• $100,000 invested in the S&P 500 at the March 2009 bottom grew to over $1.1 million, compounding at roughly 16% annually
• Those returns were not earned by predicting the future, but by refusing to equate falling prices with permanent value destruction

Throughout my career, I’ve watched most clients white-knuckle through these periods with coaching and encouragement. Over time, they learn to acknowledge anxious feelings—without acting on them. They learn to spot the silver linings and use them to their advantage.

To borrow Warren Buffett’s analogy:

They run outside with washtubs when gold is falling from the sky—they don’t run inside and stick out a teaspoon.

Companies Adapt Even When Economies Struggle

Strong businesses behave like perennial plants:

• Earnings may decline temporarily
• Management cuts costs, preserves capital, reallocates resources, and continues to innovate
• Dividends are reduced only as a last resort
• Value is stored and preserved beneath the surface

Just as a garden doesn’t die in winter, well-run companies don’t disappear in recessions. They go dormant—and later grow again.

The Takeaway for Investors

• Volatility is normal; permanent loss is rare
• Price declines are not proof of value destruction
• The biggest long-term gains tend to follow periods of maximum fear
• Successful investing requires emotional discipline, not heroic forecasting

Temporary market declines don’t destroy wealth.

Capitulating to fear does.

That is an action—and a choice. Over the years, I’ve seen only a handful of investors make it. The outcome was almost always the same: regret and financial setback.

Investors who do the right thing during their first market downturn and participate fully in the recovery are very likely to be successful investors for life.

Content in this material is for general information only and not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results.

Securities offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advice offered through Western Wealth Management LLC , a registered investment advisor. Western Wealth Management LLC and Kennebec Wealth Management LLC are separate entities from LPL Financial.