The main point is that if you were terrified on the way down, last month and relieved on the way back up, you have just had your first real experience in market volatility. Last month we wrote about how our portfolio had collapsed by £183,167.

The lesson is not that markets always bounce quickly. The lesson is that you cannot know when they will, so you need to learn to stay in the game.

A fast rebound feels brilliant, but it can also make people overconfident. It can tempt you to think, “That wasn’t too bad”, or worse, “Next time I’ll sell at the top and buy back at the bottom.” Good luck with that.

Sometimes the market bounces in days. Sometimes it takes months. Sometimes it takes years. You do not get a friendly note from the stock market saying, “Don’t worry, this dip will only last eleven days, so pop the kettle on.” That uncertainty is not a flaw in investing. That uncertainty is investing and you get rewarded because you can with stand it.

If you are looking for an emotionally stable way of investing with no volatility then take the 3% your bank gives you. If you want to enjoy the higher returns the stock market produces over time then this is the cost!

You do not get the long-term returns without the wobble. Volatility is the price of admission to one of the greatest wealth-building tools ever created. Wanting stock market growth without market drops is a bit like wanting the fun of a rollercoaster with none of the drops. At that point, you do not have a rollercoaster. You have a disappointing train.

If you felt foolish for panicking last month, please don’t. The first proper wobble feels different when it is your money. Reading and learning about volatility is one thing. Watching your own account fall is another.

This all felt very familiar to us. Back in spring 2025, markets got rattled by the Trump tariff drama. Reuters reported that after the sharp drop, the market then surged when a 90-day tariff pause was announced, and by mid-May the S&P 500 (the index that tracks the 500 largest companies in the USA) had rebounded strongly from its April low. The exact headline changed, but the pattern was the same:

1. Trigger – something triggers the incident – tump traffic, war, pandemic etc.
2. Panic – the markets, the media, social media, everyone panics
3. Noise – there is a HUGE amount written online and the noise is deafening
4. Relief – the end of the world didn’t happen, we all get used to the new norm and things rebound
5. Repeat – we all feel a little relief and things go back to “normal” until the next trigger.

The pattern is worth remembering because the headlines will keep changing. Covid. Inflation. interest rates. tariffs. recession fears. politics. war. Different triggers. Same drama.

If you want to build wealth through investing, one of the most useful skills you can develop is the ability to recognise the pattern without letting it drag you around by the ankles every single time.

This is why Katie and I don’t read the news, we don’t listen to the media, we avoid as much of the noise and panic as we can and go about living our lives.

Absolutely nothing.

No panic selling. No emergency strategy meeting. No dramatic conversation about moving everything into cash. No pretending we are market prophets.

On the last working day of the month we updated the spreadsheet, noticed our net worth had risen by £211,344, and got on with our day.

That sounds simple because it is simple. It is not always easy, but it is simple.

Last month when the market dropped 7.1% we did nothing. We know through the data that the biggest increases in the market are normally closes to the biggest decreases and anything we do will likely damage our long term future.

This is one reason our monthly finance meetings help so much. We check in once a month, look at the numbers, talk about what matters, make any actual decisions that need making, and then go back to living our lives. We do not sit there refreshing the portfolio every six minutes like a squirrel on espresso.

Short answer: No.

Longer answer: Still no.

This is one of the classic traps. The market falls and people want to sell because they are scared. The market rises and people want to sell because they are relieved. No matter what happens people want to sell out so they don’t have to experience these emotions!

If you are asking, “Should I sell out now it has risen so much?”, the next question is, “What exactly are you going to do with the money?”

Put it in cash? Leave it in the bank earning less than inflation? Wait for the “perfect” moment to get back in? That turns one difficult decision into two. Now you need to decide when to sell and when to buy back in. That is not simpler. That is harder.

Our strategy is simple: invest forever and live off the growth.

That does not mean we think markets only go up, they are volatile but they do always go up over the long term. We believe the best place for our long-term money is invested in productive assets, not sat around trying to look sensible in cash.

Katie and I have no plans to sell off. None. Zero. Zilch.

If you are building wealth, the answer is keep investing.

If you are already living off your portfolio, you might choose to top up your cash buffer after a strong rise, especially if that is part of your plan. Have you got an investor policy statement? If you have this should have rules about when and how to make these decisions. If not then it might be a good time to write one and we did a workshop to help you. Write your first investor policy statement.

Topping up your cash buffer can be sensible housekeeping. But that is very different from deciding to sell everything because the market has gone up a lot.

There is no need to panic at the bottom. There is also no need to get clever at the top.

Invest like a dead person.

The real skill in investing is not predicting the next headline. It is not timing the market. It is not sounding clever at dinner parties.

The real skill is building a sensible plan and not doing anything daft when your emotions start shouting.

That is what this month was really about. Yes, the number was lovely. Yes, the bounce felt good. But the bigger lesson is behavioural. If last month frightened you and this month relieved you, that emotional swing is the lesson.

Markets do this.

You cannot demand certainty from an uncertain asset class. But you can learn to stay in the game. And that might be one of the most valuable financial skills you ever build.

Do not get too high. Do not get too low. Just ride the rollercoaster.

Sending love, peace and pineapples from Vancouver

Alan and Katie

PS: Rebel Finance School starts on June the 1st 2026. Our free 10 week course that gives you everything you need to create a bright financial future. Sign up to RFS here.

PPS: Tell us in the comments: did you feel scared during the drop, relieved during the bounce, or tempted to sell now it has recovered? We’d love to know what this month taught you.