I read loads of stuff about the stock market every day. There are experts putting both sides of the argument. Shares are cheap and will go higher. The recession is going to be long and deep and shares will go lower.

The cop out is the long view as in, I haven’t a clue what shares are going to do next week or even next year but long-term investors should hang on. The advice in the personal finance columns not to panic sell at the bottom has been relentless almost since the crisis began.

Sometimes though it is right to panic; that would certainly have been the appropriate response for passengers on the Titanic because a few hours after the ship hit the iceberg it sank and everybody left on board died.

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