The stock market is in a tricky place right now, and investors would be wise to start preparing for volatility.
Despite major market indexes like the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC), Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI), and Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) reaching all-time highs earlier this year, there’s no shortage of headwinds facing the market. Oil prices climbed to more than $100 per barrel, tariff battles are wreaking havoc yet again, and it’s becoming more likely the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates this month.
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Although stocks have been incredibly resilient through all of this turbulence so far, a bear market is inevitable at some point. Fortunately, decades worth of history prove that just one move can protect your investments.
What to do if the stock market crashes in 2026
When the market is tumbling, it can be tempting to either sell your stocks or stop investing altogether. The risk in that, though, is that while it’s certain a bear market will begin eventually, nobody knows when that might be.
Say, for instance, you had gotten out of the market in March. The war in Iran had just begun, and many investors worried that soaring oil prices would crash the broader market. Since March 1, however, the S&P 500 has climbed by more than 12%.
Because the market can be so unpredictable in the short term, trying to time it effectively is nearly impossible. Even if the market crashes later this year, history has proven time and again that it’s far safer to simply ride out the storm and stay invested for the long haul.
Say you invested in an S&P 500 exchange-traded fund (ETF) in January 2000. The market was soaring, investors were excited about the internet and its growth potential, and tech stocks were seemingly unstoppable. Then, just two months later, the dot-com bubble popped and sent stocks careening into a two-year bear market.
At the time, it may have seemed like a terrible mistake to invest in the stock market. It would take years for the S&P 500 to reach a new all-time high, and shortly after it did, the Great Recession began, sending stocks into a tailspin.
However, investors who stuck it out would have earned total returns of more than 750% by today. If you had invested $10,000 in an S&P 500 ETF in January 2000 and didn’t contribute another dollar after that, you would have about $85,000 by now.
