Legendary Investor Warren Buffett Wants You to Read This Poem When the Market is Tanking

Well let’s face it, 2018 wasn’t the best year for the stock market. A lot of ups and downs and on Monday the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost over 520 points while the S&P 500 fell 2.1%.

This could become the worst December performance for both, that is since the Great Depression of 1931.

One person, who is known for making good investments as he’s one of the richest men in the world is Warren Buffet. According to the leader of Berkshire Hathaway, during times of such volatility, it’s better to remain calm. In fact, he has a poem he refers to when it comes to what someone should do in a downturn.

The poem is Rudyard Kipling’s “If–” and it goes as follows:

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs …
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting …
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim …
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you …
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it.

According to Buffett, market downturns are something one cannot avoid.

He said, “Berkshire, itself, provides some vivid examples of how price randomness in the short term can obscure long-term growth in value. For the last 53 years, the company has built value by reinvesting its earnings and letting compound interest work its magic. Year by year, we have moved forward. Yet Berkshire shares have suffered four truly major dips.”

Buffett argues that these downturns “offer extraordinary opportunities to those who are not handicapped by debt.” Which is another lesson he has: Never borrow money to buy stocks.

“There is simply no telling how far stocks can fall in a short period,” says Buffett. “Even if your borrowings are small and your positions aren’t immediately threatened by the plunging market, your mind may well become rattled by scary headlines and breathless commentary. And an unsettled mind will not make good decisions.”