The pitfalls of making decisions based on emotion, particularly fear, in the context of market fluctuations, are discussed. Panic can arise from sudden economic downturns, such as a recent market crash in Japan. Decisions made without adequate information and driven by high emotions often lead to regret. Staying calm, avoiding rash actions, and consulting financial advisors for informed choices is emphasized. Practical advice includes not hoarding supplies unnecessarily, referencing past panic buying behaviors.

The importance of managing stress and focusing on controllable factors is highlighted. Limiting exposure to fear-inducing content, especially on social media, and maintaining emotional stability to prevent health issues related to stress is recommended. Using current events as learning opportunities to better prepare for future uncertainties is encouraged. Additionally, there is potential for finding opportunities during economic chaos, urging a proactive and rational approach to navigate through challenging times.

Highlights of the Podcast

00:23 – Emotional vs. Rational Decisions

01:06 – Practical Advice on Market Panic

01:48 – Economic Function and Preparedness

03:05 – Managing Fear and Stress

04:25 – Rational Financial Planning

05:43 – Long-Term Perspective

06:22 – Opportunities in Chaos

08:02 – Conclusion and Final Advice

09:32 – Final Thoughts

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:04] So in case you guys are not aware, Japan’s market crashed. A lot of.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:10] People are on the internet talking about how.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:12] Today’s a horrible day. Our market’s.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:15] Going to crash and everything is the.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:16] Sky is.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:17] Falling, and it’s going to be the worst thing ever. And we’re all going to die and be horrible. Terrible.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:23] Okay. Maybe, I don’t know. Maybe you should sell your stock and buy crypto or real estate or gold or. I don’t know. What I do know is that typically rash decisions based entirely on emotion and not in a factor are almost always bad decisions. Like, I very rarely hear, you know, someone telling.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:43] Their story and they’re like.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:45] I had no information. I had a ton of emotion, I was horrified, I was terrified, I made giant, rash decisions. And it was the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life. Typically not what we say. So again, you know, if things are starting to kind of go sideways, which, I mean, in life, they’re going to, I mean.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:06] Things you or sideways.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:08] And, you know, with the economic function.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:12] Lots of people talking about it going sideways regardless.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:14] So maybe that’s what’s going on. But.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:18] Making overly rash decisions with everything. Like I’m sure you will talk about online.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:25] Probably, probably not a great idea. So, as you guys go through today, if you have, you know. Doing something needed.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:35] For mental clarity and mental peace is great. I’d like to tell you guys that you’re not going to need 400.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:42] Cases of toilet paper.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:44] Remember, there’s not really a secondary market for toilet paper.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:48] So we don’t need to see that again. Paper towel is also not a secondary market for. So, you know, filling your house with paper towels and toilet paper is probably not going to be the best option. Food does go bad. So I’m always a big fan of, you know, having enough food and.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:02:07] Supplements and water and toilet paper and stuff to last a little while. I think that’s correct. Like, you.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:02:12] Know, you have enough. Okay. We use X amount a week. So I might get 3 or 4 x. Great, great. You know, you have some in storage. Fantastic. Way to go. Peace of mind. You guys are fantastic. However, the sandy with the wet wipes and the the toilet paper and the paper towels and the cleaning products and. Okay. Let’s see. Let’s, let’s let’s look back. Not that long ago, couple of years ago. And look at the insanity in the.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:02:46] Panic that was caused by all of that. And nobody had paper towels or, you know, toilet paper for weeks.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:02:53] So. Again. Was there a secondary market where the.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:02:57] People who bought all the time, they were super glad. Six months later they bottle that who they were. My guess is not.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:05] So yeah, now it’s a paper good.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:07] So we just kept it around. Maybe you just had told everyone, like seven years. Great.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:12] However, again, making giant.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:15] Rash, life altering decisions.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:19] With very little.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:20] Information and lots and lots of emotions.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:22] Specifically, fear.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:24] Is really bad. Now remember.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:25] This is an election year, and this is not just.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:28] A normal election year.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:29] This is a crazy election year. And every time we have an election year, we have crazy things happen. And so I suspect that the crazies.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:38] May turn it all the way up to 11 on everything from.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:41] I mean, how many election year did you guys know, really, with the prime candidates is almost always assassinated. I don’t remember one of my lifetime. It’s kind of an interesting thing. The crazies.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:54] Turn up to 11.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:55] So, you know, maybe stay off social media. Or maybe you just take everything on social media and you turn it down. I just. 50%. Right. The crazies turn the crazies down 50% and breathe. This goes back directly to the.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:11] Old thing of how much control do I have over the situation, and how much should I worry about it?

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:16] If you have zero control. You shouldn’t be worrying about it. You’ll put it, you know. Don’t pay attention to it.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:23] Put out your mind to whatever you can.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:25] You know, like whatever it is. Now, I’m not saying not do anything. You know, if you’re if you’re worried, call.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:31] Your financial advisor, call your stock guy, call your, you.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:34] Know, call the people who know and come up with a metered.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:38] Rational, logical response.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:42] That’s always a good idea.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:43] You know, hedge your losses. You put your, you know, put your better sales and put your, you know.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:49] Put your barriers.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:50] In.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:51] And be cool. But. You know the other side of that.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:56] Try not to go a little bit bonkers on it. A lot of the stuff you guys are not going to be able.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:00] To control, but you’re going to be able to worry incessantly about incessantly worrying about anything causes all kinds of local issues. The stress causes all sorts of issues. Systemic issues got issues, digestive function issues.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:14] It’s going to spike your cortisol. And again, cortisol is not bad.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:18] But it’s the reason your body space.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:20] The cortisol because everything else gets.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:22] Shut.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:22] Off. And the cortisol is kind of like bubble wrap.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:25] So you’re going to have all these things happen. But if it’s outside of your.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:28] Control, there’s nothing you can do to make it go left or right or up or down or anything. All you gotta do is worry about it and damage your health, and make rash decisions that are going to affect you and your family. I would highly recommend that you guys take a breath and try to figure out what to do.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:43] If you don’t have a plan in place already for anything. Take this as a time to go. Ha!

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:49] You know there’s probably going to be natural disasters. Hopefully never in my lifetime.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:54] To my to me, my house, to my family. There’s definitely going to be economic.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:58] Ups and downs because that’s a thing. If you live long enough, you’re going to see horrible things. You’re gonna see great things.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:04] You know, the, oh.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:06] Wait was not great for a lot of people. But we did pretty well between oh eight now. And so we have another horrible downturn.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:14] It’s going to get better. The, the stats I’ve seen, and I have not vetted this, so it could be completely false. But the stats on the millionaires.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:22] Created during the depression.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:25] Was huge. But the thing is, is that whenever.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:28] There’s chaos, which there’s chaos.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:31] Right now. If you can figure out how to settle the chaos.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:35] You’re going to do pretty well. So if you’re entrepreneurial.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:39] You know this thing might not be.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:41] The worst thing for you. There’s a lot of stories I have heard where people said everything around was falling apart, and I decided to take it upon myself and take the personal responsibility for me and my family. And so I, you know, opened up a business or I changed careers or I did this thing and now we’re, you know, successful and, you know, financially secure and all those things.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:01] So, you know, if you look at if you look at the chaos and you go and there’s like chaos and turbulence over here in.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:08] America, I know a lot about, I can really step into that and consult or create a product or do something.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:13] To help out smooth this chaos out. That’s that’s fantastic. So, you know, in the chaos, you can easily find a place for you to profit and, you know, really help a lot of people because that’s at the end of the day.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:27] That’s where the vast majority of profit comes from.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:29] Like if people complain.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:30] About Apple all the time, being so wealthy, quit buying iPhones. Oh, you love your iPhone and you really want the next one that comes out okay. Well then they’re providing a service you really want.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:40] So they’re doing you a favor too. So think of it that way.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:44] If there’s something like that.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:45] You see that people are having issues with, and there’s a big.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:48] Open market where a lot of people have a lot of need, then step in and market fill that need.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:52] Your help them.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:53] And if you charge properly for it, you’ll help yourself.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:56] So it could be a good thing. So keep your eyes out for that. But remember. Breathe like. Don’t make horrible, terrible, rash decisions. And if something happens, learn from it.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:08] Like if something does happen today or tomorrow, you’re like, oh man, I wish I would have.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:11] Great in the future. Make sure that you have this and put this plan in place.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:17] You know? I talk to a lot of people who’ve been since.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:21] You know, Covid have.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:22] Been slowly stockpiling, you know, supplements and, you know, lecture, food, lecture, you know, toilet paper and water and stuff like that.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:29] Fantastic. That was.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:30] Great. You know, they’ve learned from the last time things went sideways. And so, you know, running out and buying everything. Now probably not the best option.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:38] But if you have, you know.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:40] An extra thing of, you know, paper towels or an extra hanging toilet paper.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:45] Great. If you have no extra food.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:47] Great. You know, that’s what a lot of people have done. And if you did.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:51] That, you probably made some good decisions. So if things do.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:55] Go super sideways, as lots of people are saying. Learn from it.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:00] And try to, you know, make it through.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:02] It’s not the end of the world. It’s never really the end of the world, especially the financial. And you guys, there’s lots of ways out of it. So don’t. There was a lot of suicides, a lot of suicides during the, depression.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:13] The 20. So.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:15] Recognize there’s always a way back.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:16] But try to be. Try to breathe with the set of stuff. I’m not saying anything’s kind of happen.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:23] But there’s a lot of people who are out there saying it. And the problem is, is that there’s a lot of fear being brought up and built up and pent up for, you know, all sorts of different things.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:32] My guess is that if we start to have a bad day today, it’s going to.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:36] Drive fear, and the fear is gonna drive the selling and selling is going to drive the market down more, which is going to increase the fear. And we’re going to self propagate a major issue.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:45] And then we’re going to go down 2000 points.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:48] And then we’re going to be okay. But because of the fear now we go down a lot more.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:53] So you know watch your.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:56] Fear watch your decisions based off fear. And

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:00] Try to take a breath. So again, I hope this choke today is not that big of a deal.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:06] But everybody on the internet is freaking out about it.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:07] So take a breath. Keep your mouth.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:10] Keep your mind where it’s supposed to be. Recognize that if there’s a thing that you’re worried about that you have no control over, let it go.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:16] Just let it go because you can’t change it. There’s no reason to have an emotional turmoil about it that will then cause.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:24] You to do other.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:24] Things. Like, you can be worried about.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:26] This thing over here that you have no control over, and because your emotions got.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:30] Spooled up, now you’re anxious or you’re angry or you’re whatever, and then this thing that you do have.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:36] Control over, I don’t know, your kids or your friends or your your boss or whatever.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:42] We take it out on that. And that’s that’s definitely a horrible idea. So. Take a breath.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:48] And realize where we are. Worry about the things you can control and let everything else. Try to let everything else go to a degree.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:54] So again, I’m not saying do nothing. Just saying.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:58] Monitor and manage your emotional.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:11:00] State on this. Don’t make giant.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:11:02] Rash decisions based off.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:11:03] Fear. So all right, you guys have a good time. Thanks for your time. See you next time.

As always if you have any questions, please send them to [email protected]

Check out Chalmers Pillarsofwellness.com for Wellness updates! And ask me any questions you have at [email protected]. I answer all of them and look forward to hearing from you.

The Chalmers Wellness Stubstack just launched. Comment, Like, and Interact with other people on their wellness journey. Communities can make a difference.     DrChalmers.substack.com

Dr. Matt Chalmers

Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only. Before taking any action based on this information you should first consult with your physician or health care provider. This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health providers with any questions regarding a medical condition, your health, or wellness