This week, we’re going to be talking about what everyone likes to talk about. The dreaded stock market crash. I’m sure we’ve all met this type of person. Whether it’s predicting the end of the world or predicting the collapse of the economy, they say it every year. They’ve been telling you for the last 8 years that the stock market is going to crash, it has to! It doesn’t matter that they’ve been completely wrong 100% of the time thus far, all that matters is the “I told you so” moment they will have the year that it does happen.

They suddenly forget the fact they were wrong for so long and get tunnel vision on the time that they were right. The fact is, you can’t predict a stock market crash. I see a lot of conversations on the internet and social media about people who are choosing to stay liquid because of this impending doom economists and investors are talking about. Unfortunately, if you’ve been listening to them for the last 8 years, you’ve missed one of the biggest bull markets we have seen in a long time.

The stock market will enter a correction, or even a bear market one day

This is a well-known fact. There will be a time when stocks fall, whether it be a 10% correction or a 25% bear market. But the fact is, none of this matters if you simply invest in solid, profitable, long-lasting companies.

For example, you invest in a blue-chip giant like TD Bank (TD). The doomsday predictors are right in 2018 (finally) and the market falls 40% by years end. You’re nervous, you’re anxious, but you’ve done your research. TD Banks earnings haven’t dipped and their dividend is still increasing. What do you have to worry about? If anything, you should be doing anything you can to buy up more shares at their current price.

Have a look at the financial crisis of 2008 and how the big Canadian banks came out of it. A smart investor would have been buying these companies up as fast as they could, while a naive investor would be avoiding the stock market like the plague. If you were one of the smart ones, it wouldn’t have taken you long to recoup all of your money that you invested pre-crash. As for investing during the crash, an investment in TD bank during the crisis of 2008 would have doubled your money within a year. Why? The same reasons listed above.