What to Do Now If You're Losing Sleep Over the Stock Market

Congratulations! If you're reading this, it means you're alive and that the stock market volatility over the past month hasn't put you in an early grave. Or at least it hasn't yet.

Let's call it a victory. Frankly, we should take what we can get. The U.S. stock markets just finished their worst week since the 2008 meltdown and are on track for their worst December since 1931, when America was in the pits of the Great Depression. The Nasdaq is already in a bear market, having dropped a little more than 20%, and the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index is just 2 percentage points away from joining it.

A 20% drop is psychologically jarring. But a little perspective is needed here. As of Friday's close, the S&P 500 has been knocked back down to May 2017 levels.