--- title: Dealing with market declines is all about perspective - The Hustle description: Morgan Housel shares a simple framework for dealing with volatility. image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/358765513-HS-News-Brief_2022-04-22T004200.062Z.webp --- # Dealing with market declines is all about perspective ![Morgan Housel](https://53.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/HubSpot%20Media/Blog%202021/Images/Nav/Optimized/TheHustle_Icon_Dark.svg) [Morgan Housel](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/morgan-housel) [Morgan Housel Twitter profile ](https://twitter.com/MorganHousel) Published: April 22, 2022 Updated: October 11, 2023 If the stock market falls 10% — which it just about has in recent months — there are 2 ways to view your losses: ![Dealing with market declines is all about perspective](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/358765513-HS-News-Brief_2022-04-22T004200.062Z.webp?width=595&height=400&name=358765513-HS-News-Brief_2022-04-22T004200.062Z.webp) 1. As a **fine**. A fine means you did something wrong. You’re in trouble. You made a mistake. Shame on you, don’t do it again. 2. As a **fee**. A fee is just a cost you pay to get something nice in return. You’re not in trouble and you didn’t make a mistake. You’re just paying the normal cost of admission. #### **Virtually all market declines are fees** Stock markets are capable of generating wealth over time, but the gains aren’t free. You have to pay the cost of admission, which is a constant chain of volatility, uncertainty, and the occasional big decline. But so many investors view declines as fines — indications that they did something wrong. They set out to fix the problem by trying to learn their mistake or find someone to blame, or worse, selling. They think they’re doing the right thing. But so often, they’re doing the investing equivalent of canceling their vacation when they find out the hotel charges a reasonable and affordable fee. #### **Everything nice has a price…** … and the key to a lot of things with money is just figuring out what that price is and being willing to pay it. The trick to investing is convincing yourself that the fee of volatility is worth it. That, I think, is the only way to deal with volatility — not just putting up with it, but realizing that it’s an admission fee worth paying. Topics: [Money And Markets](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/tag/money-and-markets) ## Follow us on social media prev next - ![Brrring back the deals: Will the IPO and M&A markets warm up again?](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1202313201-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Icy_market_20230731220127-2.webp) ### Brrring back the deals: Will the IPO and M&A markets warm up again? - ![The Dow index got a makeover. What does it mean?](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/994075186-image2.1.webp) ### The Dow index got a makeover. What does it mean? - ![Not those credit default swaps again…](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/579444392-HS-News-Brief_2022-10-04T003345.619Z.webp) ### Not those credit default swaps again… - ![Are we caught in a ‘bear market trap’?](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/983943560-HS-News-Brief_2022-08-24T010440.901Z.webp) ### Are we caught in a ‘bear market trap’? - ![Digits: Crypto ads, Kilimanjaro, and more](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1878566330-HS-News-Brief_2022-08-22T022519.255Z.webp) ### Digits: Crypto ads, Kilimanjaro, and more - ![Where the heck is all our change?](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1195165163-HS-News-Brief_2022-07-08T015933.353Z.webp) ### Where the heck is all our change? - ![Bear and bull markets, explained](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/838202858-HS-News-Brief_2022-06-14T235333.337Z.webp) ### Bear and bull markets, explained - ![Zelle is a hotbed for fraud — and banks aren’t helping](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/906221785-News-Brief_2022-03-10T010459.015Z.webp) ### Zelle is a hotbed for fraud — and banks aren’t helping - ![The federal government is mulling a digital dollar. Why?](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/724625103-News-Brief_2022-03-07T031726.163Z.webp) ### The federal government is mulling a digital dollar. Why? - ![How do gas station ATMs work?](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/908114786-News-Brief_2022-02-21T064644.310Z.webp) ### How do gas station ATMs work? Pop up for Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Get the 5-minute news brief keeping 2.5M+ innovators in the loop. Always free. 100% fresh. No bullsh*t. JOIN FREE ### 100% Free CRM Nurture and grow your business with customer relationship management software. Signup for a free account Close modal ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Morgan Housel", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/author/morgan-housel" }, "datePublished" : "2022-04-22T07:44:35.000Z", "headline" : "Dealing with market declines is all about perspective", "image" : [ "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/358765513-HS-News-Brief_2022-04-22T004200.062Z.webp" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/04222022-market-volatility", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject" } } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "#article", "@type" : "NewsArticle", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Morgan Housel", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/morgan-housel" }, "dateModified" : "2023-10-11T20:07:55+0000", "datePublished" : "2022-04-22T07:44:35+0000", "headline" : "Dealing with market declines is all about perspective", "image" : [ "https://7355427.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/7355427/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/358765513-HS-News-Brief_2022-04-22T004200.062Z.webp" ], "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 112, "url" : "https://fs.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/Blog%202021/Images/Logos/HubSpot%20Logo%20112X112.svg", "width" : 112 }, "name" : "HubSpot", "sameAs" : [ "https://www.facebook.com/hubspot", "https://twitter.com/hubspot" ], "url" : "https://www.hubspot.com" }, "speakable" : { "@type" : "SpeakableSpecification", "xPath" : [ "//title", "/html/head/meta[@name='description']/@content" ] } } ```