Big end-of-summer sale on Wall Street

Yesterday’s stock market news had a familiar ring to it: The Dow plunged 469 points, or 2.8 percent.

And the reason for it also had a familiar ring: Continued unease over China.

So the only real question here is, when you get your August 401K statement in the mail in a few days &#8212 should you open it or just burn it and go get a drink?

The stock market has been like the kind of roller coaster where they forget to let you off and keep sending you around.

CBS business analyst Jill Schlesinger says we had it coming.

“This is the payback for having a fairly calm last couple of years,” Schlesinger said. “So the real key here is to not react emotionally.”

Jill is absolutely right, but it means you have to ignore your monthly statement. It’s like trying to ignore the check engine light.

So let’s seek out some encouraging voices on the issue, such as Ben Willis from Princeton Securities, who says there is nothing wrong with the U.S. economy.

“The United States is doing just fine, thank you, what we’re seeing is the effect from foreign markets. But I think that creates a buying opportunity for the long-term investor,” Willis said.

Of course, I find that as one gets older, one’s definition of “long-term” changes considerably.

But what he’s saying is, look at this like a sale sign in a store window.

“The same way that you wait for a sale at Macy’s or the supermarket, when you know one of the best companies in America is trading at a discount, that is when you are supposed to be adding to your position, not selling it,” Willis said.

So even though the market is down 8.5 percent in the past month, instead of saying to yourself, ‘Oh my God, I just lost 8.5 percent of my money!’ You should say to yourself, ‘Wall Street just handed me a coupon for 8.5 percent off everything in the store! I can’t wait to go down there and buy some!’

And then burn your August statement and go drinking &#8212 responsibly, of course.