Investors should keep calm and carry on

Geopolitical crises always make the headlines. But as John Stepek explains, investors shouldn't get too caught up in the drama.

858-rain-634

How prepared should you be for the future storms?
(Image credit: Credit: Blend Images / Alamy Stock Photo)

With US president Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong-un at loggerheads, markets are struggling to price in potential nuclear confrontation. So what can past periods of conflict teach investors about dealing with geopolitical strife? The closest parallel in terms of the stakes (a nuclear confrontation, rather than a "conventional" war) is perhaps the Cuban Missile Crisis, which barely rattled stockmarkets.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
John Stepek

John Stepek is a senior reporter at Bloomberg News and a former editor of MoneyWeek magazine. He graduated from Strathclyde University with a degree in psychology in 1996 and has always been fascinated by the gap between the way the market works in theory and the way it works in practice, and by how our deep-rooted instincts work against our best interests as investors.

He started out in journalism by writing articles about the specific business challenges facing family firms. In 2003, he took a job on the finance desk of Teletext, where he spent two years covering the markets and breaking financial news.

His work has been published in Families in Business, Shares magazine, Spear's Magazine, The Sunday Times, and The Spectator among others. He has also appeared as an expert commentator on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, BBC Radio Scotland, Newsnight, Daily Politics and Bloomberg. His first book, on contrarian investing, The Sceptical Investor, was released in March 2019. You can follow John on Twitter at @john_stepek.