I wanted to offer you all a little good news about this economic turmoil we are all going through, and that good news is, that you can relax and turn this into a positive experience! Let me explain how.

I know that my house fluctuates in value. But I don’t stand in front of my house month-by-month or day-by-day, let alone minute to minute watching a ticker-tape of my home’s value going up and down. We all know that house values fluctuate, especially during a natural disaster like a hurricane or an earthquake. But because I have no knowledge of the actual decrease, I don’t think about selling my house as it decreases in value. I think, instead, that I’ll be in my house for a long time and the house value will recover over time. Thankfully, there is no one to tell me how much my house is worth on a daily basis! Knowing that information would, at best, ruin my sleep and at worst, provoke me to react in a financially self-destructive way.

Unfortunately, the information on the daily movements of my investment portfolio IS available to me. Most of my money invested in the stock market is there to cover my expenses in the next 15-50 years; therefore, for some reason I think it’s critical for me to know how my portfolio is doing minute to minute. When I log on to financial websites or listen to the news with up-to-the-minute information on the market, the news has the illusion of being useful. And the media is being paid by advertisers to convince us that the information IS relevant.

The stock market is doing its best to provide a daily appraisal of the value of thousands of public companies. But we’re currently in the middle of a financial hurricane. We all know it’s unwise to sell a house in the middle of an actual hurricane, like Katrina. So why would we sell our stocks in the middle of a financial hurricane? History has always shown us that we must wait for financial storms to subside before the markets will fairly appraise our homes and portfolios. Once the storms subside and the skies clear, the public, acting as an appraiser, is able to restore normal valuations.

It’s simple : keep your money diversified and take advantage of opportunities as they arise. Some of the richest people in the world made their money by staying centered and awake during the darkest days of a storm.

Author's Bio: 

Spencer is the author of The Cure For Money Madness (Broadway Doubleday '09 ), a guide to overcoming the distorted childhood perceptions of money which poison relationships, impede intimacy, and interfere with our making money as well as enjoying the money we have. Spencer is also the co-creator and co-leader of the Financial Intimacy and Freedom Workshop. Learn more at www.financialintimacy.info.

Spencer was named one of the top 100 wealth advisors in the United States by Worth magazine in 2005-2008. (He was named by Worth to their list of top 250 advisors in 1999 and to their list of top 300 in 1998.) Bloomberg Money Manager listed him as one of their top money managers in 2005, 2003, and 2002, and Medical Economics listed him as one of the 150 best advisors for doctors in 2004, 2002, 2000, and 1998. He was also named by the Philadelphia Business Journal as one of the top 40 under (age) 40 business leaders in Philadelphia in 1999. Spencer is a member of the Social Venture Network as well as the Social Investment Forum.

A few of his areas of expertise are philanthropic and charitable planning; generational planning; cash flow and "second half" planning; creating low-cost,tax-efficient, low volatility investment portfolios (including socially screened portfolios); couples and money, and business consulting.

Spencer was born and raised in New York City. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Brandeis University in 1983 (Phi Beta Kappa), an M.B.A. in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1987, and the CFP® designation in 1990. Since starting his firm in 1987, he has been widely quoted in the financial press and on television. He co-leads workshops for couples and singles called "Financial Intimacy and Freedom." He has created presentations on "Increasing Philanthropic Contributions of Your Clients" and "Transforming Our Money Conditioning." Spencer was selected to write the chapter "Money: the Surprising Aphrodisiac" in an anthology on relationships with Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, Scott Peck, Thich Nhat Hanh, and others.

Spencer has appeared on CNBC's "Make Your Money Work" with Bill Griffith, and on Philadelphia's "NBC 10 News" where he cut up his credit cards on the air.