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As of November 21, the S&P 500 was down 5.8% from the record high set on October 29. The financial news media were full of opinions that the AI bubble had burst and that stocks were entering a new bear market. A 34% drop in Bitcoin helped fuel investor fears.

How far stocks will end up dropping, and when they will recover, are future data points. What you should understand is that, despite the “bubble is bursting” sentiment, stock market declines can always be viewed as opportunities to pick up shares of the stocks you like, while they’re “on sale.”

According to the Charlie Bilello blog, there have been 31 times since the bottom of the 2009 bear market that the S&P 500 has declined by more than 5%. Five times, the drop was more than 20%. Another six were between 10% and 20%. All of those market pullbacks were scary for investors who don’t understand that declines always pass and the market always moves to new record highs.

In the spring of 2009, the S&P 500 stock index stood at less than 700. On November 21, the index closed at 6522—an almost 10-fold increase over 15 years, despite 31 periods when the market went down enough to scare many investors.

The reality is that if you can buy shares when the financial media is screaming about a pending market crash, you will grow your wealth faster than even a long-term buy-and-hold strategy.

My investment services focus on building a stable, growing dividend income stream. Dividends are predictable, even when share prices are not. However, investing to build your income naturally leads to taking advantage of market pullbacks.

When you buy shares of a dividend-paying stock that has dropped in price, you immediately increase your income, and with the share price down, you are investing at a higher yield.

I like to tell my subscribers that if you manage your investments to grow your dividend income, your account value will take care of itself. An income-focused investment strategy automatically leads to looking for stocks on sale when the market declines. Doing that builds your long-term wealth.

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