Third Verse, Same as the First

I didn’t start playing guitar until I was about 40 years old… but I played a mean air guitar growing up. During my teen years that often meant jamming to the Violent Femmes while riding around in my best friend’s bright red Honda CRX with the windows down and the system up.

I was recently messing around on my now real guitar (sorry Rosemary!) with “Prove My Love” by the Violent Femmes when one line really jumped out at me.

“Third verse, same as the first!” yells lead singer Gordon Gano.

Then he sings the first verse again… same exact words, same exact music.

It brought back lots of great memories… and it also made me think about the news lately.

• War.
• Higher prices.
• Economic uncertainty.
• Market volatility.
• Chaos in Washington.

For retirement savers, it can feel pretty unsettling.

But it’s nothing we haven’t heard before.

Last year when tariffs were announced and markets got jumpy, we had the same conversations. And before that it was inflation… and before that COVID… and before that the Great Recession… and before that war in the Middle East… and in between, a whole bunch of things we don’t even remember anymore.

The headlines change. The story really doesn’t.

And our response always stays the same.

• Keep saving.
• Stay disciplined and diversified.
• Tune out the noise.
• Don’t make emotional decisions.
• Think long term.

Not exciting advice… but it’s proven to work.

So if the headlines have you feeling a little uneasy right now, remember something:

You’ve heard this song before.

Third verse, same as the first.