Sirens blare, charts nosedive, group chats melt down—welcome to April 2025’s tariff tantrum. If your gut is doing backflips, congratulations: you’re human.

Here’s the five‑part survival kit I keep taped above my desk and across my car windshield, forged from past freak‑outs and a lot of (emotional) scar tissue.

1. Don’t slam the sell button.

Panic‑selling is like smashing your phone because the battery’s low—you’re left with a busted phone and no charge. History says the crowd that bailed never beats the folks who stayed strapped in.

Keep a 3‑to‑6‑month cash cushion, re‑read your goals, and shut off the doom‑scrolling for 24 hours. Clarity beats adrenaline every time.

2. Fortify your financial castle—diversify

Utilities, cereal makers, and boring old materials stocks? Not sexy, but when tech dives 40 %, these defensive walls shave the damage by a third.

Sprinkle in some Europe or broad emerging‑market ETFs so one country’s drama doesn’t sink the whole ship. Then rebalance: trim winners, top‑up laggards, repeat. It’s housekeeping for portfolios.

US tech etf:

vs European equity ETF:

Notice the difference?

3. Buy the dip… with a teaspoon

$4.7 billion rushed into equities on one ugly day this month—and prices kept falling. Timing bottoms is a mug’s game. Instead, drip money in weekly or monthly.

Only use spare cash; emergency funds and margin loans stay locked in the vault. Think six small scoops, not one cannonball. Patience tastes better than regret.

4. Low‑cost index funds: the Costco of investing

Why pay hedge‑fund prices for index‑level returns? ETFs charging 0.02 % give you thousands of stocks in one swipe, spreading the risk and beating most active managers—especially when fees bite harder in down years.

Vanguard’s VTI is basically the whole U.S. market in a lunchbox. Cheap, cheerful, compounding.

5. Make Uncle Sam share the pain

Got losers? Sell, bank the loss, and use it to erase capital‑gains tax or $3k of ordinary income each year. Losses carry forward forever—like frequent‑flier miles for bad trades.

Just dodge the wash‑sale rule: swap the S&P500 for a Russell 1000 fund, chill 30 days, then swap back if you must. Free money, legally.

Bottom line

Market panics test nerves, not IQ. Stick to the script: curb emotion, spread bets, add steadily, slash costs, harvest losses.

Do that and the next headline‑induced nosedive becomes a clearance sale, not an obituary for your portfolio. Buckle up, stay weirdly calm, and let time do the heavy lifting.