Market turmoil: Older investors aren't panicking

While most financial advisers agree that it's important to "stay the course" during a declining stock market, that's often easier said than done. But, remarkably, most people appear to be doing just that-staying put. A mere 8 percent of the 1,000 respondents to a phone survey conducted by the St. Louis-based financial firm Edward Jones said they had recently considered making changes to their investment strategy. Younger investors (ages 18 to 24) were the most likely to want to shuffle their investments, while an overwhelming majority of respondents over age 65 said they wouldn't touch a thing. Although the study drew no conclusions, it's possible that older investors have been through enough market downturns to understand that they're a normal occurrence and not cause for hair-trigger decisions.