The most disturbing part of this whole market debacle is that I am getting calls from friends who have lost well more than 6 figures from their retirement accounts.

In my book “Plant Your Money Tree-A Guide to Growing Your Wealth,” I quote Suze Orman’s mantra of “buy and hold (stocks) is the way to go.”

However, I also reminded readers that “an old buy-and-hold mindset is no longer necessary when you can track the phase of what you bought.”

And herein lies the problem. Orman came out last week to tell folks it’s time to buy more stocks.

Meanwhile, the media touts the end of the world as we know it.

Hope, fear and greed aren’t investment strategies.

Between the irresponsible and the irredeemable, there’s a happy medium.

I read this today from Danielle DiMartino Booth: “The expectation: inflation will vanish. That’s what bond yields & inflation expectations are saying loud and clear. The risk is that we will see inflation as certain goods become in short supply. COVID is both a demand AND a supply shock.” 

Her comments come on the heels of what I thought late Tuesday: But what has held and could complete the “flation” part of the stagflation scenario?...It also could be the start of what we are already seeing from the human “psyche,” like the hoarding of toilet paper: The rising awareness that if food production and distribution begin to seriously falter, raw materials (food) prices will skyrocket.

At the risk of sounding like your mom when she says, “I told you so,” phases are key.

My "Economic Modern Family" flashed caution phases 3 weeks ago. I wrote, interviewed and tweeted about it. (My "Economic Modern Family is one index and five sectors that "define" the U.S. economy. Click here to learn more.)

Caution phases, historically, are the time to start managing your portfolios and retirement accounts by selling not only the weakest holdings, but also seriously paring off your stronger ones too.

The public sells the lows and buys the highs. You don’t have to.

Should Danielle and I turn out correct concerning diminishing supply chain, most conservative move is to wait for recuperation phases in some beat up commodities, especially the softs and the agriculturals.

I would also watch TAN ARCX Invesco Solar Energy-the Solar ETF and Biotechnology IBB iShares NASDAQ Biotech ETF.

Both landed right on great support.

Michele ‘Mish’ Schneider serves as Director of Trading Education at MarketGauge.com. For 20 years, MarketGauge.com has provided financial information and education to thousands. MarketWatch named Mish one of the top 50 financial people to follow on Twitter. In 2018, Mish won the Top Stock Pick of the year for RealVision. Follow her on Twitter at Michele Schneider @marketminute.