Investing During Market Crashes

By Bobby  •  HunterOfMoney.com  •   Investing During Market Crashes for Wealth Building

The stock market just dropped. Your portfolio is bleeding red. The news is screaming recession. Your coworkers are talking about pulling everything out and putting it in cash.  

And right now — in this exact moment of panic — the wealthiest investors in the world are doing the opposite of what everyone else is doing.

They’re buying.  Investing During Market Crashes

Not because they’re reckless. Not because they don’t feel the fear. But because they’ve studied history, they understand how markets work, and they know something that most people never learn: market crashes are not the end of wealth they are the beginning of it.

Today I’m going to show you exactly what to do during a market crash, what tools the smart money uses, and how everyday people not just the rich can use downturns to build serious long-term wealth.

Every major market crash in history has been followed by a full recovery and new all-time highs. Every single one. The question isn’t whether the market will recover it’s whether YOU will still be invested when it does. Investing During Market Crashes

100%of market crashes in history have fully recovered

-34%S&P 500 dropped in COVID crash (March 2020)

+114%S&P 500 gained in the 12 months that followed

$0lost by investors who held through the crash

1. Understand What a Market Crash Actually Is

First let’s get the fear out of your head by replacing it with facts.

A market crash is not the economy collapsing. It’s not the end of capitalism. It’s not a sign that your investments are permanently destroyed. A market crash is simply a rapid decrease in stock prices usually driven by fear, uncertainty, and panic selling not by the actual long-term value of the companies behind those stocks. Investing During Market Crashes

Think about it this way. Apple as a company doesn’t become 30% less valuable overnight because the stock price dropped 30%. Its products, its brand, its revenue none of that changed. What changed was the emotional temperature of the market. And emotional temperature always normalizes.

The History They Don’t Teach You

Look at every major crash in modern history:

• Black Monday 1987 — market dropped 22% in one day. Fully recovered within 2 years.
• Dot-com crash 2000–2002 — Nasdaq dropped 78%. Investors who held recovered and grew wealthy.
• 2008 Financial Crisis — S&P 500 dropped 57%. Followed by the longest bull market in history.
• COVID crash March 2020 — dropped 34% in 33 days. Gained 114% in the following 12 months.

The investors who panicked and sold during COVID locked in their losses forever. The investors who held or better yet, bought more, more than doubled their money in one year.

2. The #1 Strategy: Keep Investing Especially During Crashes

This sounds counterintuitive. Your instincts scream “stop, pull out, protect yourself.” But your instincts were built for survival not for investing. And in investing, the instinct that saves you in the jungle will destroy your wealth.

The strategy is called Dollar-Cost Averaging (DCA) and it’s the single most powerful tool available to everyday investors during a downturn.

How Dollar-Cost Averaging Works During a Crash

Instead of trying to time the market (which nobody can do consistently not even Warren Buffett), you invest a fixed amount on a regular schedule regardless of what the market is doing.

When prices are high, your fixed amount buys fewer shares. When prices are low like during a crash your fixed amount buys MORE shares at a discount. Over time, this lowers your average cost per share and dramatically increases your long-term gains.

“Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.” Warren Buffett

The easiest way to implement dollar-cost averaging automatically so you never have to think about it or fight your emotions is with an app like Acorns. It invests your money automatically on your schedule, whether the market is up or down.

🏹 RECOMMENDED TOOL

Acorns — Automatic Investing on Autopilot

Acorns is built for exactly this strategy. You set your weekly or monthly investment amount, choose your risk level, and Acorns automatically invests it into a diversified portfolio of ETFs — rain or shine, crash or rally. No emotion. No guessing. Just consistent wealth building.

Why it works during crashes: When the market drops, Acorns keeps investing your money at lower prices — automatically buying the dip without you having to do anything.

Start with as little as $5  |  Diversified ETF portfolios  |  Fully automated🌱 Start Investing with Acorns →

*Replace ACORNS_LINK with your Impact affiliate link when approved

3. What the Wealthy Buy During a Crash

When the market crashes, wealthy investors don’t just hold they actively look for what to buy. Here’s the playbook they use:

Index Funds and ETFs

During a crash, individual stocks can be unpredictable. Some companies that look cheap are actually going bankrupt. But an index fund which holds hundreds or thousands of companies can’t go to zero. When you buy an S&P 500 index fund during a crash, you’re buying a piece of every major American company at a discount. Investing During Market Crashes

• VOO — Vanguard S&P 500 ETF. One of the most owned investments in the world.
• VTI — Vanguard Total Market ETF. Covers the entire US market.
• QQQ — Nasdaq 100 ETF. Top 100 tech and growth companies.

Real Estate — The Crash-Proof Asset

One of the most powerful moves during a stock market crash is to diversify into real estate which often holds its value or even appreciates while stocks fall. But you don’t need to be a landlord to invest in real estate.

Platforms like Fundrise let you invest in real estate portfolios starting with just $10 completely hands-off, no property management, no tenants, no maintenance calls at 2am.

🏹 RECOMMENDED TOOL

Fundrise — Real Estate Investing Starting at $10

Fundrise is America’s largest direct-to-investor real estate platform with over 330,000 investors. During stock market downturns, real estate has historically provided stability and continued income making it the perfect complement to your stock portfolio.

Why it works during crashes: Real estate and stocks don’t always move together. When stocks crash, your Fundrise portfolio can continue generating returns — providing balance and peace of mind.

Start with just $10  |  330,000+ investors  |  Passive income  |  No landlord headaches🏘️ Start Investing with Fundrise →

*Replace FUNDRISE_LINK with your Impact affiliate link when approved

4. How to Actively Trade During a Crash (For the Aggressive Investor)

Dollar-cost averaging is the strategy for most people. But if you want to be more active buying individual stocks and ETFs at crash prices you need a platform that gives you the tools to do it right.

Moomoo is one of the most powerful free investing platforms available right now. It gives you professional-grade charts, real-time data, and commission-free trading — the same tools that Wall Street traders use, available to anyone.

🏹 RECOMMENDED TOOL

Moomoo — Professional Trading Tools, Free

During a market crash, information is everything. Moomoo gives you real-time market data, advanced charting, earnings reports, analyst ratings, and level 2 quotes all free. This is the platform serious investors use when they want to move fast and move smart during volatile markets.

Why it works during crashes: When the market is moving fast, you need fast tools. Moomoo’s real-time data and zero-commission trades mean you can act on opportunities the moment they appear.

Commission-free trading  |  Real-time market data  |  Advanced charts  |  Free to start📈 Start Trading with Moomoo →

*Replace MOOMOO_LINK with your Impact affiliate link when approved

5. The 5 Biggest Mistakes Investors Make During a Crash

Now let’s talk about what NOT to do — because avoiding these mistakes is just as important as making the right moves.

• Panic selling — locking in losses permanently and missing the recovery. This is how ordinary people lose generational wealth in weeks.
• Trying to time the bottom — nobody knows exactly when the market hits its lowest point. Waiting for the “perfect” moment means missing the best recovery days, which often happen before anyone realizes the crash is over.
• Checking your portfolio every day — this is psychological torture that leads to emotional decisions. Set your strategy and check monthly at most.
• Moving everything to cash — cash loses value to inflation every year. Sitting in cash during a crash feels safe but is actually guaranteed to make you poorer in real terms.
• Stopping contributions to your retirement accounts — when the market is down, your 401k contributions are buying more shares for the same money. Stopping now is like leaving free money on the table.

The average investor significantly underperforms the market over time not because of bad stock picks, but because of emotional decisions made during crashes. The strategy beats the emotion every single time.

6. Build Your Crash-Ready Investment Plan Right Now

You don’t need to wait for the next crash to prepare for it. The best time to build your crash-ready portfolio is right now before panic sets in and emotions take over.

The Hunter of Money Crash-Ready Portfolio Framework

🏹 Your Crash-Ready Investment Allocation

40% — Index Funds (VOO, VTI, QQQ)Core wealth builder

20% — Real Estate (Fundrise)Stability + passive income

20% — Individual Stocks (Quality companies)Higher growth potential

10% — Automated Investing (Acorns)Consistent DCA on autopilot

10% — Cash ReserveDry powder for crash opportunities

The 10% cash reserve is key. During a crash, having cash ready to deploy lets you buy quality assets at a steep discount — turning the crash into a wealth-building opportunity instead of a nightmare.

Automate Everything So Emotions Can’t Interfere

The single biggest upgrade you can make to your investment strategy is removing yourself from the equation. Set automatic contributions. Set automatic rebalancing. Use platforms like Acorns that invest on your behalf without requiring you to log in and make decisions every week.

When the crash hits and your coworkers are panicking your automated system will quietly keep buying at discount prices while everyone else is selling. That’s how wealth is built.

🏹 Start Building Your Crash-Proof Portfolio Today

Don’t wait for the next crash to wish you had prepared. These three tools will help you invest automatically, diversify into real estate, and trade with professional tools — all starting with just a few dollars.🌱 Start with Acorns →🏘️ Start with Fundrise →📈 Start with Moomoo →

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today.

The market will crash again. That’s not pessimism that’s history. The question is whether you’ll be the investor who panics and sells, or the investor who stays calm, keeps buying, and walks away wealthier when the dust settles.

Hunt your wealth. Build it with intention. And never let fear make your financial decisions for you.

Bobby, Hunter of Money

Affiliate Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you sign up or invest through my links I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend platforms I genuinely believe in. This is not financial advice — always do your own research before investing. Thank you for supporting Hunter of Money.