By John Towfighi, NCS
(NCS) — When Howard Silverblatt first began working on Wall Street, the S&P 500 was at 99.77 factors. The week earlier than he retired, the benchmark index was up by 70 instances that, to 7,000.
That’s an eye-popping enhance — however perhaps not stunning, contemplating Silverblatt began his profession on May 17, 1977.
This January Silverblatt hung up his hat after a nearly 49-year run at Standard & Poor’s — now S&P Dow Jones Indices. He’s a legend on Wall Street as a markets analyst, a trusted supply for journalists, and a well-documented information wizard.
It’s all left him uniquely positioned to share the teachings he’s learned from a profession stretching throughout booms, busts, and a metamorphosis in investing. As for the Dow, the blue-chip index traded within the 900s when Silverblatt started his profession, and crossed 50,000 factors one week after his retirement.
Silverblatt, a local of Brooklyn, New York, spoke with NCS by cellphone from Florida.
Know how a lot danger you may abdomen
Know what you’re shopping for — and know the dangers.
(*50*) are fewer publicly traded corporations on the inventory market now than when Silverblatt started his profession within the ’70s. But there are countless choices of exchange-traded funds, derivatives and different securities that buyers should purchase and promote straight away. That has made it all of the extra crucial for buyers to stay vigilant about the place they’re placing their cash, he mentioned.
Record highs within the inventory market — which the Dow and S&P just lately hit — are nice alternatives to assessment your portfolio and guarantee it’s well-diversified.
“Am I still on track with what I want, and all my allocations? Or did the market change it? And do I want to change it back?” he mentioned. “You really need to know your risk tolerance and liquidity.”
Keep an open thoughts and attempt to be taught
Silverblatt mentioned he was all the time good with numbers, stemming from his father’s job as a tax accountant.
“I remember, literally, my first job was at home when I’m seven, eight years old, putting physical checks in order,” he mentioned.
After graduating from Syracuse University, Silverblatt entered a coaching program at S&P in downtown Manhattan within the late Nineteen Seventies.
Silverblatt stayed on the firm for the whole lot of his profession. He mentioned developments in communications, info and know-how have been probably the most notable shifts throughout his profession, and it’s mirrored within the US market: (*50*) are 10 American corporations value greater than $1 trillion, and eight of these are tech corporations.
It’s nice when shares go up. Are you ready for once they go down?
The Dow reaching 50,000 is an incredible milestone, Silverblatt mentioned. But he famous a key reality of the maths — a 1,000-point enhance from 49,000 to 50,000 is a change of two%. It’s a lot much less vital than, say, the Dow going from 1,000 to 2,000, which is a 100% enhance. It’s a reminder to maintain your eye on % modifications available in the market as an alternative of factors.
Over time, because the Dow hitting 50,000 exemplifies, the market tends to climb larger. As for market exuberance, Silverblatt emphasised the necessity for buyers to be cautious and well-informed.
Silverblatt mentioned Black Monday — the largest single-day inventory market drop in historical past on October 19, 1987 — nonetheless stands out as probably the most eye-opening and memorable moments of his profession. The S&P 500 plunged 20.47% in in the future.
He remembers it as an analyst — and as a private investor. He didn’t lose something that fateful Monday, he joked, as a result of he‘d already bought every thing by Friday.
After Black Monday, two memorable Wall Street moments for Silverblatt have been Lehman Brothers and Bear Sterns going underneath amid the 2008 monetary disaster, and the arrival and improvement of brokerage homes and the way they modified entry to the inventory market.
“It’s not so much about making money in the good times,” he mentioned. “It’s holding on to it in the bad times.”
Retirement financial savings are extra dependent on the market, for higher or worse
Just have a look at retirement belongings, Silverblatt mentioned. He is retiring with a pension, or direct profit plan, along with his 401(okay). The rise of 401(okay)s and particular person retirement accounts means most Americans as of late solely have their invested retirement plan, and never an outlined pension.
That’s nice for bolstering your retirement financial savings however brings with it extra accountability to handle their danger.
Direct and oblique inventory holdings, together with mutual funds or retirement plans, accounted for an all-time excessive of 45% of households’ monetary belongings within the second quarter of 2025, based on Federal Reserve information.
“Risk is one of the major items I think people sometimes ignore,” he mentioned. “We all want to go up, but how are we going to do when we go down?”
Hobbies don’t harm
Silverblatt mentioned he is wanting ahead to studying extra, together with the works of William Shakespeare. He additionally mentioned he is keen to play extra chess, learn extra books, attend talks at his native economics membership and maybe choose up new hobbies like golf.
Math was all the time his greatest topic by means of faculty, he mentioned. “I was a geek from the beginning,” he mentioned. “And worse than just a number gee … I was captain of my chess team, so I was a double geek.”
“I do not play golf, but I may take it up,” he mentioned. “I will definitely play more chess. I got a couple of projects to help some friends out as far as the market goes… and then I have to figure out what I’m doing, that’s true, but definitely not 60-hour weeks.”
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