Editor's note: Decision-making is one handy skill every investor should have in their toolbox.

And another is learning how to gauge the market's "punches." It's hard to always have a plan that goes well 100% of the time. So sometimes the best thing you can do is get ahead of the news and stay up to date.

In today's Masters Series, adapted from the October 2022 issue of our Retirement Millionaire newsletter, Dr. David "Doc" Eifrig details the latest "punch" investors should be watching for. It might just make navigating the market that much easier.

The Market Will Punch You in the Face

By Doc Eifrig, editor, Retirement Millionaire

Tyrell Biggs had a plan.

The agile heavyweight boxer would circle his opponent, get him off balance with some stiff jabs, then take that opportunity to swing bigger punches.

Biggs had won an Olympic gold medal three years before and had gone undefeated since turning professional.

But his plan – developed with his trainer, George "The Professor" Benton – had a problem...

It needed to be good enough to beat Mike Tyson in his prime back in October 1987. He had ripped through 31 opponents with 27 knockouts and no losses.

The media, leading up to the fight, listened to Biggs and The Professor and wondered if Tyson had met his match. Could Tyson strategize his way through a fight with an evenly matched boxer?

Biggs' camp openly declared they would outsmart Tyson. During a pre-fight press conference, Biggs' manager turned to Tyson and threatened...

Don't be confused. Tyrell Biggs has looked forward to fighting you... He's gonna teach you something that you've never been taught before or something that you haven't taken time to learn. Who's to blame? You'll have to figure it out yourself.

Tyson reacted calmly: "This press conference has been entertaining but distasteful."

But when a reporter later asked Tyson for his thoughts on Biggs' strategy, he coined one of his many legendary quotes...

Everybody has plans until they get punched in the face.

And that's precisely what happened... Tyson quickly slammed Biggs, left him physically dazed, put him on his back foot, and proved all his planning worthless.

In the seventh round, Tyson sent Biggs to the mat with a left hook. It took Biggs to the count of nine to recover. Tyson immediately blasted Biggs with another hit and the referee called the fight for Tyson.

Lots of folks use Tyson's quote to say only that planning is hard. But for investors, there's an even deeper meaning.

There's something special about getting hit in the face...

A physical fight is an incredibly intense experience. Even for professionals, emotions run high. Your heart rate accelerates, and your body flushes with adrenaline.

When that first fist crashes in, the body can kick into fear mode.

And unless you've carefully trained yourself to handle it, you can spiral into pure panic. Rather than watching for incoming threats and reacting calmly, a fearful fighter can throw wild punches and get themselves into trouble.

Everybody has a plan until they get hit.

Managing your money works the same way...

When you see your account balance falling and look around to find nothing but fear and uncertainty, the primal parts of your brain kick in. Your pulse quickens... and if you don't calm yourself down, you can start flailing.

We invest our funds knowing we're taking a risk. We can study historical volatility and drawdowns – so we tell ourselves to expect a 30% or 40% decline from time to time.

We tell ourselves we'll stay the course, invest in quality businesses, and know that the next bull market will come.

No matter how prepared you thought you'd made yourself, if you've got a million-dollar account that falls by $400,000 in a 40% drawdown... you're in panic mode. You've been punched in the face. And you need to recover your mental state so that you can recover your money.

At this point, our best move is to identify the incoming punches.

That's not as easy as it sounds... In this age, we're overloaded with information.

But with a bit of calm, you can keep sight of what's going on by distilling the market's problems into one threat.

Of course, this isn't the only thing happening today. But if you can focus on this one issue first, you can get a better, calmer sense of where we stand in this market and how to survive it.

The one "punch" we should be watching right now is inflation.

Inflation has been the biggest story in the economy for a couple years now. And it makes sense...

It's a critically important factor for stocks. That's because more inflation will lead to more and longer-lasting trouble. If inflation calms down, markets can stabilize and, dare I say, rise.

In recent months, inflation has been headed lower. And the market has indeed rallied higher.

Now, we still have the Federal Reserve's upcoming meeting... which could either boost the market or send stocks to the downside. But overall, the important thing is that inflation has cooled from its peak last June.

U.S. inflation stats will still be the king of the economy for the foreseeable future, especially given America's broad effects on the global economy.

So follow the inflation news. You can't avoid it these days.

But keep calm. Don't panic-sell your stocks. And remember that you can't do anything about rising inflation in your daily life. This is why we strive for financial stability in the first place, to accept these things with grace.

You can follow that expected rate of inflation at the Federal Reserve's website here. That will keep you abreast of what the market is expecting – which can be a much smarter number than what's coming through the official stats.

Remember, the Fed meets this coming week on June 13 and 14. So make sure you tune in to hear whether or not the central bank will raise rates.

Right now, the majority of market participants aren't expecting to see a rate hike. But there are some who believe the Fed will hike interest rates 0.25%.

We'll have to wait and see. But my advice is to stay up to date on the inflation story. It will help us weather the next "punch" the market may throw at us.

Here's to our health, wealth, and a great retirement,

Doc Eifrig

Editor's note: Health care is a sector the world will need no matter what, even amid inflation. Doc has been a big supporter of this space for years. And recently, his colleague Thomas Carroll – who works alongside Doc on the Prosperity Investor newsletter – just uncovered a massive opportunity in a small corner of the health care market.

This company could grow 842%. And on June 26, it's poised to take off. Make sure you learn all the details ahead of time. Get the full story here.