For those with a significant investment portfolio, it can be tempting to obsess over market performance. It’s natural to worry about the daily fluctuations of the market and how it swings your portfolio, especially if you have huge sums at play.
At Alpha Wealth Funds, we’re here to help. Our financial planning advisors are well-versed in investment management, and one of the first things they’ll tell you is this: The market is important, of course, but many of the best investors out there actually don’t worry so much about daily, weekly or even yearly fluctuations. Here’s why.
Daily Fluctuations Don’t Matter
If you’re investing solely for short-term goals, you’re doing it wrong – this is effectively just gambling. The only investments we’ll steer you toward are those with mid- or long-term goals, meaning those with at least a three-year timeline. These may include retirement, college education for the kids, saving for a vacation home, or similar elements.
Within this realm, understand that investing takes time and work. There will be days, weeks or even months where things may look grim, and then others where they’ll look wildly profitable to an unrealistic degree. The name of the game is maximizing your long-term flexibility, and allowing yourself to focus on the big picture instead of small swings helps accomplish this.
Your Instincts Might Be Wrong
When the market takes a dip, many investors naturally panic and start selling positions. If you’re taking the right long view and not focusing on these kinds of daily results, though, you’ll likely profit – a recent study from Fidelity showed that the shorter one holds a given stock, the higher their likelihood of losing money on that stock. If your natural instinct after such a drop is to start selling, resist it.
Don’t Stress Over Market Benchmarks
Many investors are scarily obsessed with meeting market benchmarks, such as the S&P 500 or the Dow Jones average. These benchmarks are only measuring the stocks they index, however – your portfolio should include stocks that aren’t in that index, and should also contain assets like bonds, commodities, and real estate to manage your risk. For this reason, while there’s still some value in these benchmarks, don’t define your success on them or make big changes based on them.
For more on taking a great long-term investment strategy, or to learn about any of our other financial planning or wealth management services, speak to the pros at Alpha Wealth Funds today.