If you are over the age of 35, you have been here before. There are no guarantees when investing in financial or other markets. That is why there is risk associated with an investment in anything. There are no promises from one year to the next as to what markets will do, there is just the probability of what is most likely to happen. Find a finance person who actually stayed awake during their statistics and probability courses, and I'll show you a good long term investor.
So, if the market gyrations are freaking you out, then ask yourself these four questions:
- Do I understand the strategy behind how my money is invested?
- Do I understand my time horizon?
- Does my strategy suit my time horizon?
- If a third party is investing your money, do you fundamentally trust them?
If the answers to all the above questions are “yes”, then you should not be freaking out. If you are disappointed that you or your wealth manager did not sell exactly at the peak or buy precisely at all time lows then you are only chasing capital gains, and you probably have highly unrealistic expectations of long term investing. In this case, I’d recommend that you readjust those expectations or get out of the markets all together.
If you do not know the answers to the above questions or you have answered “no” to one of them, then you need to find the answers.
I will be holding special hour-long consultations for S$250/hour during September and October for anyone that would like to be talked through the 4 issues listed above. For anyone outside of Singapore, the same price applies but we can Skype.
Please contact me directly for an appointment at andrea@wiserwealth.net.
My next newsletter is about Amazon, the company not the river, due out mid September.