Have you ever heard the saying, “the days go by slowly, but the years fly by”? It’s the notion that if we focus on the “everyday” we can get caught up in minutia of daily details that may bog us down. But, if we take a step back to look at the bigger picture and see that life is good, fun, and enjoyable, then the everyday frustrations are much less impactful on our spirits.
Same with investing. Especially in recent markets!
“When in Doubt, Zoom Out!”
Companies of Corporate America have been highly scrutinized over the past two years and have been unpredictable. The good news is that the everyday minutia of stock price movement is simply the small details that we can’t allow ourselves to get caught up in and waste too much emotion on.
Here at The Wealth Strategies Group, we are long-term investors – remember, Five Year Money! i.e. we have a longer time horizon which means we can be patient and allow Corporate America to sort its self out while we collect our dividends. So, while the daily news, price movement, and estimates are important, they aren’t something that we need to panic over.
The graphs above do a great job at depicting the “daily”, “yearly”, and “decades” view of general market performance (and perhaps even life).
The days have sharp and dramatic movements – prices change daily. Sometimes up, sometimes down, but they change every second and therefore the graph looks like sharp, steep mountains.
The years are less dramatic. They even themselves out over time, as looking at the greater price movement through the time frame of a year versus a day is more gradual.
The decades graph is the smoothest. Do you remember what the price of any certain stock was on 5/25/1995? Or how late you were to a birthday party 10 years ago that made you so upset? No. But at the time, on that day, you had a reaction to it. Over time, those fade and life continues to be good, the market generally has an upward bias, and the daily happenings of life even themselves out to form a larger picture.
I encourage you to embrace the bigger picture view when it comes to life and investing. Everyday details are important, but the bigger picture is the most important! Keeping your focus on the long-term goal and not being derailed by daily happenings that are temporary is the key to confident investing, and perhaps to a happy life.
“When in Doubt, Zoom Out!”
I am interested in your thoughts, comments, and questions!
Respectfully,
Brittany N. Jarocki, CFP®
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Professional
The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. To determine which investment(s) may be appropriate for you, consult your financial advisor prior to investing. Investing involves risk. Loss, including loss of principal, may occur. No strategy assures success or protects against loss. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and may not be invested into directly.