Financial Plan

Riding the highs, and experiencing the lows, it is the way of the investment market. However, what if we told you that the key to sound and quality investing is learning how to keep cool when the market is in turmoil? In this article, we look at some of the techniques that can help you manage your emotions and expectations during market uncertainty.

Don't gamble with your future.

Those who “play” the stock market hope to become rich. But they are more likely to become poor.

That’s because “playing” the market — frequent buying and selling — is akin to playing roulette. And compulsive trading could turn you into a gambling addict.

Markets crash all the time. You should, at minimum, expect stocks to fall at least 10% once a year, 20% once every few years, 30% or more once or twice a decade, and 50% or more once or twice during your lifetime. Those who don't understand this will eventually learn it the hard way.

Someone emailed me last week asking why this is:

Having a trusted financial advisor can make a huge difference in your future. But is your advisor strengthening the likelihood of achieving your goals or the opposite? Here's how to decide when it's time to say, "You're fired."

We meet with retirees and pre-retirees every week, many of whom tell us they have been "working with a retirement-planning firm for years." Yet, when we dig into their "plan," there is often not much more than a diversified pie chart of stocks, bonds and mutual funds.

Being realistic about investment performance will help you stay on track.

In an ideal world, would you prefer your investments to perform worse than expected, as expected, or better than expected?

I suspect, for both the short and the long term, you’d prefer them to do better than expected.

Have you made any resolutions for New Year’s?