Blocking out noise to avoid emotional burnout
There is no doubt that at challenging times such as these, we tend to let our emotions drive us, especially when it comes to our investments. Over the past four months, the noise in the media, about where you should be investing during these tough times, and how to secure your future wealth, has been overwhelming! Everyone is using social media as their soapbox to express their ‘expert’ opinion, which, if you are not careful, can send you spiralling out of control, cause you sleepless nights and bring on unnecessary panic.
A top media personality has recently commented on costs of investment portfolios and the economical nature of index funds. Index funds have their place, and our independent investment consultants use index funds to some extent, thereby providing you with the best of both worlds. However, before your emotions start to run away with you, it is so important to remember that our independent investment consultants offer you, as Chartered Wealth clients, institutional pricing, meaning that fees overall are more economical when compared to you trying to manage your investments directly.
Other topics that have come up include the exposure to local bonds and rand hedges within your investments. If you look closely, you will see that your investment strategies already expose you to local bonds, and include rand hedges, in the form of dual-listed shares on the JSE and offshore exposure.
So what do you do in the face of all this ‘noise’?
My father taught me one of the greatest lessons in life: never make a life-changing decision when you are emotional. When you are tempted to act from a place of fear, panic, anger or grief, rather let those emotions subside before making any decisions, because it is during these times that your rational mind takes a backseat. When faced with life’s challenges, we as human beings, undoubtedly become emotional. I try to take a step back at these times and ask myself what is driving this emotion, this panic, grief, fear and anger? I then decide to rather face the cause head-on as opposed to letting it take over and drive my decision making.
This lesson rings true when it comes to your investments and the decisions you make, especially in turbulent times like these. The best thing you can do is to take a step back, acknowledge how you are feeling and get your emotions in check. Go back to your Retiremeant™ Plan, and focus on your investment strategy and all that goes into building that strategy. You will soon see that your investment strategy incorporates all available asset classes that are mentioned in the media, but more importantly, in the proportions that are right for you, specifically in Retiremeant™.
Your investment strategy is being actively managed by our independent investment consultants who are professionals in the industry with years of experience. Be rest assured that they are working hard in the background, to make sure your investments strategy is achievable.
Here are a few tips to help you weather these emotional storms:
- Realise that the media will print, air and post anything to gather followers, viewership and ratings – there is so much fake news out there, learn to take it with a pinch of salt.
- Focus on the positives, and on the things that are within your control.
- Go back to your RetiremeantTM Plan, and have a look at your investment strategy and what it already exposes you to, this should answer a lot of the emotional questions that you may have.
- Remember that your time invested in the market counts for more than trying to time when to invest in the market.