I came across a brilliant piece recently listing 78 reasons people chose not to invest - and they’re not trivial.
Every decade had its reasons. Every year had its headlines. And yet…A $1minvestment in the S&P 500 from 1934 would have grown to over $2.3 billion by 2011. That’s not because markets were smooth. It’s because they weren’t.
What volatility actually is
Most people see volatility as a problem. In reality, it’s the price of admission.
Warren Buffet famously said, “The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.”
What we get is this:
Or,more simply:
It feels wrong… right before it turns out to be right.
The real risk isn’t volatility. The real risk is behaviour. Every one of those 78 reasons led to the same decision:
“I’ll wait until things feel more certain.”
The problem is… they never do. There is alway
And waiting for certainty usually means missing the recovery.
So what should you do?
Nothing dramatic. In fact, that’s the point. Stick to the plan. Accept that volatility is part of the journey.
Remember what markets have always done over time. Because investing isn’t about avoiding bad periods. It’s about getting through them.
Final thought
If markets feel uncomfortable right now, that doesn’t mean something is wrong.
It usually means somethingis… happening. And historically, that’s been where the opportunity lives.
