Investing - Theory, News & General • Mental Tricks To Help Stay The Course

I have a strong tendency to tinker, so I have been thinking a lot lately about ways to avoid it. This is especially important now that I am nearing retirement, and will need to remain calm during the inevitable gyrations in markets. Of course, having an asset allocation that I am comfortable with is a big part of that, but it seems to me that one's overall mindset is really the key.

I've perused some of the various threads herein regarding the psychology of investing the Boglehead way, and one concept that really resonates with me is the idea of simply trying to match the market's returns.

Simply buying and holding one's asset class allocations will, if nothing ese, at least guarantee that you match the market returns for those assets, instead of lagging behind them as usually happens when tinkering.

Are stock funds down lately? At least I am matching those returns, and I will continue to match them when they recover.

Are bond funds down lately? Same thing.

Inflation? The dollar? Earnings? Interest rates? However those all affect the stock and bond markets are beyond my control, but whatever the resulting returns are, I'll be along for the ride.

Are there any other Jedi mind tricks that help the rest of you avoid any tendency to tinker?

Thanks!

Statistics: Posted by bikeeagle1 — Fri Nov 15, 2024 4:16 pm — Replies 27 — Views 1200

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