Things That Long-Term Investors Can Ignore
https://money.usnews.com/investing/investing-101/slideshows/investment-tips-long-term-investors-can-ignoreThere’s so much to know about investing. Who has enough brain space for all of it?
If you’ve got a long-term investment horizon, you may not need as much space as you think. In fact, here are eight things experts say long-term investors can ignore about investing and still be successful.
1. The daily ups and downs in the stock market. The No. 1 thing long-term investors can ignore are the daily movements of the stock market, says Jamie Cox, managing partner of Harris Financial Group in Richmond, Virginia.
“The very essence of long-term investing is to render the noise of markets irrelevant and to participate in the earnings and growth of companies over time,” he says. What the stock market is doing today has no bearing on how companies and your investments will do in the long run.
2. The media. “As difficult as it can be, the most successful investors will tune out the media altogether,” says Monica Sipes, a senior wealth advisor at Exencial Wealth Advisors in Frisco, Texas.
Take the end of 2018 as an example when headlines flashed with a 30% to 50% imminent downturn in the market. But the S&P 500 has only continued to climb higher. “Remember that the media is often selling noise,” Sipes says. Ignore the noise and focus instead on your long-term goals. – Coryanne Hicks
