Thinking long term – with all this noise?

Being a human being and a long term investor is ….. challenging.

I think we all probably know the accepted wisdom. Timing the market is almost impossible. Trading is a fool’s errand. Long term investing is the only way to reliably build wealth. The key is to determine your plan, set your allocations then stick to it.

But because we, as the HD community, take an interest in personal finance, we are also likely exposed to financial media. I regularly listen to the “Animal Spirits” podcast and hold Ben Carlson and Michael Batnick in high regard. But recent articles and podcasts from Ben Carlson include:

Animal Spirits: It Feels Like 1999

Is This the Top?

Animal Spirits: Did the Market Just Top?

The Animal Spirits podcast has also had a constant drumbeat of “AI bubble”, which will inevitably work to undermine the confidence of investors.

I’m sure that if Carlson was asked directly, he would say that we should invest for the long term and not try to time the market. Yet the financial media landscape requires that the drama of today must be examined in great detail, and the pundits need to speculate about what the future might hold.

Personally, I feel lucky that I have truly embraced the notion of long term investing. I’m interested in the daily business news, but I feel no urge to race out and move money around based upon Nvidia’s latest quarterly earning report.

But I get it – the overwhelming tsunami of financial drama can make being a long term investor very, very challenging. As human beings we feel like if things are going bad, or might be going bad in the near future, that we should be doing something. Doing nothing can feel lazy, apathetic, neglectful.

I’ve got no answers for how to be a long term investor in the modern world. But perhaps stepping back from the daily financial chatter and reminding ourselves of our long term aims can help bring a little respite from the noise.

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