Bulls & Bears: Time to Adapt Our Investment Strategies
Let’s face it: Humans are creatures of habit.
Knowing a bit about biology (my undergrad major), I realize there are evolutionary advantages to creating and executing habitual behaviors. This M.O. allows us to be more efficient with routine tasks, even paving the way for multi-tasking. Doing things we’ve done many times before helps us operate with confidence, which is a key to success.
But there’s also a detrimental side to habits. They prevent us from adapting to change.
For decades, it worked just fine to take a comfortable approach to investing. That involved buying a mix of stocks and bonds… and holding for the long haul.
And after years of success with this simple method, I fully understand that investors find most other strategies foreign and awkward…
But, if you find yourself holding tight to old habits… you’re not adapting.
Financial markets are truly global these days. So looking only to the U.S. stock market for wealth-building strategies makes little sense… especially if buying and holding is your bread and butter.
