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Measuring the distance
With the volatility in the market, it can be very scary and unnerving at the same time.
This also leads to potentially making emotionally charged decisions – which leads to decisions based on fear or greed. That normally leads to regrets further down the road on hindsight.
The important thing to do now is to focus on your goals.
For example, if I asked you to measure the distance between Changi Airport to Jurong Point, would you take a measuring tape and stop to measure every 3 steps before you reach Jurong point? Or would you use a vehicle, chart the starting point and end point and move towards your goal. Maybe you might stop to check every 5km to see if there is a faster route available, but definitely, you do not need to check every 3 steps.
It’s the same when it comes to retirement planning. Most of the time, we invest because we have a long-term goal like retirement which is a far distance away. So it does not make sense to keep checking our investments every other day. Whenever we check it, it might just lead to stress and emotions of greed and fear take over.
At the same time, there will be opportunities for a faster way to get to your retirement. This will be one of them and you might just miss out the “Sale” that comes a few times in your lifetime. This kind of sale of this magnitude will not come very often but it will be the road less travelled.
So here are a few tips.
1) Focus on your long-term goals and not get distracted.
2) If you have extra cash over and above your 6-12 months emergency funds, you can find strategies to deploy this money during this opportunity.
3) Find risk and non-risk instruments to give you peace of mind.
4) Invest into Global CORE portfolios that are rebalanced by professionals so that you do not need to stress about doing that on your own and after you invest during this period.
5) Do NOT peek at your statements if you are already invested or going to be investing this period.
6) Finally, pls do not read the news too much. It can be mostly depressing because bad news sells. Instead, spend more time with your family and do things you love and go out into the sun more often.
If you have a doctor, business owner or senior management whom is trying to get an opinion from their wealth advisor and is not able to do so, I will be happy to connect with an initial chat.