I came across this exchange on Twitter recently:

“The stock market is like someone playing with a yo-yo whilst riding the up escalator. The secret is to focus on the escalator and not the yo-yo!”

“Of course, you need to know which escalator you’re on. Otherwise both are pointless.”

Think of the escalator as the stock market itself, steadily moving upwards. It’s been shown that investing in the stock market works over time, historically providing a return of around 10% a year, provided an investor keeps their money in for long enough. The natural movement upwards can be attributed to increases in the global population, inflation and businesses selling more to more people. The important thing is to remain focused on the escalator over the long term as it continues to move in the right direction.

The temptation, however, is to get distracted by the yo-yo or the price of the market bouncing up and down. There will always be volatility. There will be natural disasters, financial crises, changes in interest rates, elections and even global pandemics. The market will fluctuate in response. But just regard this as the yo-yo stuttering.

A fundamental truth of investing is that there are no returns without risk. Yet it’s only natural to panic sometimes. Try not to be swayed by emotion, however. Don’t make any knee-jerk reactions or suddenly decide to withdraw your investments.

As humans, we’re “loss averse” so we react more strongly to unexpected losses than unexpected gains. This is why our response to the yo-yoing of the share price can be so irrational. When the price goes up, we get excited and think we’ve got exactly the right investments but as soon as it bounces back down, we’re in deep depression and those very same investments are awful. Yet logically we know stocks and shares go up and down, and have the potential to recover.

Long-term financial planning can make the difference in approach. If you’ve decided to be invested in the stock market as part of your overall strategy, have confidence in that decision. View it as the escalator beneath your feet taking you in the right direction towards your destination.

Of course, you need to make sure you’re on the right escalator first. If you get on the wrong escalator on the Tube, you’re going to end up on the wrong line and the wrong train unless you get off at the top and start all over again.

So think carefully about your goals.

• Are you planning on putting your children through private education?

• What do you want to be doing in 20 years?

• Have you got plans to move?

• When do you want to retire?

• Do you want to go part-time?

Those goals will change over time and you’ll need to keep fine-tuning your plans but they’ll help you decide on your investment strategy. Knowing where you’re heading with a comprehensive financial roadmap will keep your eye focused on the escalator without getting distracted by that yo-yo.

If you’d like to talk over your long-term financial planning, do get in touch with us. You can call us on 01789 263888 or email hello@charterswealth.co.uk.

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

The value of your investment (and any income from it) can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested.