Sometimes Less is More
On recent trip with the family to NYC during the stock market’s recent ups and downs I wasn’t paying as much attention to the media coverage regarding the “will they/won’t they” China tariff news. Being less connected reminded me of a great strategy to deal with market volatility, simply to be unaware of it in real time. While I don’t recommend this for a financial advisor, there’s certainly an argument for tuning out daily market movements for investors.
The benefit of the ignorance-is-bliss approach can be visualized by plotting out returns at longer time intervals. As you switch from daily returns to weekly, the jagged edges begin to smooth out. By the time you get to monthly returns, some of the big drawdowns (e.g., 3rd quarter 2023, April 2025) seem like small blips during an otherwise continuous climb.
Wanting to be informed about what’s going on in the world is human nature, and developments with the stock market are certainly a part of that for you the investor. But thinking about investments in a long-term framework might dull the temptation to make asset allocation changes that studies have shown are a recipe for disappointment.
Source: Dimensional Fund Advisors
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