Roller coasters can be fun. Unless it’s after lunch.
But roller coasters are less fun when your financial future is at stake. As we’ve all seen, the stock market can have dramatic ups and downs. Investment professionals refer to these gains and losses as “volatility.” The rest of us refer to them as “Holy Moly!”
Any snapshot of the market – heading up or down – is just that. It is far better to invest for the long term.
But that being said, the wealthiest Americans can often invest in strategies that are designed to provide investment returns with less volatility. At Aspiration, we believe it is everyday investors who can least afford the big drops in the stock market. Our economy is often linked to the stock market. When the stock market goes down, much else might go down as well – our incomes, our job security, our home values, our 401ks.
Check out our Education page to learn more about the importance of reducing volatility in your portfolio. Play our short animated, “choose your own adventure” game – It’s a Volatile Life. At the end of it, learn more about why volatility matters. And watch our animated videos that bring a touch of humor to serious subjects such as the importance of steady returns instead of the stock market’s roller coaster and the role alternative investment styles can play in helping you reach your investment goals.
Instead of focusing on short term gains, you should attempt to grow your money steadily over the long-term while trying to reduce the amount of ups and downs of the stock market along the way.
That does not mean total protection; sometimes your investment will still go down. But the goal of smoothing out the instability of the stock market is to bring your portfolio greater returns over the long run.
At Aspiration, we believe that life has enough ups and downs. Your investment portfolio should have less of them.