Just keep going.
Over the years I have noticed how easy it is to feel good during the noise. To keep up to date with everything and be on every comment of the financial news. It’s often the best feeling time about being an investor, when you feel like you’re on top of your game.
But you see the market doesn’t work like that. It doesn’t work on confidence and certainty of your decisions. Which brings me to a very scary time for most, silence. That quiet Christmas period when your favorite commentators are on holiday and the market is a stop start vehicle due to the number of holidays during that period.
What to do when the news stops streaming in and the SENS pages are a few points long? Just keep going.
For the most part this period should show you how well you have made your stock picks and you should be able to peacefully unplug.
If you must however, follow all the principles you have learnt so far. Ie, do your own research, debt ratios, earnings ratios, dividend yields etc over a 5 year or so period. Dividends are paid on earnings, not share price! Read up on opinions by other market commentators and find sense in their positions. If you can solicit their reasons and sources. Go to company releases and make sure that your work is done.
Have conviction in your work and make a decision. For better or worse nothing changes your life like the decisions you make. And if you mess it up, so what,? Finding yourself in the silence can go a long way in helping you be comfortable with your positions during the noise.
