How to Avoid Emotional Investing 

Emotional Investing – how to avoid taking wrong investing decisions?
Investors have a penchant for buying at the top and selling at the bottom of the market. Many investors succumb to media hype or fear and buy or sell stocks at the peaks and troughs of the cycle.

Why does emotional investing occur, and how can investors avoid falling into euphoric and depressing investment traps? Continue reading for some pointers on how to stay on track and steer your investment in the proper way. During moments of market calm (low volatility) and extended bull markets, investors are frequently drawn into the market.

Investor Behavior

Bull markets are when the stock market rises indiscriminately. Investors like to listen to stories from friends or family members about how much money they are making in the market during such periods of market exuberance, creating a tsunami and forcing those who haven’t invested to do so. Fear takes hold when investors read about a terrible economy or hear news of a volatile or negative market time, and they sell cheap. (Not all investors are mentally prepared for the return of a rejuvenated bull market.) Check see Is Your Mind Ready for a Bull Market for more information.)

Bad Times

The time it takes for an event to occur and for it to be communicated is usually what leads investors to lose money. A bull market is only reported by the media after it has already occurred; if the pattern does not continue, stocks will fall in the coming months.

Investors generally use these premium valuation premiums to create their portfolios after being influenced by reports. When the daily stock market report leads to huge news, this is an issue because it creates noise and investors make judgments based on “opinion,” which is sometimes obsolete. Uncertainty in the market breeds fear and encourages emotional investment.

The Test Time Theory

Based on historical cash flow data, the assumption that many market players buy at the peak and sell at the bottom has been proven correct. For mutual funds, cash flow analysis examines the net flow of funds. Cash flow research between 1988 and 2009 revealed that when the market reached its peak or valley, cash flows were at their highest.

Money continued to flow into the funds until the market bottomed out, at which point investors began to remove money out of the market, resulting in negative cash flows. Even as the market moved into an uptrend, net churn peaked in market shares and stayed negative. Because the market has been shown to decline before funds are sold, and funds are frequently reinvested after the market has taken a back seat, it is obvious that investors are frequently unable to execute their trades on time.

The dose of Optimism

Investors have brought back other times notwithstanding the powerful tendencies they portray on the peaks and valleys. During the 1990s, when the market was in a lengthy bull phase, the market experienced a continuous influx of funds.

Similarly, during another great bull market, from 2004 to 2007, investors poured money into the market. As a result, it’s reasonable to believe that during periods of low volatility (e.g., extended bull markets), investors become more at ease with the market and begin investing.

Money flows, on the other hand, tend to indicate confusion during moments of volatility or when bull or bear markets start and conclude on a frequent basis, and the timing of flows becomes inconsistent with actual market action. (Learn how certain unusual human inclinations might evolve in the market.) Are we truly logical beings? Understanding Investor Behavior is a good place to start.)

Strategies on how to avoid Emotional Investing

MorningStar‘s ratio of investor returns to real fund returns is at its lowest level in ten years. At the end of 2013, for example, the difference between the average investor and the fund was 2.49 percent. During times of uncertainty, evidence suggests that emotional investing benefits average investors. There are, however, techniques that can reduce the amount of guesswork and alleviate the impact of limited money flow.

Dollar averaging of investment dollars is, on average, the most successful. Dollar average averaging is a method that involves investing equal amounts of money at regular intervals. This method works in any market environment.

Investors buy equities at lower and lower prices during a decline. Stocks previously held in the portfolio make capital gains during an ascent, and fewer shares are acquired at a higher price. Staying on course, setting the plan, and staying out of it unless big changes need revisiting and rebalancing the set course is the key to this method. (This method can be used in a variety of ways.) Learn more about the differences between a dollar cost and a cost calculator in Choosing Between a Dollar Cost and a Cost Calculator.)

Diversifying your portfolio is another approach to lessen your emotional response to market investing. Only a few times in history have all markets moved at the same moment, and diversification offered little protection. Using a diversification strategy gives downside protection in most normal market cycles.

Diversification of a portfolio can take numerous forms, including investing in diverse industries, countries, and types of assets, as well as hedging with alternative investments like real estate and private equity. Each of these market sub-sectors benefits from different market conditions, therefore a portfolio that includes all of these different sorts of investments should give security in a variety of market conditions.

Read Also: DAY TRADING AND SWING TRADING THE CURRENCY MARKET

How to avoid emotional investing – Conclusion

Investing without emotion is easier said than done, especially when the market and the media are dominated by uncertainty. According to the statistics, most investors are emotional and maximize cash flow at the wrong periods, lowering prospective returns.

Returns should be much higher than those indicated by the usual investor responding to the market rather than actively engaging in the market if strategies that reduce the emotional response to investing are used. Among many other options, averaging and diversifying the value of the dollar are two established tactics for reducing investors’ emotional reactions to the market. (Are you curious about the impact of emotions and prejudices on the market? Taking a Chance in Behavioral Finance contains useful information.)