WAXHAW, NC – Those who have lived a long time have done a lot, seen a lot – and can teach us a lot. That’s certainly true when it comes to investing.

Consider some of the lessons you might learn from experienced investors:

• Regulate your emotions. In the investment world, there’s always something coming at us that could sound scary: political flashpoints, economic news, and even those once-in-a-generation occurrences, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. But older people may take these events in stride; in fact, baby boomers and members of the Silent Generation (born between 1925 and 1945) are coping better emotionally with the impacts of COVID-19 than younger age cohorts, according to the 2020 Edward Jones/Age Wave Four Pillars of the New Retirement study. And by keeping control of your emotions, you may be less likely to make moves such as selling quality investments with good fundamentals just because their prices have fallen in the midst of an overall market decline.
• Learn from experience. By definition, the older we get, the more experiences we will have. And most people do indeed learn from experience. Investors, too, benefit from having seen and done things before. Did you chase a “hot” stock only to have found it cooled off before you bought it? Did you buy too many of the same types of investments, only to see your portfolio take a bigger hit during a downturn than it would have if you had diversified? In the investment arena, as in most walks of life, patterns emerge, and once you learn to recognize them, you can learn from past mistakes.

These suggestions are appropriate for anyone – and they can help you on your journey toward your goals.

Edward Jones, Member SIPC

Please join us next time for Lessons from Experienced Investors, Part 2