[Today’s post is from Crispy Doc, an emergency physician who lives and works in California. We’ve got a short, but sweet article today that stresses the importance and beauty of staying hands-off with your investing. Many investors feel the need to do something (pick stocks, find a star fund manager) to make money, when they should just take what the market gives them and avoid losing money through bad trades and high fees. This article previously ran on Crispy Doc’s blog in May 2017. -WSP]
One of my favorite attendings in residency used to quip: “Don’t just do something, stand there!” This was said in the Emergency Department at UCLA, not exactly known as a place of passive observation in the face of chaos, but the underlying Hippocratic rationale was solid: unless your intervention is likely to help the patient, first do no harm.
Strangely, many physician-investors who take an oath not to harm their patients feel no such compulsion to avoid harming their portfolio.
I’m not talking about the financially literate doc who enjoys tinkering and running analysis because the activity brings them a sense of accomplishment. If you are going to pursue a hobby, by all means choose one with a tangible benefit like developing a competence in personal finance.
I’m referring to the folks who choose individual stocks the way professional athletes choose lucky underwear. By following their gut instead of creating and sticking to a solid investment policy statement, they all but ensure that there will never be any method to their madness.
They chase performance, buying the hot actively managed funds their colleagues discuss at the water cooler, without realizing that last year’s darlings are likely to become this year’s stinkers due to mean reversion.
Worst of all, they spend countless hours trying to find a shortcut to wealth by attempting to time the market. We’ve all encountered an irritatingly aggressive driver who keeps dangerously weaving in and out of lanes every two minutes in an attempt to beat the freeway traffic jam, and a few of us even get to witness the satisfaction of seeing said driver pulled over to the side of the road exchanging insurance information with the unlucky driver she just rear-ended. Just as it’s the patient driver who stays the course that arrives safely at their destination, so it is with the calm investor who avoids the common errors that we are predisposed to make.
There’s something amazing about passive index fund investing – what Jack Bogle has called “the majesty of simplicity” – that makes life easy without compromising long-term returns. You decide on the level of complexity you want for your asset allocation, invest accordingly, check perhaps once a year to rebalance your portfolio, and the rest of your time is free for the pursuits that bring you fulfillment alongside those people that give your life meaning.
It’s a beautiful thing when a simple but rational solution to an ostensibly complex topic like investment strategy rewards the person who spends more time doing things that bring them pleasure out of proportion with those they love.
What do you think? Do you find it remarkable that in investing, less is more?
I love this aspect of investing. It’s really tough for many doctors who want to be “the best” at everything.
I love it because it allows me more time to focus on other things that I love. I look each quarter at my portfolio and rebalance once each year.
TPP
There are a lot of things that may hold true in normal day life that just don’t hold true and seen counterintuitive.
The big one is paying for a product. In the real world it mostly holds true that the more you pay for something the better quality it is (again not always the case).
In the financial world paying more often does not help and most likely hurts your bottom line. Index funds are beautiful in that they are simplistic, inexpensive, and track the entire market allowing you to do the slow and steady wins the race method of investing.
Xrayvsn,
Non sequitur thought of the day: Your words remind me of the Little Rascals Sunday morning cartoons of my childhood, specifically Spanky telling Alfalfa, “The bigger they are, the harder we fall.”
He was referencing bullies, but with fees in finance, the Little Rascals axiom hold true.
Is this sort of free association a sign of early onset cognitive decline?
Fondly,
CD
Great post CD. Less is better.
Means a lot coming from an MD/MBA!
If you don’t get more time to spend on the people you love, is time to reassess how you’re doing it.
I’m a big believer in good enough.
Appreciate the insights,
CD
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