Investing is usually easy, except when it’s not. Over the last 10 years or so, except for a few short and temporary corrections, it has been relatively easy. The past decade consisted of ultra-low interest rates, low to no inflation, and lots of fiscal and monetary stimulus (aka money printing).
Decision-Making During Times Of Uncertainty
Presently, we face a very different picture. As we all know, the future is filled with uncertainty but today’s environment may be more than we’re used to. Today’s landscape includes higher inflation, rising interest rates, and slightly tighter monetary policy. This is just not something we’re used to or have even had to worry about in a while.
We all desire to make good decisions but during times of uncertainty, we must have confidence in the decisions we do make. Decisions can often look “bad” at first but can turn out to be good in the future, and vice versa. So that begs the question, how can we have greater confidence and trust in our decisions, especially when they don’t look great at the time?
Steps For Trusting Your Decisions
1. Take Your Time
It’s human nature to react based on emotion. Our fears cause our brains to act irrationally and we desire to have an immediate solution. So it’s important to take a step back and pause, allowing our brains to think and seek out more information to assist in our decision-making process.
2. Get more information
Spend the majority of our time gathering information. This does two things. It allows us to reflect on the situation and reset our perspective. It also helps us see different points of view rather than focusing on the loudest, most repeated ones.
3. Talk It Out
A financial advisor should be someone that you can have tough conversations with. They should be willing to hear you out and help you filter through the noise in the financial world. They should be able to ask great questions and have you at the center of any discussion. He or She should be able to provide honest and objective information that will help you with the important financial decisions you have to make.
None of us have a crystal ball and that’s ok. We can’t control what the financial market will do but we can control we respond. It’s been my experience that our behavior has the greatest impact on the success of our financial plan.
We are here to help our clients achieve results that have the greatest impact, no matter how easy or difficult the financial markets make it.
OneAscent Financial Services, LLC (“OAFS”), d/b/a Provident Oak Financial, is a registered investment adviser with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. OAFS does not make any representations or warranties as to the accuracy, timeliness, suitability, completeness, or relevance of any information prepared by OAFS or any unaffiliated third party. OAFS is neither an attorney nor accountant, and no portion of the presented content should be interpreted as legal, accounting, or tax advice. All such information is provided solely for convenience purposes only and all users thereof should be guided accordingly.