What benchmark do you use to track your progress on your life? Your overall happiness, your bonus at the end of the year, or how well your kids seem to be doing in school and their extracurricular activities?
Often times, us as investors tend to benchmark our goals and progress in life based on the S&P 500 index that is constantly being updated every single hour of every single day.
The biggest problem with that, among others, is that the index is completely out of your control. Making your life goal focused on beating the market ultimately sets you up for failure.
Hypothetically, if you beat the market index, but don't ever achieve your real goals, like buying your dream car, traveling to all 50 states, or prioritizing your health to watch your grandkids grow up, then ultimately you may have failed.
You didn't achieve the goals that were actually important to making sure you lived a full life.
Now, if you don't beat the market index, but you bought that dream car, travelled to all 50 states, and have been taking a walk every day to improve your health, did the market index ever really matter?
The most important thing you can do as an investor is to take your focus off how the market did today and focus on how your accounts are doing long term.
Trust your advisor and allow them to help make the necessary changes needed to your portfolio. Their job is to help you reach your goals and that you have the finances to do so. Long-term, watch your portfolio progress and continue to expand your personal goals.________________________________________________________________________
Alex Bishop, CRPC®, MS, is a Private Wealth Advisor and Franchise Owner with Bishop Financial Partners, a private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC in Huntersville, NC. He specializes in fee-based financial planning and asset management strategies and has been in practice for 24 years. To contact him, https://www.ameripriseadvisors.com/alex.h.bishop or alex.h.hishop@ampf.com.
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