The art of decluttering your investments

Stocks went up today. Stocks went down tomorrow.

Some stock skyrocketed and you feel like a stock-picking genius. Or you kick yourself for not getting in earlier.

Some holding tanked and you wonder why you’re so stupid.

The president did something again and now you’re anxious.

Experts say we’re in an AI bubble. The U.S. market can never repeat its past miracles.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Better research bonds, international markets, crypto, real estate, and gold too.

Index funds are flawed. They’ll be a big problem down the road.

Apparently factor investing funds trim the fat and outperform broad market index funds.

All of this is noise.

Walking through a casino, you’ll see every game imaginable. Each one fighting for your attention. You’ll also hear someone hitting the jackpot on a slot machine, cheering so loud it makes you jealous. But that’s just survivorship bias.

Capitalism ensures that most markets go up most of the time. Over the long haul, each day’s tides get smoothed away.

If your investment horizon is one year, just check the result after one year. How many times it went up or down in between doesn’t matter.

If your investment horizon is thirty years, just check the result after thirty years.

These short-term ups and downs and so-called optimizations may be as thrilling as the casino floor, but none of them deserve your most precious resource: your attention.

So what should you do?

Pick a low-fee, boring broad market index fund like VT or VTI. Then:

• Don’t invest money you’ll need in the short term.
• Don’t make any active trades. Don’t give yourself any choices.
• Set up automatic monthly contributions.
• Delete all stock and news apps.
• Unsubscribe from every investment and news channel.
• Leave every investment and news community.
• Tell your friends and family you don’t talk about investing.
• Don’t envy others’ returns. That’s the high risk they chose to take.

Then wait thirty years. Future you will be grateful.

If you really can’t resist, sneak a peek on New Year’s and your birthday.

Take all that saved attention and pour it into creating, earning, and enjoying life. That’s the real investment.

Alex Hsu

Indie developer, AI music miner, and aspiring writer.
Documenting my journey of personal growth and the pursuit of simplicity.