From bushfires to Coronavirus - five ways to turn down the noise around investing

Shane Oliver, Head of Investment Strategy and Chief Economist

The attached note takes a look at the worry list for investors, which is currently focussed on coronavirus, and how to turn down the noise around investing. The key points are as follows:

  • The coronavirus outbreak, while horrible from a human perspective, is just another of a long list of worries for investors.

  • Our natural inclination to zoom in on negative news combined with a massive ramp up in the availability of information is arguably making us worse investors: more fearful, more jittery, more short-term.

Five ways to help manage the noise and turn down the worry list are: put the latest worry in context; recognise that shares return more than cash in the long-term because they can lose money in the short-term; find a process to help filter noise; make a conscious effort not to check your investments so much; look for opportunities that investor worries throw up.

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