Stock market trends are a lot like health food trends: usually fleeting, rarely helpful, and almost always championed by someone on TikTok. Margarine used to be considered “heart-healthy,” and now the pitchforks have come for seed oils. Bitcoin was the future…until it wasn’t.
Jumping on the latest and greatest may be trendy, but is that really the word we want to use when talking about an investment strategy? I’d rather be able to describe my finances as “low-maintenance,” “solid,” and “goal-focused,” thank you very much. And it’s not just me. Decades of market data and the investors who have actually lived through it say the same thing: the most reliable path to long-term wealth is *gasp* boring.
Expectation Vs. Reality
If your mental image of successful investing is Leonardo DiCaprio in a power suit with a few superyachts floating in the background, making your personal investment strategy boring (on purpose!) might seem wrong. But Hollywood makes for a terrible wealth plan, and so does flipping stocks or chasing headlines.
In an NPR interview, former bond manager Ben Trosky reflected on a career spent watching markets, cycles, and investor behavior. He channeled all of that experience into a philosophy he calls “strategic mediocrity.” No excellence or outperformance here! We want consistently, dependably average investments.
That might sound like a good way to disappoint your parents, inner child, and dog, but it’s actually the opposite. “It’s just the idea that you only take risk when you have conviction that you’re getting paid for that risk,” Trosky notes.
He found that trying to win often leads to mistakes. Chasing performance usually lands in regret. And pursuing “better than average” often produces worse results. So instead, he focused on capturing what the market reliably offers over time. Simple, boring, and gloriously effective.
The Temptation to Do More
If you were considered a gifted kid, this concept is counterintuitive to everything you were raised with (also, how’s that crushing weight of perfectionism?). And you’re not alone. A recent episode of The Intelligence podcast dug into the urge to do anything but sit still, especially when market volatility crops up. Specifically, is it possible for investors to protect themselves from an AI-driven market bubble using sophisticated strategies?
Option 1: Sell early. It sounds smart, but bubbles can inflate far longer than anyone anticipates. For example, during the dot-com boom, prices rose twelve times before crashing, meaning investors who exited early missed enormous gains.
Option 2: Okay, so what if you switch to bonds? Those failed in 2022 when both stocks and bonds fell simultaneously.
Option 3: What about gold? While it’s had a dramatic recent run, a single-day drop of nearly 9% raises real questions about its reliability.
Even “defensive stocks” (shares of consumer brand companies with steady demand, like Walmart or Coca-Cola) come with no guarantees. Long story short, the most dependable approach is a diversified, long-term, buy-and-hold portfolio. Sound familiar? Dare I say…boring?
Enter Mindfulness
Okay, so mediocrity is the winning strategy, but there’s a catch–it has to be your version of mediocrity. Here’s what I mean by that: your life looks different from your friends, siblings, coworkers, parents, etc. So a slow-and-steady, long-term investment strategy that works for you might look a little different than what works for someone else. It needs to reflect your timeline and the other financial elements of your life, which is why I always recommend making a plan with an advisor who spends more time listening than talking. On that note, grab this handy checklist to see if your advisor is really tuning in.
The other piece of the puzzle is commitment. Be the ambassador of boring. Stock market trends, who? We don’t care, because we’re busy going places (slowly), and that’s exactly how we want it. If tracking our holdings involves more action than watching paint dry, we’re recalibrating. You get the picture, but it’s easier in theory than reality. Tuning out the noise is a crucial part of keeping your mental peace and staying focused, but it can be challenging (more on that here). When you embrace a mediocre investment strategy, you get to spend a lot less time tracking market fluctuation and a lot more time on stuff you actually like to do.
A Different Measure of Success
What if we reframed what it means to win? Instead of asking “Am I beating the market?” (a question that leads most investors toward risky, reactive decisions), ask
– Am I consistently participating?
– Does my strategy fit my actual, current life and goals?
– Can I stick it out when things get uncomfortable?
Making long-term investing work for you has nothing to do with trends or timing the market, and everything to do with staying grounded and consistent. Boring, in other words, is a strategic choice that pays off. Will it make for an impressive personal update at your next family holiday? Nope. But it might mean you’ll be able to enjoy that holiday without worrying about a market crash. And it definitely means you’ve laid the groundwork for an investment strategy that’s empowering, efficient, and working for you in the background. Boring looks good on you.
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