You Have to Give it Time

By Dan Crimmins on February 28, 2018 in Behavioral Factors in Investing

You have to give it time. It’s only been a couple of days.

Generally I’m on the receiving end of this advice. However, recently my wife Maureen came down with the very persistent head cold. After trying to battle it herself for several weeks, she reluctantly headed to the doctor.

medication photo

Her doctor prescribed her a Z-pak. Z-Pak is a form of the brand-name medication which contains the antibiotic azithromycin. For those who are not familiar with the incredible Z pak, it is an antibiotic medication that you take for five days, but the medicine stays in your system for 10+ days. Azithromycin is used to treat a wide variety of bacterial infections. It works by stopping the growth of bacteria.

I unfortunately have been prone to bronchitis throughout the years and have been on this medicine more times than I care to remember. Thus I knew the words that Maureen would speak to me often when I would complain that I was not getting any better.

You have to give it time. It’s only been a couple of days.

Medical professionals understand when they prescribe this medicine that it will ultimately be effective. Being citizens of the modern era, we expect instant results.

It is the job of the doctors (and in Maureen’s case – Me ) to keep their patients taking the medicine for the five days – even if they don’t think that it is working – in order to have the desired result.

This is very similar to what we do for our clients and their financial health. When we devise a plan and a corresponding investment portfolio that we know will result in success, we understand that the benefits of this planning may take a while to unfold.

We work hard with our clients and try to have them have the discipline and patience to stay with the prescribed plan so they will benefit and achieve the results that they had envisioned.

So while the results that we need to deal with may take years, the decision is the same with just tweaking on the time duration.

You have to give it time. It’s only been a couple of years.

This is especially true when we have new clients who have come to us and invest in the global stock market right as the stock market experiences a downturn. It can be frustrating and disappointing that the results are not faster to instill confidence in the plan.

However, like doctors, we use historical data to develop the plans and investment portfolios that have shown in the past to have been successful. Ultimately, investors success is determined by the ability to stay invested in the plan through discipline and patience. This is our value proposition helping them to stay the course.

Just like the wise advice given by doctors, “be sure to take your Z-Pak or generic azithromycin exactly as your doctor prescribes. It’s important to take all of the antibiotics that you are prescribed. This is true even if you feel better before you’ve taken the full course of treatment.”

For us, stay the course with your plan and investment allocation through time if you want the full benefits of the “treatment”.

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The foregoing content reflects the opinions of Crimmins Wealth Management and is subject to change at any time without notice. Content provided herein is for informational purposes only and should not be used or construed as investment advice or a recommendation regarding the purchase or sale of any security. There is no guarantee that the statements, opinions or forecasts provided herein will prove to be correct. Past performance may not be indicative of future results. All investing involves risk, including the potential for loss of principal. There is no guarantee that any investment plan or strategy will be successful.