Investing for the long haul

Whenever I hear the word investment, I find that most people are talking about retirement.  In fact that is the idea that pops up into most people's minds and that is the only reason why they even invest.  The idea of putting away a significant portion of your money only for retirement sounds a little strange to me.  Why not invest to increase your income currently?  There are lots of ways to invest.  As a matter of fact there are tons of different markets that each entail thousands of companies with multiple different ways to spend money in hopes of getting a greater return with your money.

So what is a more wise way to invest your money, short returns or long returns? It is a complicated question that even the most successful companies that play long and short returns like American FX Capital who succeed in both areas will not give a definitive answer.  They will simply say the most profitable route.  Sometimes that is a quick turnaround trade of a few days, and sometimes that is a long hold trade of a year or more that gets the return they were seeking.  So as a normal American worker, what type of length of investment should you look for.

I would say it depends on your age and your goals.  I have known many individuals who just lost 25-45% of their entire investments twice in the last 12 years.  The 2008 market crash destroyed their portfolios and yet again with the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic.  If you are nearing retirement and don’t have enough money to live on, then some times instead of buying very safe slow investments like an annuity many people are taking lots more high risk stocks instead. 

The losses that people have experienced have changed the game in their later years.  Where normally when you near retirement you don’t have the money to lose if the market goes bad so you make safe investments that are less likely to lose money, but won’t gain as much interest either.  Now since people have lost so much they are desperate to make more and risk has taken on a better look for them.

So the short term higher risk is looking more enticing these years for the individuals nearing retirement.  Where on the other hand younger individuals are seeing lots of opportunity for long holding investments because of the market crashes.  Each has many risks because a long hold is still subject to the same crashes that just occurred in the last 12 years.  So invest well and seek professional financial advice from your local broker, investment firm, or attorney.  We are only talking about the market as we see it.  Stay safe and stay profitable.