Instituting Investing Rules: Lessons from the Brexit

The world had its eyes on the United Kingdom on June 23, as returns from their national referendum on whether to withdraw from the European Union began to roll in. The ultimate victory of the “leave” camp sent shock waves through political and financial sectors, as investors saw the British pound crash to a 30-year low and markets experienced a significant drop.

The market crash post-Brexit panicked a lot of investors. Of course, investors and advisors should have basic philosophies that they stick to, even in times of market crashes, such as not following the herd and selling off when a stock is lowest. (You can read more about the detriments of panic selling here.) But it may be beneficial to establish some firmer rules for exactly what qualities the investments you make will have.

For example, consider the following from Kevin O’Leary, Shark Tank judge and O’Shares chairman: “Imagine if you could create the perfect portfolio manager that had no style drift, that never, ever got emotionally involved in a stock, that only used the most hardcore rules on balance sheet testing, and never, ever strayed from that. That’s what rule-based investing is. It takes out one of the challenges I’ve found as an investor over the decades.”

In other words, you have to eliminate emotion from your investing. As a retirement saver, this can be incredibly difficult after big market swings, whether up or down. We’ve previously explained why active management doesn’t win and one of the benefits of passive investment management is that since it takes a long-term view, it reduces the role of emotion in investment decisions. Creating investing rules can be a good extension of this strategy.

This article was originally published on Investopedia.com

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