Why Your Behaviour is Critical to Your Investment Outcomes

Why Your Investor Behaviour Is Critical to Your Investment Outcomes

When people think about investing, they often focus on finding the “best” fund, the “right” time to invest, or which market might perform better in the next 12 months.

But there’s a far more important factor that determines long-term success: your own behaviour.

However, while markets can be unpredictable, your behaviour doesn’t have to be.

Investor behaviour is closely linked to investment success.


The Silent Saboteur: Emotion-Driven Decisions

Markets rise and fall. That’s as much inevitable as it is natural. But it’s how investor behaviour is managed and how you respond to those ups and downs that matters most.

  • Panic selling in a downturn locks in losses that could have been recovered.

  • Chasing the latest “hot” investment leads to buying high and selling low.

  • Trying to time the market typically results in missing the best days—ironically, some of which come right after the worst ones.

Numerous studies have shown that the average investor significantly underperforms the market—not because of poor investments, but because of poor timing decisions.

Behaviour, not markets, is the main culprit.


The Value of Staying the Course

If you had invested €10,000 in a global equity index fund 20 years ago and simply left it alone, your investment would have grown substantially—even with the global financial crisis, COVID crash, and every doomsday headline in between.

But had you moved in and out of the market based on fear or excitement, the outcome would be far worse.

Time in the market over Timing the market.


Your Plan Is Your Anchor

One of the key roles of a financial plan is to act as a behavioural anchor.

When markets wobble, it’s your plan — not your gut or your emotions — that should guide you.

At Fortitude, we build long-term investment strategies based on:

  • Your personal goals

  • Your risk tolerance

  • Your investment objectives
  • Your capacity for loss

  • A globally diversified portfolio

  • Evidence-based investing principles

This approach helps remove guesswork and emotion from the process. We can’t predict markets—but we can prepare for them.


How We Help

We don’t just build portfolios—we coach investor behaviour.

During periods of market stress, uncertainty, or euphoria, we’re here to remind you of the bigger picture.

That reassurance makes the difference between a good investment outcome and a poor one.

We’ve helped multiple clients stay the course through turbulent markets, and as a result, they’ve achieved strong long-term outcomes simply by sticking to the plan.

Final Thought

Your behaviour is the one factor in your investment journey that you can control. And with the right plan and a steady guide, you can stay on track—even when the headlines try to pull you off course.

If you’d like to talk about building a plan that helps you invest with clarity and confidence, we’re here to help.

📅 Click here to book your call now.

Visit our Insights – A hub of information covering saving, investing, financial planning, protection, and pension advice.

Our blog posts are intended for information purposes only and should not be interpreted as financial advice.

You should always engage the services of a fully qualified financial planner before entering any financial contract.

To discuss engaging the services of Fortitude Financial Planning please email us at info@fortitudefp.ie.

Fortitude Financial Planning Ltd will not be held responsible for any actions taken as a result of reading these blog posts.

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