Initial thoughts on the overnight news on tariffs
Achieving your goals takes humility, patience and consistency.
What a week. It is hard to know exactly what to write because minutes after publishing an article it could all be out of date. Like you I woke up this morning to the latest round of tariff mayhem. It is all a little shocking.
We don’t cover the news at Morningstar so I will leave it to others to say what happened. We are not political at Morningstar so others can weigh in on the fallout. Our goal is to help you achieve your financial goals. To do that we seek to provide measured guidance on how to navigate sometimes turbulent markets.
Throughout this manufactured crisis we’ve provided the consistent message that deviating from your plan and strategy is risky at the best of times—more so when things are moving so quickly.
I perhaps incorrectly characterised this as the ‘do nothing’ approach. In reality it is the keep doing what you are doing approach. In the absence of a crystal ball that remains the wise course of action.
There are lots of moving parts right now. This is especially the case for the Australian companies that are overly reliant on China. You will be inundated with opinions about what to do today. I would suggest you take them with a grain of salt.
In the age of instant news and opinion more emphasis is put on being first than being right. Our team is working through the impact that today’s news will have on markets and individual companies. A thoughtful response takes a little time. We appreciate your patience.
As anxiety was rising around the US election in November I wrote about three traits that lead to long-term investing success—humility, patience and consistency. Now is the time to reflect on those qualities.
Have the humility to understand that short-term events are out of your control and there are many things you don’t know and can’t forsee.
Stay patient because all the change that seems profound, scary and unique as it occurs fades in importance over time.
Have confidence that success stems from consistently following a plan while the world manically pursues whatever seems ‘best’ based on the short-term news cycle.
As always, please let me know your thoughts or if you have any questions at mark.lamonica1@morningstar.com
