It is an experience that everyone has experienced. You go to the doctor, or as happened to me, you take a family member to the doctor. The doctor diagnoses and recommends some ‘lifestyle’ medicines like exercise, diet etc. The patient is disappointed. Compare this to another doctor who prescribes four tests and one scan and then some expensive medicines. How do people react to these two situations? When I pronounce it this way, most of you will understand where my priorities are, but in the real world, when the patient feels like there’s something wrong with him, and when no one else is paying attention. So it’s natural. To prefer another type of doctor. We’ve all done it—I know I have. This is human nature. We all like to take our problems seriously, and focus on ‘something is being done’ about our problems.

Many people, when faced with an experience with the first doctor, even refused to pay the fee because the doctor did nothing. The result is that the market pushes doctors to a different approach. The first model hasn’t had much financial success and growth, even though it is the first type of doctor to provide real healthcare.

Since you’d expect this page to be about saving and InvestmentI’m sure you know where I’m going with this. There is an exact parallel between the medical condition I described and the whole activity of seeking advice and guidance personal Finance, I have personally dealt with it many times, though in an informal capacity with friends and family. An acquaintance contacts me for investment advice. I look at the investments, listen to the financial needs of the person and then say that everything is fine, keep doing what you are doing, no action is needed. Disappointment can be seen on their faces at times. They think I wasn’t listening at all and haven’t tried to think carefully.

Of course they think their portfolio can be improved but I don’t care. Sometimes, it’s worse. I can see that they will not be able to meet their financial goals, but there is nothing wrong with the actual choice of investment – only they need to invest more. The advice, that people should save more and invest more, ranks even higher. To the other person, it sounds like I’m not bothered at all. If you want more money, save more money. This is a problem that every conscientious financial advisor has to face, whether he is acting professionally or not. In fact, it’s even a problem that investment tuning tools in apps and websites face. I’ve seen highly capable automated tools that can tell you a lot about your investment, or sometimes, tell you there’s nothing to tell!

The net result is that the second doctor comes into the picture. You get the same financial equivalent as a doctor who will order various tests and scans and come up with certain ailments that require specialized treatment. For example, you will never (and I really mean never) find a financial advisor from a bank or some other large company who will tell you that all is well with your investments, or even very little. To be done. Why? There is no money in it. However, we must acknowledge that it is enabled by our own instinct that the more one does, the better it is for our investment.

The whole idea of ​​continuous action is actually quite misguided. When I think of the actual activity that should take most of the time investors, then it should be nothing, provided they have built a good portfolio. For most—almost all—of an investment’s lifetime, you shouldn’t do anything about it. Most of the activity involved in investing (though this is not the correct term) is waiting. Waiting months and years until your investment grows.

(The writer is CEO, Value Research.)