The courage to feel left out

You’ve probably heard a few stories of investors who made a fortune with a single investment decision. The neighbour who bought Amazon early and saw massive returns, or the colleague who invested in AI startups and is now talking about early retirement.

When you hear stories like these, it’s natural to feel like you’re being left out. However, for every success story you hear, there are countless others you don’t. Families who chased the next big thing, only to watch significant capital disappear when they backed the wrong company or the hype faded.

Every new technology and industry will lead to incredible success stories for some investors. However, for most investors, risking the family financial fortress on isolated bets is irresponsible.

While it makes sense to have some exposure to sectors driving our future, every successful investor must become comfortable with feeling under-allocated to the hottest trends.

I strongly believe that every wise investor needs to have the courage to feel left out.

Top stocks are hiding in plain sight in your portfolio

Here’s the irony: you probably already own the companies you think you’re missing out on.

That Amazon stock your neighbour keeps bragging about? It’s sitting in your global equity portfolio right now. Those AI companies making headlines? Your diversified funds are likely to hold shares in some of them.

But here’s why it doesn’t feel that way. When you own a stock directly, every price movement becomes personal. You track it regularly, feel each rise and fall, and own the story along with the shares. The dopamine rush is real and addictive.

When you own a stock through a fund, it’s hidden among hundreds of other holdings. There is no daily drama, no emotional highs and lows, no story to tell at parties. Just steady participation in whatever growth occurs.

Your brains crave the excitement of individual ownership, even though the diversified approach often delivers better results. It’s understandable that you want to feel like an active participant, not a passive beneficiary.

Mature investors recognise this psychological gap and embrace it. They know they’re not actually missing out. They’re participating more intelligently.

Time-tested wisdom beats the latest fad

Since you already participate in the winners through diversification, the question becomes: should you stick with this proven method or complicate it by chasing individual opportunities?

This brings you to a fundamental choice every investor faces. You can focus on what has always worked, or you can focus on what appears to be working now. Mature investors choose the former. Those chasing returns get distracted by the latter.

What has always worked? Global equities have consistently rewarded patient investors across every technological shift. Whether it was railways, electricity, automobiles, computers, or the internet, the great companies adapted and thrived. The businesses that couldn’t adapt were replaced by those that could.

Your diversified portfolio captures this innovation without requiring you to guess which specific companies will lead the next wave of innovation. You benefit from human ingenuity and progress without the stress of picking winners.

Every generation believes its current investment opportunity is different and revolutionary. The fundamentals of business growth and compound returns remain constant, even as the headlines change.

Mature investors understand that what feels exciting today will likely be tomorrow’s forgotten fad. They choose time-tested wisdom over trendy speculation.

Stick to your plan and let others follow trends

If you’re between 40 and 55, you’re perfectly positioned to embrace this time-tested approach. You have both the time horizon and the life experience to choose wisdom over excitement.

Your 10 to 25 years until retirement means steady returns are more than enough for financial independence. You don’t need to look for dramatic returns. Your peak earning years allow you to save and invest consistently, and your time horizon enables you to weather temporary volatility.

More importantly, you have the maturity to see through the hype cycles. You’ve lived through enough “revolutionary” investment opportunities to recognise the pattern. You understand that what feels urgent and exciting today rarely has a lasting impact on long-term wealth building.

This combination of time and wisdom puts you in the sweet spot. You can choose to be content with feeling left out while others chase the latest trends. You can focus on what has always worked while others get distracted by what seems to be working now.

Your future self will thank you for having the courage to stay invested in proven fundamentals rather than speculative bets. I’m here to help you maintain this discipline. Sometimes the most courageous thing you can do is nothing at all.

Get in touch

If you would like to talk about your own investment strategy, or any of the issues raised in this article, please get in touch.

You can call me on 07769 156 250.

Please note

This blog is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at retail clients only.

Please do not act based on anything you might read in this article. All contents are based on our understanding of HMRC legislation, which is subject to change.

The value of your investments (and any income from them) can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

Investments should be considered over the longer term and should fit in with your overall attitude to risk and financial circumstances.