The One Main Reason Why Investing is Stressful

Back in 1967, a big study called the Whitehall studies was done by Professor Michael Marmot. He looked at 28,000 British office workers for 40 years.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitehall_Study
For the first time, this study showed how stress from work really affects how long people live and their health.

It also found out if you’re higher up or lower down in your job affects how stressed you are.

You might think, well, that’s obvious, right?

People with big jobs, who look after lots of workers and have big decisions to make, must be the most stressed. They’ve got a lot on their plate. If things go wrong, it’s a big deal.

But, the Whitehall studies showed something surprising.

It was actually the workers lower down, not the big bosses, who were more stressed. These workers were not as healthy and had a way higher chance of dying earlier.

In fact, they were three times more likely to die earlier than the people at the top.

But why is that?

The second part of the Whitehall studies discovered something interesting about the workers lower down.

They didn’t have much support from friends or coworkers, their jobs were pretty repetitive, and the biggest issue was they couldn’t make any important decisions themselves. They have less control than people higher up. Thus they become more stressed

This idea of not having control is super relevant to in investing

When you invest, the market goes up and down for reasons you can’t predict, anticipate or control.

This can make investing feel like a wild ride where you’re not sure what’s going to happen next. It’s exciting when your investments do well, but really stressful when they don’t.

The stress comes from feeling out of control, just like the workers in the study.

But here’s a cool thing: realizing we can’t control the market can actually make us feel better.

It means we can focus on what we can control, like how we react and make decisions about our money. Here are some tips:

1. Spread Your Investments Out: Don’t put all your money in one place. Having different kinds of investments can help protect you when the market gets rough.
   
2. Know Your Comfort Zone: Some people are okay with big risks, and some aren’t. It’s important to invest in a way that doesn’t keep you up at night worrying.
   
3. Think Long-Term: The market will always have ups and downs. But if you’re investing for the long haul, you don’t need to worry about every little change.
   
4. Keep Learning: The more you know about how investing works, the more confident you’ll feel making decisions. Read books and read analysis and insights from someone who has been in the market longer than you. We have lots of expert analysis here on Tradingview that you can learn from. Use them to your advantage.
   

By doing these things, we can feel a bit more in control of our investing, which makes it less stressful.

Think of this like being the captain of your own ship in the big sea of the stock market. You can’t control the weather, but you can learn how to sail better and of course your respond to unfriendly weather.



So, the big takeaway from that old study isn’t just about work. It’s about life and investing too.

Feeling in control where we can makes a huge difference in how stressed we feel. And in investing, that means making smart choices with our money, so we don’t have to worry so much about the ups and downs. Find yourself a way to be okay with the ride.

Stop worrying about things you can’t control start focusing on things you can control.