Investing for the long term: four principles for prudent investing

Successful investing isn’t about chasing excitement – you need a sensible strategy that lets you sleep at night.

Most people don't invest because they simply enjoy investing. Instead, they're trying to achieve a financial goal, such as securing a retirement income, building up a fund to pay school or university costs for children, or getting together the means to start a business, or many other reasons. So their main aim is to grow their wealth over the long term.

Unfortunately, many investors go about this the wrong way. Some think they need to hunt for outsize gains as fast as possible. So they look for excitement leaping from one hot sector to the next: from emerging markets to commodities to biotech. Others are deeply suspicious of the stockmarket they see it as a lottery where everything could vanish overnight. Every time the market drops, they must fight the temptation to sell everything.

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Cris Sholto Heaton

Cris Sholto Heaton is an investment analyst and writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2006 and was managing editor of the magazine between 2016 and 2018. He is especially interested in international investing, believing many investors still focus too much on their home markets and that it pays to take advantage of all the opportunities the world offers. He often writes about Asian equities, international income and global asset allocation.

Cris began his career in financial services consultancy at PwC and Lane Clark & Peacock, before an abrupt change of direction into oil, gas and energy at Petroleum Economist and Platts and subsequently into investment research and writing. In addition to his articles for MoneyWeek, he also works with a number of asset managers, consultancies and financial information providers.

He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and the Investment Management Certificate, as well as degrees in finance and mathematics. He has also studied acting, film-making and photography, and strongly suspects that an awareness of what makes a compelling story is just as important for understanding markets as any amount of qualifications.