Although investing in VOO and QQQ has many benefits and is worth holding for the long term, you might be wondering, can I really trust investing in VOO and QQQ and hold them for 10 to 20 years or more?
This question isn’t just for beginners; even those who have been investing for several years often ponder it.
So, based on my own experience, I’ll first explain why this feeling of unease arises. Then, I’ll share my methods for overcoming these concerns. Finally, I’ll offer my personal thoughts on whether you can trust investing in VOO and QQQ.
Why do we feel uneasy about investing in VOO and QQQ?
The reasons I categorize for feeling insecure about investing in VOO and QQQ are as follows:
Excessively monitoring stock prices and investment account balances
Excessively monitoring stock prices and investment account balances can easily lead to feelings of agitation and contribute to your sense of insecurity.
When you first start investing in VOO and QQQ, or even if you haven’t been investing for long, you may frequently open the app to check the current value of your investment account or to see where the prices of VOO and QQQ are at.
In this cycle of checking and re-checking, you may gradually start to worry about whether to sell if there’s a drop tomorrow or whether to continue holding if there’s a rise. These lingering questions can be unsettling.
Moreover, such worries can escalate when sudden large increases or decreases occur, prompting you to make unnecessary decisions, such as selling when you shouldn’t.
The uncertainty of future market fluctuations
The uncertainty of future market fluctuations is also a factor that causes unease.
As discussed earlier in this article, because we aren’t omnipotent, whether you use fundamental analysis, technical analysis, or market sentiment analysis, you cannot predict whether stock prices will rise or fall in the future.
Since stock prices are unpredictable, it’s difficult to ascertain whether continuously investing in this manner is right or wrong, leading to a significant question mark in your mind.
Moreover, you may worry that if you happen to encounter a market crash when you need the money in the future, you’ll incur significant losses.
All these uncertainties can lead to doubts about whether this approach is the right one.
Being distracted by too many things
Additionally, being distracted by too many things can also be a factor contributing to your unease.
When you first start investing, you’ll often find yourself consuming a lot of financial news, analysis from financial programs, browsing through discussions on platforms like Reddit, X, IG, and joining groups or chat rooms to see what others are sharing.
This “excessive” amount of information can easily distract you, making you feel like everyone else’s opinions make sense and that they’re earning more than you would with VOO and QQQ. As a result, you might be tempted to allocate some funds to what appears to be promising assets.
However, after investing, if the performance doesn’t meet your expectations, you’ll regret your decision and decide to continue investing in VOO and QQQ.
Then, before long, you’ll find yourself exposed to similar information again, becoming distracted once more, leading to regret, and the cycle repeats indefinitely.
How to get through it?
After identifying the reasons that cause unease, the next step is to find ways to overcome them.
Here, I’ll share my three approaches:
Ask yourself why you want to invest in VOO and QQQ, and what your investment plan is.
First, you need to ask yourself why you want to invest in VOO and QQQ, and what your investment plan is.
For me, the reason I invest in VOO and QQQ is to prepare for my future retirement funds.
Moreover, when looking at the long-term trends of VOO and QQQ tracking indices, they generally show an upward trend. Of course, there may be major or minor crashes along the way, but they do not hinder the overall trend.
Knowing that the long-term trend is upward, there is no need to worry about short-term events affecting the long-term trend. Therefore, I can confidently invest in VOO and QQQ.
Thus, my investment plan is simple: as long as I have surplus money every month, whether it’s a fixed monthly amount or a year-end bonus, I will invest it all in VOO and QQQ through dollar-cost averaging.
Once you’ve determined the reasons for buying and planned accordingly, just stick to the plan.
Close all financial news sources and social medias, lower the noise
Next, close all financial news sources, forums, and accounts related to Raddit, X, IG, and TikTok.
The benefit of doing this is that you won’t be influenced by others and can minimize distractions, allowing you to focus on executing your investment plan.
You might ask, “Doesn’t this mean missing out on a lot of information and money-making opportunities?”
All I can say is that these sources of information, whether for me or for your investment plan, generally offer little to no help. Moreover, many times, they lead to losses rather than gains (the details of which I won’t delve into here).
Tell yourself you’re on the way to be rich, when you want to give up
Many times, you may feel like giving up because you don’t see immediate results or encounter challenges.
But let me tell you, there’s really no need to give up.
The stock market, like life itself, has its ups and downs. Just as there are times of smooth sailing, there are also times of adversity. This is perfectly normal and is part of the journey you must take before becoming wealthy.
So, when you feel like giving up, take a moment to look back and see how far you’ve come on this path to wealth. If you give up now, you’ll have to spend the same amount of time starting over again. Isn’t that a waste?
Learn to accept these ups and downs as part of the journey, and maintain a calm mindset. Knowing that you’re already on the path to wealth will make it less likely for you to give up.
What’s my view for it?
Finally, as someone who has been investing in VOO and QQQ for several years, am I confident in continuing to invest in them?
My answer is, Yes, I’m very confident.
The reason is as mentioned earlier: the long-term trends tracked by VOO and QQQ indices have consistently been upward. This also indicates that the U.S. economy is expected to continue growing in the long term. Even though there may be various recessions along the way, new technologies and innovations will likely lead to another wave of recovery.
As long as I believe in this cycle of growth continuing, it’s enough to make me feel confident in continuing to invest in VOO and QQQ.
So, feel free to invest in VOO and QQQ with confidence!