It can take considerable willpower to ignore the market’s herd mentality and behave rationally. To keep your head when others are losing theirs.

But if you truly want to be a successful investor, you must embrace this one simple truth. The market is only relevant on the days shares are bought or sold. In between times – which may span decades – the market should be ignored.

Day-to-day (or even month-to-month) fluctuations in the sharemarket do not make you richer or poorer. Only changes in a business’ intrinsic value can actually do that.

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