Financial news is just as relentless. “Share prices are up 3%”, the ticker on your computer screen might tell you. Next, your phone could ping with a notification that bond prices in Europe are under pressure. And you can be sure that one of your podcasts will run ads for the “next big thing” in finance.
Keeping up with it all is hard. In fact, it’s impossible. The good news is that we don’t have to. In fact, we’re probably better off ignoring just about all of the daily updates about finance and investing, and harnessing the wisdom of Warren Buffett: “The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.”
So, if the barrage of short-term financial news is mostly a distraction, where can investors get useful information?
Where to get credible information before investing in a company
One important category of information is corporate earnings. These cut through the noise and tell us how big companies are doing. The audited results follow a regulated process that helps remove the sort of bias that can creep into financial information, too.
Inflation is another fundamental that matters to everyone. By definition, it moves slowly, so the daily cacophony isn’t a major factor. We’re interested in how a sustained rise in the general price level impacts the buying power of our money – and how to plan our investments accordingly.
Today’s elevated levels of global tension highlight the importance of politics. Again, it’s usually not the latest comment or scandal that deserves our attention. Rather, smart investors gain an appreciation for the lasting themes. The gradual shifting of economic power, worldwide attitudes regarding trade, and the dynamics of political and economic alliances like BRICS and the European Union.
The trouble with focusing on Trump
US President Donald Trump’s recent Liberation Day announcement of widespread tariffs on imports offers a cautionary case in point. In the days following the shock news on 2 April 2025, markets around the world plummeted.
Predictably, the media lit up with emotional responses and no shortage of gloomy predictions. Some investors took the chance to escape and sold shares.
How did selling work out? Well, most stock exchanges had regained their losses in a matter of weeks. Panic sellers will have suffered much of the initial losses and missed the recovery. Patient investors withstood the slump and were in the market when prices lifted.
The one thing investors should take from this is this: Trump’s tariffs announcement was certainly part of an important global trend of trade protectionism. However, it was very much the type of news most investors should treat as noise. At any given time, we can’t know what Trump or any other influential player will do next. (As we now know, Trump announced a pause on tariffs just days later.) And even if we did know the next move, it’s impossible to calculate how markets will respond.
In short, investing is not so much about how much you know. It’s about how much you ignore. This lets you focus on the information that matters to you and your long-term financial plan.
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