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Tortoise vs Hare: Why Patience Is Key to Investment Success

ended 25. April 2026

A year on from the Trump tariff-driven market wobble, investors who stayed the course are now seeing the benefits — but many didn’t.

At the time, typical balanced investors saw falls of around 10%. Fast forward 12 months, and many are now sitting on gains of around 20%. In reality, that means they’ve recovered their losses and are now around 8% ahead overall — a strong outcome given where they started.

Scott Gallacher, Director at Rowley Turton, said:

“Staying invested always sounds easy in hindsight. A year ago, many investors were looking at 10% losses and seriously questioning whether to get out.

“Fast forward a year and those same portfolios may be up around 20%. They’ve recovered the losses and are now around 8% ahead overall — which shows how markets can reward patience.

“The problem is that many investors don’t experience that recovery because they bail out at the worst possible moment. The real skill in investing isn’t timing markets — it’s managing behaviour.”

Call for expert comment:

  • Are investors still too quick to react during periods of market volatility?
  • How can advisers help clients stay invested during downturns?
  • Has recent market turbulence changed investor behaviour — or are the same mistakes repeating?
     

7 responses from the Newspage community

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Scott GallacherVerified
Director at Rowley Turton
Sitting tight has once again proved to be one of the most valuable investment decisions. Time and again, it’s the patient investor — not the reactive one — who comes out ahead. Markets will always wobble, but those who stay the course give themselves the best chance of turning short-term setbacks into long-term progress.
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Rob MansfieldVerified
Independent Financial Advisor at Rootes Wealth Management
It's so easy to see the trend as never ending. In rising markets, it can be tempting to just ignore things and in falling markets it can feel like a recovery is never going to happen. Successful investment requires us to detatch that emotional side and look at it coldly to assess the prospects and risks attached. It's not easy and it requires disclipine and so if you don't want to spend the time doing the hard graft research, you should consult a professional.
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Antonia MedlicottVerified
Founder & MD at Investing Insiders
It’s natural for investors to feel nervous and think about cashing out during periods of turbulence in the markets, but as data shows from last year, the global crash in 2008, and during the pandemic, most investors who stayed invested reaped the benefits. This still seems to be a systematic problem with behaviour, as people make the same mistakes, even this year, since the start of the US-Iran conflict.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve told people that time in the market will outdo timing the market, and too many people still ignore that and withdraw their investments, which locks in the losses. The largest impact isn't being invested during a downturn, but not being invested during a recovery.

Advisers should tell their clients not to let short-term headlines derail long-term plans. Portfolios should be reviewed to ensure they remain aligned with the client's goals and risk tolerance, but they should have the data to persuade clients to avoid reacting solely to fear.
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Chris SchutrupsVerified
Founder at The Mortgage Hut / William James Wealth Management
This article reflects what I see regularly in practice. Behavioural finance has long shown that investors can be their own worst enemy when markets turn volatile, and the past 12 months are a clear example.

When portfolios fell around 10% after tariff-driven turbulence, the urge to “do something” was enormous. But selling at the lows locks in losses and risks missing the recovery. Those who stayed invested are now around 8% ahead, while those who sold are still wondering when it feels “safe” to return.

Timing the market can feel rational in the moment, but emotional decisions during downturns often do more harm than good. The average investor frequently underperforms the very funds they invest in because of poorly timed exits and entries.

My role is not just to build a solid portfolio. It is to help clients stay the course when every instinct tells them to run. Patience is not passive, it is one of the most valuable things an investor can practise.
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Paul DenleyVerified
CEO at Oakham Wealth Management
Markets recover over time. The question is not if, but when. That certainty makes market timing not just futile, but dangerous.
Attempting to predict the future is a mug’s game. JK Galbraith said, “The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.” Buffett put it, “Forecasts may tell you a great deal about the forecaster; they tell you nothing about the future.”
If you missed the market’s 10 best days over 30 years, your returns would have been cut in half. The investor who sold on Liberation Day may or may not have locked in a loss, but the bigger question is when to admit the error & reinvest - a ruinous sequence driven not by markets, but behaviour.
Buffett said, “We don’t have to be smarter than the rest. We have to be more disciplined than the rest.”
Long term returns are driven by asset allocation, not prediction or reaction. The manager’s role is not to call markets, but to stand between a client & their worst decision at precisely the wrong moment
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Graham NicollVerified
Financial Planner, Chartered FCSI at NCL Wealth Partners
Emotional reactions can drive investors to make rash decisions during periods of market volatility.

Advisors have a huge part to play in helping clients to understand their own composure when it comes to investing, to educate about the journey of investing (and the importance of remaining invested for the medium to long term) and in turn supporting clients during the inevitable market fluctuations.

Getting clients to complete risk profiling at the outset can seem like merely a regulatory requirement, but getting clients to undertaken this exercise with an effective profiling tool and then investing quality time to explore the output with clients is critical in the whole advice and investing process. Using this alongside insight to past market shocks helps clients to build understanding, confidence and in turn compare towards investing.
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Rohit Parmar-MistryVerified
Founder at Pattrn Data
Yes, investors are still too quick to react when markets turn volatile, because the emotional experience of a fall is far stronger than the intellectual case for staying put. A 10% drop rarely feels like a temporary repricing in the moment. It feels like the start of something worse, which is why people often make long term decisions in a short term panic.

That is where advisers add real value. Their job is not just portfolio construction. It is behavioural coaching, expectation setting, and reminding clients what the plan was before the stress arrived. The best advisers build resilience before a downturn, not just reassurance during one.

Recent turbulence has not changed human behaviour as much as people think. The same mistakes still repeat because the underlying pattern is constant: investors chase certainty when markets cannot offer it. The lesson is not that volatility has disappeared or become safer. It is that discipline, diversification, and time are still doing most of the h