Fidelity Mutual Fund has an interesting tool on their Indian website which demonstrates the need to stay invested during the “bad days”. It is because of such bad days that you reap benefits with the good days.

For instance, the worst day was May 17, 2004 when the Sensex dropped 11.14 percent. Those who exited on that day would have missed out on a gain of 8.25 percent the very next day. Check out what the tool reveals.

Moral of the story? The bad days are actually good for you if you stick to your guns and don’t deviate from your investment plan. After all, a successful investor is not one who accurately predicts the direction of the markets. To do so you would have to either be an astrologer with a very high success rate or God; chances are that you are neither. So stick to basics, which mean ignore your emotions and behave rationally. At least when it comes to your money.

(The Author is Larissa Fernand from Fundsupermart.com)