Why Investors Shouldn’t Worry About Missed Insights

In today’s information driven world, investors are constantly surrounded by “insights”, fund performance updates, market predictions, and trending opportunities. Every day seems to bring a new chart showing what one could have invested in. It’s easy to feel that by missing a certain stock rally or fund movement, you’ve lost out on potential returns. But this mindset often distracts from what truly matters, that is staying committed to your financial goals.

At Nobias Artha, we often tell our clients:

You don’t build wealth by reacting to insights. You build it by following a plan.

Take the example of Rohit, a 32-year-old professional from Bengaluru investing for his daughter’s higher education 12 years away.

Last year, when small-cap funds delivered exceptional returns, he felt he’d missed out as his portfolio was focused on large-cap and hybrid funds. A friend’s “insight” suggested switching immediately to small-caps. Had Rohit acted on that impulse, his portfolio risk would have increased sharply and when the small-cap segment corrected, his short-term loss could have disrupted his long-term goal.
By staying invested in a goal-based plan, he avoided unnecessary churn and stayed on track for his child’s education fund.

Not every investment idea suits every investor. For example, a trending sectoral fund might perform well this quarter but if your goal is to buy a house in three years, such volatility can derail your liquidity needs. Goal-based investing ensures that your portfolio is built around purpose, not performance trends.

Psychology of “Missed Insights”

Underlying the behaviour of chasing every insight are psychological biases:

Fear of Missing Out (FOMO): We see others gain, we fear being left behind. FOMO is probably the biggest driver behind impulsive investment decisions. When we hear that “a fund gave 40% in six months” or “everyone’s making money in mid-caps” or way better “gold has crossed 1 lakh mark” our brain interprets this not as information, but as a threat of being left behind. In India, this behaviour is visible in the data. According to AMFI, small-cap and mid-cap mutual funds received record inflows in FY 2024-25 over ₹10,000 crore in just one quarter  even when SEBI and fund houses warned of overheating in valuations.

Why did investors still pour in? Because emotion overpowered logic. They didn’t want to miss the rally. FOMO triggers a competitive instinct a sense that others are getting ahead, and you must catch up. But historically, entering overheated sectors late often leads to underperformance. SEBI data shows that retail investors tend to enter equities at or near peaks and withdraw after corrections the exact opposite of “buy low, sell high.”

Regret Aversion: Humans are wired to avoid pain, especially emotional pain. In investing, this shows up as “regret aversion,” where people alter future decisions to avoid the feeling of regret they had from past “missed” opportunities.

Example: Suppose an investor ignored tech funds in 2020, saw them double by 2022, and now invests heavily in tech in 2025 when valuations are stretched. That’s regret aversion in action: trying to make up for the past instead of analysing the present. A Morningstar study found that investors, on average, earn 1.5–2% less than their funds’ actual returns simply because they enter late and exit early. In India too, investor returns often trail fund returns due to timing errors caused by such emotions

Social Comparison Bias:In the social-media age, everyone’s portfolio looks better than yours at least on Reddit or in WhatsApp groups. People post their best wins, not their average outcomes. When we constantly compare our performance to peers, we forget that each portfolio is unique built for different financial goals, timeframes, and risk appetites. Comparing your retirement plan to someone’s short-term trading success is like comparing a marathon to a sprint. Behavioural economists call this “relative utility” our satisfaction depends less on how well we’re doing in absolute terms and more on how well we’re doing relative to others. It’s why even a solid 12% return can feel disappointing if a friend boasts of 18%. The irony: your disciplined 12% might lead you to financial independence in 15 years, while your friend’s 18% could vanish in the next correction.

Information Overload and Decision Fatigue: Modern investors face too much information. Every notification claims to be an insight new fund rankings, macro news, or influencer videos. The brain is forced to make dozens of micro-decisions daily: “Should I act on this?” “Am I missing something?” This constant cognitive load causes decision fatigue and tired minds make impulsive decisions. Studies show that as the number of options increases, satisfaction decreases. It’s not the lack of data that hurts investors today, it's the lack of filtering. Some platforms do take advantage and place metrics on the app which will make the investors trade constantly- this just serves one thing, improving brokerage apps revenue.

The solution: automate where possible, and anchor your portfolio to a clear financial plan. Once your framework is set, 95% of “insights” become noise, not signals.

Recency Bias: Another common trap is recency bias assuming that what happened recently will continue to happen indefinitely.When small-caps outperform for two years, we expect them to keep outperforming. When markets fall for six months, we assume they’ll keep falling. This bias leads to pro-cyclical behaviour buying high, selling low. 

In 2023–24, Indian small-cap indices rallied over 60%. Recency bias made investors believe that the trend would never reverse. But historically, small-caps have seen sharp drawdowns following rallies, sometimes up to 30–40%. Professional advisors counter this by reminding clients: past performance is not predictive performance. Your plan should be built for the next decade, not the last quarter.

Managing Behavioural Biases: From Awareness to Action

At Nobias Artha, we often remind investors that understanding bias is only half the job the other half lies in creating systems that prevent emotions from driving financial decisions. Behavioural biases like FOMO (fear of missing out), regret aversion, or recency bias can’t be completely eliminated, but they can be managed through structure, data, and disciplined processes.

Here’s how a goal-based advisory framework helps turn awareness into lasting financial discipline:

Automate Decisions to Remove Emotion: When emotions drive timing, investors often buy high and sell low. By automating investments through Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) or auto rebalancing, you ensure that action happens by design, not impulse. SIPs take advantage of rupee cost averaging and reduce the urge to react to short-term market swings. In essence, automation replaces emotional timing with rational consistency.

Anchor Decisions to Your Goals Not Market Gossip: Your financial plan is your benchmark, not the market or your neighbour’s returns. Each portfolio at Nobias Artha is structured around specific goals, timelines, and risk profiles this ensures that investment choices are made with purpose. When you focus on progress towards your goals rather than reacting to every “hot” market story, you protect both your returns and your peace of mind.

Introduce a Cooling-Off Period Before Acting on New Insights: Every investor occasionally feels the pull of a “can’t-miss” opportunity. Instead of reacting instantly, adopt a 48-hour rule: pause, reflect, and re-evaluate. Often, this short gap helps your rational mind catch up with your emotional one. Many of our clients find that by the end of that period, the “urgent” idea no longer feels urgent and they’ve avoided an unnecessary switch.

Review With Purpose, Not Panic: Frequent checking amplifies anxiety. Market headlines change daily, but your goals likely span years or decades. At Nobias Artha, we recommend structured annual reviews to assess progress and rebalance when necessary. By reviewing once or twice a year rather than every time the market moves you focus on meaningful adjustments, not emotional reactions.

Partner With a SEBI-Registered Advisor for Objectivity: Behavioural biases are easier to spot in others than in ourselves. That’s why a SEBI-registered investment advisor adds value by acting as a rational filter between you and market noise. At Nobias Artha, our advisory process is built to challenge emotional decisions with data, provide context when volatility strikes, and hold clients accountable to their long-term strategy. At Nobias Artha, we align each recommendation with your risk tolerance, time horizon, and life goals, ensuring you don’t fall into the trap of reacting to what others are doing. Investors often compare their returns to Nifty or to a friend’s portfolio. But the right benchmark is your own goal progress.

If your financial plan is built to deliver 12% annualised returns for a goal five years away, and it’s tracking that trajectory you are succeeding, regardless of what the market headlines say. Our advisory team monitors portfolios relative to your goals, not daily market noise. That’s what helps clients stay calm, consistent, and confident. Frequent reactions to missed insights, switching funds, redeeming early, or following hot tips add up to hidden costs: exit loads, taxes, and emotional fatigue.

True wealth creation happens through consistent investing, periodic rebalancing, and annual reviews, not daily decision-making. A disciplined investor who follows their plan is more likely to meet their financial goals than someone who constantly chases short-term opportunities.