In recent years, one of the main mistakes we see new investors make is that they think the stocks can only go up. This idea has turned very popular, and it may certainly appear to be true at times. 

“Hey!” an overeager new investor tells non-investors. “Look at this chart; for the last 10 years, stocks have only been going up – it’s a big waste not to put in some of your savings and watch your money grow!” Of course, this sounds too good to be true, but the non-investors can’t help but be convinced and start their own investment account. Before you know it, the number of people espousing that stocks are only going up is multiplied. 

Dips and down periods

The problem with this assertion is that every 5-10 years or so, we usually have major short-term dips in the stock market, and a bit less often than that, a shocking and long-term down period like we saw in the 1930s depression and 2008 crisis. 

When people say that stocks are only going up, it makes others believe that they’re missing out on a whole lot of returns, when they’re actually missing out on a whole lot of risk. Generally speaking, the more you can earn in the stock market, the more risk you’re taking. 

Start big and end small

For young people, this can be a good thing. Most financial advisors will agree that, if you’re a young person who wants to start a pension fund, you can afford more risk, and then gradually decrease the risk as you get older. 

An added benefit of having more money available is that you can take up personal loans at a much better interest rate. On the loan comparison website https://lanfordeg.no/forbrukslan/lan-uten-sikkerhet/ in Norway for instance, it is highly recommended to have as good an income and fortune as possible when taking up loans, as this will help in making it easier to pay back and banks will give you better rates because its less likely you won’t be able to pay them back.

Starting off with big risks can be a good idea because, in our twenties, we don’t plan on using our money for the next twenty to forty years, and therefore we can handle the volatile nature of the stock market. 

Shorter time horizon

Most people, however, can’t afford to make the same bet. They simply don’t have the option to invest, using the same time horizon, as they might be needing the money during the next 5 years or so. Keeping the 5-10-year dips in mind, wouldn’t it then be poor advice to say that the stocks are only going up, when in fact, the new “old investor” needs their money during one of these dips? 

Like the laws of reaping and sowing, it’s important to recognize that the stock market isn’t only going up, but has to go down at times to make the upward curve sustainable. It’s also better to realize this fact when times are good, as it would be awful to discover it when times are bad and we’re in the middle of a bad situation. 

Just a short post we felt to write this weekend to give some of our investors and readers a different perspective. 

When the coronavirus entered the world around March 2020, the situation has been dire in terms of certain kinds of trade. Whereas global trade has decreased overall, especially in physical locations, online trade has increased, which is reflected in the fact that we see an increase in the number of Norwegians who click on affiliate links to go to online stores. 

Compared with last year, we see an increase of 29.4% in the period March 17 to April 7. Right now the trend is that the increase continues upwards, and we will look more into how people in Norway are buying more home products than ever before. 

Home office, home gym, and home evenings

Not unexpectedly, we see clear trends in people spending their days at home and buying products accordingly. Below we point out some of the obvious trends that are happening right now.

Among the winners, we see products that make it easier to work from home. Now we all see each other at video meetings, which means that webcams have increased by an incredible 2548%, and video editing cards for processing video streaming are up by 653%. Classic computer accessories such as monitors (102%), docking stations (103%), computer mouses (74%), and keyboards (72%) are also experiencing good growth. In addition, office chairs are up 617%, and as we all know, an office is not complete without coffee and coffee grinders, which are up 179%.

Another booming home product is the Frisørsaks that the company Sakser.no is delivering to people all across Norway. They deliver both to professional hairdressers and to those who cut the family’s hair at home, which makes it a great appliance during covid since the local saloons have been forced to close down momentarily. Sakser have their own factories that produce scissors for us so that we can avoid more expensive intermediaries, and their scissors are tested by professional hairdressers before they make them available to the public.

Will home products continue being a gold mine? 

It is difficult to predict the future in these times, but we have seen affiliate traffic grow significantly in Norway during the quarantine and home office period.

Given that there will most likely be limited travel this summer, there is also a probability that consumers will want to use their holiday money in other ways, which in turn will strengthen both physical and online commerce.

With a more price-sensitive population and a larger share of the total online shopping, we believe affiliate links will continue to be an important channel for Norway’s consumers. We see that more people have now tried e-commerce and price comparison, which can benefit the industry also in the future.