The Power of Comportment: Why Self-Control is Key to Successful Investing

This is not typically a place you would find a vocabulary lesson, but if there is a single word that best sums up what makes a good investor, that word may be comportment.

This word is rarely used today outside of Great Britain or a SAT prep course, which is a shame. The definition of comportment is to control one’s personal behavior or bearing no matter the situation. It is essentially self-control.

Investing is often portrayed as a high-stakes game of numbers, charts, and split-second decisions. The most powerful tool in an investor’s arsenal is probably much simpler than a complex algorithm. It is likely our own comportment.

If you’re a parent or have been in a leadership role, you already know the value of comportment. The person in charge needs to keep it together, and this can be extremely difficult at times. When it comes to investing, the person we oversee is sometimes the hardest to manage and our greatest enemy: ourselves.

3 Tips for Smart Investing

Comportment is about how we carry ourselves, our demeanor, our behavior, and especially our reactions to news and uncertainty, all things that we can control.

It is a mindset that can be a recipe for success in investing. It requires:

• Patience in turbulence: When markets are volatile, the investor with strong comportment doesn’t panic. They’ve prepared for this scenario and stick to their long-term plan.

• Humility in success: When returns are soaring, they don’t let overconfidence cloud their judgment. They remain grounded, knowing that markets are cyclical.

• Curiosity in confusion: Instead of reacting emotionally to unexpected news, they approach it with genuine curiosity, seeking to understand how it affects their goals and plan before acting.

Why is a Financial Plan Important? 

Just as money compounds over time, so does the impact of our comportment. Each decision made with poise, each crisis navigated with grace, builds upon itself. It’s not just about the immediate results, but the habits that are being created.

Comporting yourself is a simple idea, but can be one of the hardest things to do, especially if we are taking on something alone.

Luckily, comportment can also be created by having the right system in place. This involves:

• A good advisor who can stand between you and a big mistake

• An investment philosophy you understand, and that is based on price and not predicting markets

• A rebalancing system that does not require constant investment decision-making.

By having a process like this in place, we only need to rely on self-control to not break the plan, rather than make a new one every time adversity appears.

Comportment, no matter how it is obtained, remains a true edge in investing success. It is a reminder to be calm and thoughtful in the face of opportunity and adversity alike.

Feel free to teach someone this word and give us a reply back with a word you love that has as much power as this one.

Comport accordingly.

Chase Kerby, CFP®, AIF® is a Senior Advisor with Rather & Kittrell.