It's easy to get caught up following the daily market gyrations but one of the top ranked financial advisors in the country says media hype can sabotage your retirement.
"You have to remember that retirement planning is really about retirement, which is for most of us five, 10, 15, 20 years away—maybe even longer. So we really don't need to be paying too much worry to what's happening at the very moment in the marketplace, we need to maintain a long-term perspective." said Ric Edelman, CEO and founder of Edelman Financial Services, a firm that manages $12 billion for 23,000 clients. Edelman is also a member of CNBC's Digital Financial Advisor Council.
It's not just obsessing about the markets—your own emotions can play havoc with your investment strategy, according to Edelman.
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"As emotional creatures, we tend to get very happy when the market's up and very scared when the markets down. That causes us to buy high or sell low which is the exact opposite of what you're supposed to do," Edelman said.
Edelman, whose book "The Truth About Retirements Plans and IRAs" was released earlier this week, says those unchecked emotions can be costly.
"Half of Americans are sitting on cash right now. They're still shell-shocked from 2008. They're afraid to get back into the market. Meanwhile, the market has doubled in value since 2008."
So what should you do? "Invest anyway," he insists.
Edelman says one of the best ways to save for your future and to protect your retirement is to sign up for automatic payroll deductions at work
"It's painless, it's anonymous, you don't even notice that it's happening. You just sign up for the plan and your boss will take some of the money out of your paycheck on an automatic basis. You won't miss it. You won't notice it. And you'll have that money getting invested on a regular basis with every paycheck and build the wealth that you need for retirement. It's simple. It's easy. It's affordable. Anybody can do it."
If you have comments or questions, send them to me at yourmoney@cnbc.com or tweet me @sharon_epperson #GetAPlan.
