Playing the stock market these days isn't quite for the faint-hearted. With such wild swings seen over the last few weeks, investors have to be fully armored before joining the roller coaster ride.
Fear and panic are to blame for the volatility in today's markets. "Right now fear is driving markets and the worst thing that you can do is panic along with everything else," notes Peter Elston, chief strategist at Aberdeen Asset Management Asia.
Appearing on CNBC Asia Pacific's "Protect Your Wealth" segment on Tuesday, Elston says investors, now more than ever, need to think clearly.
"The main reason for poor returns is investor behavior, and this investor behavior is the tendency to sell at the wrong time -- also the tendency to buy at the wrong time. But the worst thing you can do now is compound the problem by panicking along with everybody else," Elston says.
He adds that if investors plan their investment time horizons properly -- such as 20 years, for example -- then the current volatility should not matter much.
So sit back, breathe, and take a long-term approach to the stock market, because that is the best way to ride the turbulence in such troubled times.
Catch "Protect Your Wealth" on CNBC's Asia Pacific network every Tuesday on "CNBC's Cash Flow," Wednesday on "Asia Squawk Box" and Thursday on "Capital Connection."
