Michael Batnick of Ritholtz Wealth Management believes investors should "do less" and focus on the long term to achieve success, especially during times of geopolitical crisis and high volatility like we've seen this week.
CNBC's Mike Santoli spoke with Batnick in an exclusive interview for CNBC PRO. Santoli asked the research expert for his best piece of advice for the average investor.
"The important thing is to just do less, make less decisions. Never change a portfolio because of what happened yesterday," Batnick said. "Everybody tries to beat the market. Some people: it takes them a lifetime to figure out that they can't do it. Some people never figure it out. Some people figure it out really quickly. I was on the quicker side."
Batnick is the director of research at Ritholtz, which oversees around $550 million in assets and was founded in 2013 by Barry Ritholtz and Josh Brown, a CNBC "Fast Money Halftime Report" trader. As a member of the firm's investment committee, he is responsible for its research efforts as well as developing and implementing risk management strategies.
Batnick also explained how to get the most out of the financial community on social media.
"I think financial Twitter is a lot of fun; it's incredibly distracting. For professionals it's great, it's great to network. I've met some really great friends and people there," said Batnick.
On the other hand, he warned about the downsides of Twitter.
"I think it's really easy to get stuck in your own world. It's like disconfirmation bias: what I tend to do is look at people that I think are crazy and I gravitate toward that. Instead of looking to people I side with I'm like 'that person is so wrong' and so I sort of get lost in my own little world."
See here for the full CNBC PRO report and the interview video.