6 Habits of Successful Investors You Should Learn
Written by
Jamie Stone
Edited by
Rebekah Evans
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Building wealth through investing isn’t about getting rich quick or timing the market perfectly. According to financial experts at Fidelity, successful investing comes down to developing smart habits that compound over time. Here are six proven habits that can help you build long-term wealth and achieve financial wellness.
Stay the Course During Market Volatility
When portfolio values drop, the natural instinct is to flee to safety. However, successful investors maintain their stock allocation through both good and bad markets. Fidelity’s analysis shows that investors who stayed invested through the 2008 to 2009 financial crisis recovered their losses and achieved significant gains in subsequent years, while those who sold often missed the recovery entirely.
Research from J.P. Morgan’s 2025 Guide to Retirement found that missing just the 10 best days in the market over a 20-year period can cut returns in half.
Prioritize Saving Over Spending
Market timing matters less than consistent saving habits. Fidelity recommended saving at least 15% of your income for retirement, including employer matches. According to Fidelity’s Q2 2025 retirement analysis, the average 401(k) balance reached $137,800, up 8% year over year.
Diversify Your Portfolio
Successful investors spread risk across multiple asset classes, sectors and geographic regions. According to Vanguard’s investor education resources, proper diversification helps reduce portfolio volatility without sacrificing long-term returns by spreading investments across various assets that don’t move in perfect harmony.
Charles Schwab’s asset allocation research demonstrates that diversified portfolios experience significantly less volatility during market downturns. Their analysis of a 60% stock, 40% bond portfolio showed it slightly outperformed an all-stock portfolio over a 20-year period with meaningfully less volatility during major market events including the tech bubble, great recession and COVID-19 pandemic.
Minimize Investment Costs
Every dollar paid in fees is a dollar not compounding in your portfolio. According to Morningstar’s 2025 fee trends analysis, investors saved an estimated $5.9 billion in fund expenses in 2024. The asset-weighted average expense ratio for U.S. mutual funds and ETFs declined to 0.34% from 0.36% in 2023. Investors in the lowest-cost funds earn approximately 1 to 2 percentage points more annually than those in high-cost alternatives.
Over 30 years, that difference transforms a $100,000 investment into either $575,000 or $432,000 — a $143,000 gap created solely by fees.
Review — and Rebalance — Regularly
Successful investors don’t set and forget their portfolios. They first review holdings at least annually and then rebalance to maintain target allocations. Fidelity’s rebalancing research shows that investors who rebalance annually achieve more consistent returns with lower volatility compared to those who never rebalance. Their analysis of a hypothetical $100,000 investment from 1987 to 2016 found that a rebalanced 60/40 portfolio experienced 16% less volatility than a never-rebalanced portfolio while maintaining similar returns.
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