Investing is not about “getting rich” or “playing the market.” It’s an essential part of achieving financial wellness. That means being able to meet your needs and the needs of those who depend on you as well as being able to set and achieve goals that go beyond merely being able to pay your bills and manage debts like mortgages, credit cards, and student loans. These 6 steps can help you increase your investing success and achieve financial wellness, even when financial markets seem unfriendly.

1. Start with a plan
At Fidelity, we believe creating a financial plan can provide the foundation for investment success. The financial planning process can help you take stock of your situation, define your goals and figure out practical steps to get there. Financial planning doesn't have to be fancy or expensive. You can do it with the help of a financial professional or consider using Fidelity’s digital planning tools. Either way, making a plan based on sound financial planning principles is an important step. A plan is one service that financial professionals frequently offer their clients.

2. Stick with your plan, even when markets look unfriendly
When the value of your portfolio falls, it's only human to want to run for shelter. But the best investors don’t. Instead, they maintain an allocation to stocks they can live with in good markets and bad. The financial crisis of late 2008 and early 2009 might have seemed a good time to run for safety in cash. But a Fidelity study of 1.5 million workplace savers found that those who stayed invested in the stock market during that time were far better off than those who headed for the sidelines.

In the decade following the crisis, those who stayed invested saw their account balances—which reflected the impact of their investment choices and contributions—grow 147%. That's twice the average 74% return for those who fled stocks during the fourth quarter of 2008 or first quarter of 2009. While most investors did not make any changes during the market downturn, those who did made a fateful decision with a lasting impact. More than 25% of those who sold out of stocks never got back into the market and missed the gains that followed.

If you get anxious when the stock market drops, remember that’s a normal response to volatility. It’s important to stick with your long-term investment mix and to have enough growth potential to achieve your goals. If you can’t tolerate the ups and downs of your portfolio, consider a less volatile mix of investments that you can stick with.

3. Be a saver, not a spender
While it’s easy to get caught up in the ups and downs of the market, it’s also important to think about how much of your income you are putting away for the future. Saving early and often can be a powerful force when it comes to making progress toward long-term financial goals.

As a general rule, Fidelity suggests putting away at least 15% of your income for retirement, including any employer match. Of course, that number is just a starting point—for some people it will be lower and for some people it will be higher. But one thing is clear: Starting early and saving consistently can make a big difference over time.

And the effort may be paying off. Fidelity’s latest quarterly report, Building Financial Futures, shows that workers across generations have boosted their savings rates, averaging 9.5% in Q2 2025. Add in an average employer contribution of 5.1%, and many savers are already hitting that 15% target. The result? After 15 years of steady saving, the average Gen X workplace retirement balance has grown to about $624,300. That’s the power of persistence.

4. Diversify
Fidelity believes one key foundation of successful investing is diversification (owning a variety of stocks, bonds, and other assets), which can help control risk.

Having an appropriate investment mix, giving you a portfolio that delivers growth potential with a level of risk that makes sense for your situation, may make it easier to stick with your plan through the ups and downs of the market.

Diversification cannot guarantee gains, or that you won’t experience a loss, but it does aim to provide a reasonable trade-off between risk and reward. You can not only diversify among stocks, bonds, and cash, but also within those categories. Consider diversifying your stock exposure across regions, sectors, investment styles (value, blend, and growth), and size (small-, mid-, and large-cap stocks). For bonds, consider diversifying across different credit qualities, maturities, and issuers.

5. Consider low-fee investment products that offer good value
Savvy investors know they can't control the market, but they can control costs. A study by independent research company Morningstar® found that, while by no means guaranteed, funds with lower expense ratios have historically had a higher probability of outperforming other funds in their category—in terms of relative total return, and future risk-adjusted return ratings.

Fidelity has also found that trading commissions and execution vary greatly among brokers, and the cost of trading affects your returns. Learn more about using price improvement for trading savings.

6. Don't forget about taxes
Another habit that may help investors succeed is keeping an eye on taxes and account types.

Accounts that offer tax benefits, like 401(k)s, IRAs, and certain annuities have the potential to help generate higher after-tax returns. This is what investors call "account location"—the amount of money you put into different types of accounts should be based on each account’s respective details of the study tax treatment. A related concept is called "asset location"—the practice of putting different types of investments in various types of accounts, based on the tax efficiency of the investment and the tax treatment of the type of account.

While taxes alone should never drive your investment decisions, you may want to consider putting your least tax-efficient investments (for example, taxable bonds whose interest payments are taxed at relatively high ordinary income tax rates) in tax-deferred accounts like 401(k)s and IRAs. Meanwhile, more tax-efficient investments (for example, low-turnover funds, like index funds or many ETFs, and municipal bonds, where interest is typically free from federal income tax) are usually more suitable for taxable accounts.

The bottom line
Investing can be complex, but some of the most important habits of successful investors are pretty simple. If you build a smart plan and stick with it, save enough, make reasonable investment choices, and be aware of taxes, you will have adopted some of the key traits that may lead to success.

​Over the past several months, economic headlines have begun to raise the possibility of stagflation in the U.S. economy. This term describes the rare and troubling combination of sluggish economic growth, persistent inflation, and elevated unemployment. Each condition alone can be challenging, but when they occur together, the policy tools normally used to fix one problem can worsen the others.

What Is Stagflation?
Stagflation is an unusual economic environment where the economy stalls while prices keep rising. Normally, inflation occurs during periods of strong growth, when demand is robust. Conversely, weak growth and rising unemployment usually put downward pressure on prices. Stagflation breaks this pattern: it means families face higher costs of living while job opportunities shrink, creating stress for both households and businesses.

Why It Matters
Stagflation is considered one of the most damaging economic scenarios because it erodes purchasing power and investor confidence simultaneously. Inflation alone can often be managed with higher interest rates, but those same rate hikes can deepen slowdowns in growth and employment. Conversely, stimulating growth through looser monetary or fiscal policy risks fueling more inflation. This “policy trap” makes stagflation extremely difficult to address, as policymakers face conflicting choices with no easy solution.

Contributing Factors Today
Several dynamics are feeding concern about stagflation in the current environment:

• Sticky Inflation: While inflation has cooled from its 2022 peaks, certain categories such as housing, healthcare, and services remain elevated, keeping price growth above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.
• Slowing Growth: GDP growth is moderating as higher interest rates weigh on housing, business investment, and consumer spending. Recent manufacturing and services data point to softer demand ahead.
• Labor Market Shifts: Though unemployment remains relatively low, hiring has slowed, wage growth is uneven across sectors, and more firms are signaling caution about future staffing needs.
• Global Headwinds: Geopolitical tensions, supply chain adjustments, and energy market volatility are adding external pressures that could push costs higher even as domestic growth softens.

What This Means for Investors
While stagflation is not yet a certainty, the risk underscores the importance of diversification and disciplined investment strategy. Assets that tend to hold value in inflationary environments, such as commodities, real assets, and inflation-protected securities, may provide ballast. At the same time, maintaining exposure to high-quality equities and fixed income helps balance against potential growth weakness.

Potentially Resilient Investments in Stagflation:

• Commodities and Precious Metals: Energy (oil, natural gas) and gold have historically been strong hedges when inflation rises but growth stalls, as they retain intrinsic value and can benefit from supply shocks.
• Inflation-Protected Bonds (TIPS): Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities adjust their principal with inflation, helping preserve purchasing power even if interest rates remain elevated.
• Real Assets: Real estate and infrastructure can offer protection because rental income and usage fees often adjust upward with inflation.
• Defensive Equity Sectors: Consumer staples, utilities, and healthcare tend to outperform in low-growth environments since demand for essentials remains steady regardless of the broader economy.

Potentially Challenged Investments in Stagflation:

• Long-Duration Bonds: Rising inflation erodes the real value of fixed coupon payments, while sluggish growth limits prospects for falling yields.
• Growth and Technology Stocks: Companies reliant on cheap capital and future earnings streams may struggle under higher interest rates and weaker demand.
• Cyclical Sectors: Industries tied closely to economic expansion, such as consumer discretionary, autos, and industrials, often underperform as household spending and business investment contract.
• Cash Holdings: While cash avoids market volatility, it steadily loses purchasing power during persistent inflation, making it an unattractive long-term option.

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Ultimately, positioning for stagflation requires balancing inflation hedges with defensive income-producing assets, while avoiding overexposure to areas that rely heavily on robust growth or stable price levels.