Whether it’s lack of inertia… or hesitation… or full-blown procrastination, delaying key investment decisions is a good way to miss out on opportunities. As the old saying goes, “You can do the wrong thing. You can do the right thing. But the worst thing you can do is no-thing.” Or as motivational speaker Brian Tracy phrases it, “Almost any decision is better than no decision at all.”
With investing, inaction plays out in many ways, often silently, invisibly, and with potential negative consequences to your future financial security. How?
Your 401(k) Plan
One of the worst decisions you could make would be the failure to enroll in your employer’s retirement plan. Not just 401(k)s, but 403(b)s, 457s, TSPs, SIMPLE IRA’s… the important thing isn’t the type of account your employer offers, it’s that you participate in it. Non-participants miss out on an easy tax-dadvantaged way to save for their retirement, but they also forfeit any potential employer-matching contributions. That’s not an option, that’s denying compensation! Thankfully, under the SECURE 2.0 Act, employers have to automatically enroll employees in retirement plans, something that began last year in 2025.
Another way indecision & inaction can get the best of you is when your paralysis by analysis makes it where you can’t pick the perfect investment so you don’t select your employer-sponsored plan investments at all. When you do that, the plan may have provisions for automatically investing that money. And that investment selection may not be consistent with your personal time horizon, risk tolerance, and goals. Or they may just sit it in cash, where it doesn’t grow at all.
Non-Retirement Plan Investments
For assets outside of employer retirement plans and IRAs, inaction can rear its ugly head in other ways. Passivity. Failing to do any sort of research. Taking the easy way out. That translates into buying investments based on a single article you read, or based on a single recommendations of a family member (who probably should have zero say in others’ investing decisions. Or you might let assets linger in old 401(k)s where they’re not doing much.
What all this passivity, inction, and procrastination can lead to is a collection of investments that may have no connection to your investment objectives. And this applies to procrastination and inactivity throughout your time as an investor, because the dynamics of the markets dictate that jus because an investment made sense today doens’t mean it will five years from now.
By not periodically reviewing what you own, which allows you to cull and correct inappropriate investments—or even determine if the portfolio reflects our current investment objectives—you’re making a decision. Even if you’re not making an action. Every action is a decision. Even inaction.
Every investment you make will impact your retirement in some way. So make sure you are making the investment of time.