The Week Between: Why “Doing Nothing” Can Be the Smartest Investment Move

The days between Christmas and New Year’s are unusual.

 

The markets are open, but barely. Trading volumes are light. News is thin. Many professionals are mentally (and sometimes physically) out of the office.

 

And yet, this is often when people feel the strongest urge to do something.

 

A year has ended. A new one is about to begin. It feels like a natural moment for decisions, changes, and fresh starts. In investing, however, that instinct can be costly.

 

A Quiet Market Is Not a Clear Signal

 

The final week of the year is one of the least reliable periods for drawing conclusions from market activity. With fewer participants trading, prices can move for reasons that have very little to do with fundamentals.

 

A rally doesn’t necessarily mean confidence. A pullback doesn’t necessarily mean concern. More often, it simply reflects who happens to be at their desk.

 

Long-term investors should be cautious about assigning meaning to short-term moves, especially during a week when the market itself is operating at partial capacity.

 

The Illusion of “Starting Fresh”

 

The calendar turning from December to January creates a powerful psychological effect. It feels like an opportunity to reset, correct mistakes, or get ahead of what’s coming next.

 

In personal habits, that instinct can be helpful. In investing, it often leads to unnecessary portfolio changes driven by emotion rather than strategy.

 

Markets don’t know it’s a new year. Your goals haven’t changed overnight. And the plan you built intentionally doesn’t suddenly need an overhaul because the date on the calendar did.

 

Activity Feels Productive, But It Isn’t Always Helpful

 

One of the most enduring challenges in investing is separating activity from progress.

 

Making changes can feel responsible. Staying put can feel passive. But the reality is that long-term success is far more often the result of discipline than decisiveness.

 

For well-constructed portfolios aligned to clear goals, the most productive move during the final week of the year is frequently no move at all.

 

When Doing Nothing Is Actually Doing Something

 

Choosing not to react is not the same as ignoring your finances. It’s an intentional decision to trust the process you put in place—one designed to withstand full years, not partial weeks.

 

This is the same discipline that helps investors:

• Stay invested during volatility

• Avoid chasing headlines

• Let compounding do its work over time

In other words, “doing nothing” is often the visible outcome of a lot of thoughtful planning done well.

 

A Better Use of the Week Between

 

Rather than focusing on portfolio tweaks, this week is often better spent doing a different kind of work:

• Reflecting on what mattered most this year

• Revisiting long-term goals, not short-term returns

• Thinking about life changes on the horizon, not market forecasts

Those conversations are far more impactful than reacting to a thinly traded week on Wall Street.

 

Looking Ahead

 

There will be plenty of time in the new year for thoughtful planning, tax strategy discussions, and portfolio reviews. None of those require urgency during one of the quietest weeks of the market calendar.

 

Sometimes, the smartest investment decision is simply allowing time, and a well-built plan, to do what it’s meant to do.

 

As the year comes to a close, we encourage investors to step back, enjoy the pause, and remember that progress is rarely made in a single week, but it can be undone by one reactive decision.

 

From all of us at Copper Beech, we wish you a calm close to the year and a steady start to the next.