Risk Management 3 pillars of balanced investment decision-making

How investment philosophy fundamentals can help enable balanced choices during unstable markets

Today, clear-headed decision-making is more important—and more difficult—than ever. Making strategic investment choices requires sifting through an abundance of financial news, market commentary, and technical data to find what may fit best within your portfolio. An investment philosophy is one of the most effective means of cutting through that noise, and your Truist Wealth advisor can help you determine your investment strategy—keeping you focused on long-term success and avoiding emotionally based decision-making.

An investment philosophy is a structured set of principles that help guide the building and management of a portfolio. But when it comes to reducing emotional reactions and filtering out irrelevant data to improve decision-making, no two investment philosophies take the same approach.

In this article, Truist Wealth co-chief investment officer, Oscarlyn Elder, and chief market strategist and co-chief investment officer, Keith Lerner, explain how our unique investment philosophy’s three core pillars—staying anchored, leading with evidence, and building portfolios with ideas that matter—provide a simple formula to help you filter out the noise of emotions and markets to make clearer, sharper financial decisions.

Pillar 1: Staying anchored

The first thing to address is how emotions play a role in decision-making. Unforeseen events in the market or your personal life are likely to produce an emotional reaction, such as loss aversion, that could end up steering your financial choices. Separating that emotion from your decision-making process is a foundational step in establishing the sort of investment discipline that helps prevent impulsive decisions.

“Emotional investing can be costly. Short-term uncertainty often drives reactive decisions and can have a dramatic negative impact on your returns,” says Lerner. “Refocusing on long-term goals helps ground your thinking in what matters most—your financial motivations. This shift supports better choices, stronger risk management, and greater consistency in following your plan. Market pullbacks are the price of admission for long-term wealth creation.”

With so much data out there, it’s hard to overstate the benefit of a structured process for organizing and selecting relevant information.
-Oscarlyn Elder, Truist Co-Chief Investment Officer

Elder adds: “Focusing on the long-term instead of fixating on the short term gives you a stable point from which to orient any financial adjustments when something unexpected happens.”

Pillar 2: Leading with evidence

Emotion isn’t the only factor that an investment philosophy can help you control. In a world where so much data is instantly available at your fingertips, an investment philosophy can improve your ability to differentiate between good information and noise, helping you prioritize the data that should be driving your long-term investing decisions.

“With so much data out there, it’s hard to overstate the benefit of having a structured process for organizing and selecting relevant information,” says Elder. “A process-driven, evidence-based investment approach gives you and your advisor an actionable point of view for decision-making.”

Lerner identifies four key categories of information Truist Wealth advisors use to help isolate the signal from the noise:

  1. Historical analysis compares current market circumstances and similar situations in years or decades past—giving you a better understanding of potential outcomes.
  2. Business cycle overlays help you and your team decide whether an offensive or defensive approach is suitable based on whether the economy is in contraction or expansion.
  3. Fundamental analysis strengthens your ability to spot opportunity and avoid risk by evaluating key metrics, such as valuations and earning trends, to better identify attractive investments.
  4. Market signal monitoring helps investors stay aligned with primary market trends, filter out short-term noise, and capitalize on emotional extremes—such as fear and greed—that may present opportunities for gain or mitigation of risks.

Pillar 3: Building portfolios with ideas that matter

The measure of any financial strategy’s effectiveness is its ability to help achieve your goals and its capacity to evolve along with your circumstances.

“Portfolios have to meet each client’s unique needs,” says Lerner. “That belief drives us to implement our investment philosophy in a way that delivers a mix of strategies and solutions designed to meet your unique situation.” Your strategy should account for your:

  • Overall financial situation
  • Cash needs for planned purchases and your lifestyle
  • Risk comfort zone
  • Investment time horizon
  • Preferred return level

These factors work together to help determine the direction of your investment strategy. For example, if your loss aversion is high, market volatility may create an emotional reaction that urges you to shift more assets into cash to prevent loss. However, if the economy is in an inflationary period, giving in to that urge might present risks to achieving your long-term goal of a comfortable retirement. Your team can suggest alternative approaches that help maintain and grow your purchasing power—no matter how strong the dollar is or isn’t.

A long-term focus helps reduce emotional static, and our evidence-based approach can help isolate the most relevant signals for effective decision-making from the noise of 24-hour news cycles. “But understanding your specific circumstances, preferences, and priorities—in both the short term and long term—enables our team to help keep your portfolio and asset mix adaptable,” says Elder. “Ongoing conversations and strong relationships are how we accomplish that—and when you’re ready to start that process, we’re here to help.”

Put our investment philosophy to work for your portfolio

Talk to a Truist Wealth advisor today.

Truist Purple PaperSM Navigating pivotal moments

Guidance for preparing your business and yourself for the next stage.
Download the Purple Paper (PDF)

Resources

Podcast series: I’ve Been Meaning To Do That | Truist

Truist Perspectives | Truist Wealth

Insights | Truist Wealth

Related resources

    {0}

    {0}

    {2}
    {6}
    {7}
    {8}
    {9}
    {12}
    {10}
    {11}

    {3}

    {1}
    {2}
    {6}
    {8}
    {9}
    {10}
    {11}
    {14}
    {12}
    {13}
    {1}
    {2}
    {7}
    {8}
    {9}
    {10}
    {11}
    {14}
    {12}
    {13}
    Component ID : "accordionGridLayout-1194370725"
    Model : "disclaimer"
    Position : "left"

    Keep in mind that investing involves risk. The value of your investment will fluctuate over time, and you may gain or lose money.

    Disclosures

    Truist Bank, Member FDIC. © 2025 Truist Financial Corporation. Truist, the Truist logo, Truist Purple, LightStream, and the LightStream logo are service marks of Truist Financial Corporation.

    Equal Housing Lender

    Investment and Insurance Products:

    • Are Not FDIC or any other Government Agency Insured
    • Are Not Bank Guaranteed
    • May Lose Value

    TRUIST is a service mark of Truist Financial Corporation (Truist) and its affiliates.

    Services provided by Truist Financial Corporation (Truist) affiliates: Banking products and services, including loans and deposit accounts, provided by Truist Bank, Member FDIC. Trust and investment management services provided by Truist Bank. Securities, brokerage accounts and/or annuities offered by Truist Investment Services, Inc., an SEC registered broker-dealer, and member FINRA and SIPC, and a licensed insurance agency. Investment advisory services offered by Truist Advisory Services, Inc. and GFO Advisory Services, LLC, SEC registered investment advisers. Some insurance products offered by Truist Investment Services, Inc. Other insurance products offered by Marsh & McLennan Agency, LLC (as successor in interest to McGriff Insurance Services, LLC) CA License #0H18131, Kensington Vanguard National Land Services, and Crump Life Insurance Services. Truist Life Insurance Services (TLIS) is a division of Crump, Arkansas License #100103477. Variable insurance material is for broker-dealer or registered representative use only. Variable products distributed by P.J. Robb Variable, LLC, Arkansas License #100110185. Member FINRA.

    Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC, Kensington Vanguard National Land Services, Crump Life Insurance Services, Truist Life Insurance Services, and P.J. Robb Variable, LLC are not affiliated with Truist Financial Corporation or any of its subsidiaries.

    Truist Securities is a trademark of Truist Financial Corporation. Truist Securities is a trade name for the corporate and investment banking services of Truist and its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Securities and strategic advisory services are provided by Truist Securities, Inc., member FINRA and SIPC. Lending, financial risk management, and treasury management and payment services are offered by Truist Bank.

    Mortgage products and services are offered through Truist Bank. All Truist mortgage professionals are registered on the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System & Registry (NMLS), which promotes uniformity and transparency throughout the residential real estate industry. Search the NMLS Registry.

    Comments regarding tax implications are informational only. Truist and its representatives do not provide tax or legal advice. You should consult your individual tax or legal professional before taking any action that may have tax or legal consequences.

    "Truist Advisors" may be officers and/or associated persons of the following affiliates of Truist, Truist Investment Services, Inc., and/or Truist Advisory Services, Inc. Truist Wealth, International Wealth, Center for Family Legacy, Business Owner Specialty Group, Sports and Entertainment Group, and Legal and Medical Specialty Groups are trade names used by Truist Bank, Truist Investment Services, Inc., and Truist Advisory Services, Inc.

    Applications, agreements, disclosures, and other servicing communications provided by Truist Bank and its subsidiary businesses will be provided in English. As a result, it will be necessary for customers to speak, read and understand English or to have an appropriate translator assisting them. Please note that Truist provides translations of webpages, documents and disclosures as a courtesy and in the event of any inconsistencies or discrepancies between the English content and the translated content, the English content supersedes the translation. Truist offers phone support in Spanish at 844-4TRUIST (844-487-8478), option 9. For assistance in other languages, please speak to a representative directly.

    New York City residents:

    Translation or other language access services may be available. When calling our office regarding collection activity, if you speak a language other than English and need verbal translation services, be sure to inform the representative. A description and translation of commonly-used debt collection terms is available in multiple languages at http://www.nyc.gov/dca.

    Borrowers with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) needing information can use the following resources:

    The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) also provides additional resources for homeowners seeking payment assistance in select languages at: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/housing/housing-insecurity/help-for-homeowners/

    Site footer

    Footer Navigation

    Banking products
    About Truist
    Resources
    Support

    © 2025, Truist. All Rights Reserved.