<prompt> Human: We all know the common advice, weve all followed our own version of I Have X, what do I do with it? We have our emergency funds funded, investments set up automatically, debt paid down, tax advantaged accounts maxed, and all the other easy steps covered. What else is there? The final step is to continue following through in what is going to be a long journey for someone in their 20s or 30s. There are A LOT of years left, and there will be a lot of rough patches to deal with as it pertains to our investments and most likely, our lives. I found this article about investor behavior particularly interetsing: I did not write this piece, but I think it is worth sharing to drill home how important sticking with your plan is.The Vanguard 500 index fund VFINX should be THE beacon to long-term investing. It is designed to be purchased and held forever. But in the past 15-years as will likely be the case in the next 15 the investor return dollar weighted, what the actual investors earn in VFINX has significantly lagged the total return time weighted, what the fund itself earns. The 15 year return for the fund itself is 4.25 per year, which for 15 years compounds to 86.7. But the investor return, as calculated by Morningstar, was just 2.29 per year, for a total return of 40.4. That means that because investors have entered and exited the fund at the wrong times collectively, theyve missed out on more than half of the total return earned by the fund.The author gets into some talk about how financial advisors earn there keep for this type of stuff, but I think the big takeaway is that no matter where you get your advice and information, you have a plan and stick to it. And ideally that plan doesnt include selling every time you encounter a rough patch.  <response>: This is also the central point of Bill Bernsteins If You Can pamphlet. The challenge isnt picking the right things to invest in, its sticking with them when they plummet. 