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A few years ago, a retired couple renewed an FD.
Then they renewed it again.
And again.
Every time the FD matured, the decision was almost automatic.
The bank sent a message.
They went in.
The money was renewed.
There was comfort in knowing exactly where the money was.
No market fluctuations.
No complicated decisions.
No uncertainty.
“At least our money is safe.”
And that sentence can be incredibly powerful.
Because when it comes to money, safety feels like something we should never question.
But years later, when their financial needs had changed, the same investment pattern continued.
Not because they had recently evaluated whether the FD was still the most appropriate choice.
Simply because…
that was what they had always done.
Psychology calls this Status Quo Bias.
We have a natural tendency to prefer things to remain as they are.
Changing something requires effort.
It requires comparison.
It introduces uncertainty.
And when the existing option feels reasonably safe, the brain often asks:
“Why disturb it?”
There is another force underneath it:
Loss Aversion.
(Picture Source: https://in.pinterest.com/)
The possibility of losing money feels much more painful than the possibility of missing out on something better.
So we may choose a familiar option not because it is necessarily optimal…
but because it protects us from the discomfort of making a different choice.
And this is where Inertia becomes powerful.
A decision made five years ago can continue influencing our money today—
even when our income has changed.
Our responsibilities have changed.
Our goals have changed.
Even the financial environment has changed.
The original decision may have been perfectly sensible.
But continuing it forever without reviewing it is a different decision.
This applies far beyond FDs.
An old insurance policy.
A bank account we never use.
An investment we haven’t reviewed.
A portfolio allocation we haven’t changed in years.
Sometimes we call it stability.
Sometimes it is simply inertia wearing the clothes of stability.
So here’s a useful question to ask:
“If I were making this decision today, knowing what I know today, would I choose the same thing?”
If the answer is yes
stay with it consciously.
If the answer is no
perhaps it’s time to reconsider.
Because staying with something should be a decision.
Not just the absence of one.
Sakshi Deshmukh
Psychologist
| SWS Financial Solutions Pvt Ltd AMFI Registered Mutual Fund Distributor- ARN- 90746 ARN Renewal Date- 25th July 2028 APMI Registered Distributor- APRN01157 APRN Renewal Date- 11th Jan 2029 |
