Focusing on the long-term can be difficult when the here and now is demanding your full attention.

Saturation media coverage – whether it be on mainstream media or on your chosen social media platforms – makes it hard to tune out what have so far been largely negative messages.

Such is the reality of a global health crisis.

While money and investment markets come second to health fears daily gyrations in investment markets can add another level to the stress of dealing with COVID-19 risk, social distancing, working from home or simply finding essential supplies at the local supermarket.

But as some sense of normality returns naturally people will begin tuning into their portfolios and super account balances. Normally paying attention to your investment portfolio is good advice. In situations like this – and the global financial crisis back in 2008 – the reality is that the best advice may well be to not look right now but rather try to focus on the longer term perspective.

A valuable source of perspective – in my view at least – comes from a US financial planner and New York columnist and author Carl Richards. He is a Certified Financial Planner but probably better known for his Sketch Guy column in the New York Times because he has the gift of being able to translate complex money problems in simple sketches.

In his weekly contribution last week he contrasted the free hand sketch of five days of market movements – imagine lots of up and down squiggles – with the long-term trend line of stock market performance over decades.