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Excess Returns · Tuesday, July 7, 2026

Discomfort Drives Investment Returns, Suggests Zens

Matt Zens of Longview Research Partners explains that the discomfort experienced during market downturns is what ultimately rewards investors who stick with their strategy. He notes that people often overestimate their ability to handle volatility in hindsight.

personMatt Zens

The tape

3 quotes
If it didn't feel bad, if it wasn't painful to keep holding it, you wouldn't get rewarded with higher returns.
Matt Zens
And so it's that discomfort is what actually drives the return that you get if you're actually able to stick with it for the long term.
Matt Zens
"No pain, no premium."
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Heard on Excess Returns — “We Asked a $1 Billion Quant Manager Why Concentration Isn't a Warning — and Small Caps Aren't Dead, published Tuesday, July 7, 2026. Heardvine summarizes and quotes with attribution and timestamps, and links to the original everywhere.
Transcribed via Gemini audio transcription · $0.06
Discomfort Drives Investment Returns, Suggests Zens — Heardvine