Strangely, it is often the case that the hardest and the easiest thing for investors to do is ... nothing. It can take restraint and nerve to simply sit on existing investments without being tempted to try for better returns. However, many investors simply do nothing because they are lazy or gripped by uncertainty.
Other investors loathe inaction, although the past year has amply demonstrated that doing nothing is often far better than doing something. There have, for example, been a number of times when the temptation to plunge into equities seemed irresistible, yet most of the world's stock markets have ended either with anaemic price rises or in negative territory.
Last year was also a time when gold buffs looked as though they were finally to be vindicated, as the gold price touched a high of US$1,920 an ounce in September and has declined ever since, albeit with spikes and spurs.
Gold has ended the year up about 8 per cent, which would be good news for anyone who bought the precious metal at the start of the year and simply sat on their holdings, but life is rarely that simple, and all too many investors piled in as the price started its heady climb.
In the currency market, many pundits began the year forecasting the downfall of the US dollar (and by implication the Hong Kong dollar since it is pegged to the American currency), but it turned out to be quite a reasonable year for the dollar, especially against the euro, but even against the apparently very strong Australian dollar.
So, Hong Kong investors who clung onto to their dollars have no reason to complain, even less so if they had invested in the yuan, which appreciated at a greater rate despite government avowals of keeping a rein on the currency's value.