If you actually knew that the drift on a certain investment was positive, you still have to be prepared to survive the losses you might accumulate on the way to profit. The greater the volatility the more painful this process can be. If you can just sock away your investment and not look at it for a long time it will become more valuable. On a day-to-day time scale, as an actual human watching this risky bet you've made wobble back and forth, it can require a lot of fortitude to remain invested even as the value dips significantly.