How do you determine between short and long volatility? Which is a more viable option in today's market? How do you decide between either option for a long-term investment strategy?

Volatility refers to the flucation in price, and can be seen as a rough measure for risk. Very safe investments such as Treasury bills or Governement bonds have low volatility while investments such as stocks have higher changes in price for the same time period.

Low volatility doesnt mean it is always the best choice. How I determine is when I need the money. Assuming I have x amount prepared to invest for retirement in about 40 years, I can invest in the stock market without caring about the daily fluctuations because I know statistically, I am almost certain to have positive returns.

Emergency funds for example should not be placed in suck risky vehicles. These funds are, as the name suggests, prepared in the case of emergency such as retrenchment, accident or hospitalisation. I need to be able to withdraw the full sum of money as and when needed and therefore cannot be subjected to high volatility. The money can be put in high interest savings account or governement bonds.