The Correct Attitude for Successful Investment
Attitude with investing is so important. "Why?" you ask. Its simple really. When investing, you want all your decisions to be made on the information relating to the investment and for reasons specific to the investment. You do not want to find yourself in the position where you are making decisions about an investment, because of factors which are irrelevant to the investment. Thus the adage, "Plan the trade, and trade the plan". Here are a few pointers which may help.
1. Never invest money you need to use for your living expenses. Even if you don't need this money this month, next month, but you know you'll need it in 3 months, don't invest it. If you put money in any investment market that you need to pay for your living expenses, at some stage you will need to make a decision about that investment, due to your living expense commitments.
As an example, let's say that the money in question needs to go to a repayment on your mortgage loan which is due in about three months. Luck may just have it that the investment you made takes a sudden fall on the precise week of your repayment. In ideal circumstances you would let the investment continue its course, give it the time to bounce back; but since you are strapped for cash and have a payment looming, you close it. Ultimately, your decision was driven by factors irrelevant to the investment and a loss results. The lesson here is that one only invests money which they do not need to get by.
2. A very effective and clever technique in making investments is to imagine to yourself that the money has been lost completely upon investment. The rationale here is also somewhat simple. Many if not most investments will suffer at one point or another and countless investors (including this one) get cold feet too soon in the game and end up pulling out. Often then the investment turns around into a gain, had the investment been given the time to mature.
By telling yourself that it's lost money the moment you put it into an investment, you are adopting an attitude which will spare you from the nervous impulses that ruin many investments. Take my word for it: few things are as frustrating and disappointing as pulling out of an investment to incur a loss, only to see it bounce back for others later and go on to perform excellently.
3. Any and every investor needs to accept that failed trades are a basic fact of life. Everybody will make a certain amount of trades that run into losses. The important part here is the attitude that you adopt in the face of such losses: being a poor, vision-less loser in such events will prevent you from ever becoming a successful investor over the long haul. Following are two exemplary ways to contemplate an unsuccessful trade.
3a). Rather than considering your trades on a one by one basis, look at them as a complete group. For example, a certain strategy you use may make you a profit four out of five times, which is to say that one out of five times you run a loss. What you should do in this circumstance is rack up the net profit across all five trades, including the losing trade, and divide the result by five. The final figure would be your per trade profit. In this way, the losing trade is merely part of a broader winning strategy: 20% of the total net result is in fact due to the losing trade, because it is a necessary part of a broader strategy.
This way you will be encouraged to continue trading your successful strategy, rather than get discouraged when one trade goes wrong.
3b). Consider your losses to be tuition for your investment education. In case you are not one of them, most of the people in this industry have put down many thousands of dollars and dedicated many years of their lives on getting degrees in the matter. For those that jump in without such degrees, the education comes as part of the failed trades: hence, make sure you learn from each and every one of them! The right, professional attitude is necessary here, free of emotions, as otherwise you're sure to lose the long term profitability of such endeavors.
Investment work and the markets are known for being able to bring out people's best and worst features. Thus, controlling one's emotional and irrational reactions is fundamental so that they don't cloud decisions. As the saying goes: "Plan the trade, and trade the plan. - 23311
1. Never invest money you need to use for your living expenses. Even if you don't need this money this month, next month, but you know you'll need it in 3 months, don't invest it. If you put money in any investment market that you need to pay for your living expenses, at some stage you will need to make a decision about that investment, due to your living expense commitments.
As an example, let's say that the money in question needs to go to a repayment on your mortgage loan which is due in about three months. Luck may just have it that the investment you made takes a sudden fall on the precise week of your repayment. In ideal circumstances you would let the investment continue its course, give it the time to bounce back; but since you are strapped for cash and have a payment looming, you close it. Ultimately, your decision was driven by factors irrelevant to the investment and a loss results. The lesson here is that one only invests money which they do not need to get by.
2. A very effective and clever technique in making investments is to imagine to yourself that the money has been lost completely upon investment. The rationale here is also somewhat simple. Many if not most investments will suffer at one point or another and countless investors (including this one) get cold feet too soon in the game and end up pulling out. Often then the investment turns around into a gain, had the investment been given the time to mature.
By telling yourself that it's lost money the moment you put it into an investment, you are adopting an attitude which will spare you from the nervous impulses that ruin many investments. Take my word for it: few things are as frustrating and disappointing as pulling out of an investment to incur a loss, only to see it bounce back for others later and go on to perform excellently.
3. Any and every investor needs to accept that failed trades are a basic fact of life. Everybody will make a certain amount of trades that run into losses. The important part here is the attitude that you adopt in the face of such losses: being a poor, vision-less loser in such events will prevent you from ever becoming a successful investor over the long haul. Following are two exemplary ways to contemplate an unsuccessful trade.
3a). Rather than considering your trades on a one by one basis, look at them as a complete group. For example, a certain strategy you use may make you a profit four out of five times, which is to say that one out of five times you run a loss. What you should do in this circumstance is rack up the net profit across all five trades, including the losing trade, and divide the result by five. The final figure would be your per trade profit. In this way, the losing trade is merely part of a broader winning strategy: 20% of the total net result is in fact due to the losing trade, because it is a necessary part of a broader strategy.
This way you will be encouraged to continue trading your successful strategy, rather than get discouraged when one trade goes wrong.
3b). Consider your losses to be tuition for your investment education. In case you are not one of them, most of the people in this industry have put down many thousands of dollars and dedicated many years of their lives on getting degrees in the matter. For those that jump in without such degrees, the education comes as part of the failed trades: hence, make sure you learn from each and every one of them! The right, professional attitude is necessary here, free of emotions, as otherwise you're sure to lose the long term profitability of such endeavors.
Investment work and the markets are known for being able to bring out people's best and worst features. Thus, controlling one's emotional and irrational reactions is fundamental so that they don't cloud decisions. As the saying goes: "Plan the trade, and trade the plan. - 23311
About the Author:
Damian Papworth invests for his way of living and his family. Not too long ago he researched baby high chairs. He put a website together with his findings on high chairs for babies.
posted by Mr. Forex at
6:47 AM
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