Successful investing isn’t only about how much money you make, it’s also about how much you keep. Mistakes are part of the investing process. Learning from your mistakes and others can make the difference between building wealth and falling into debt.
Investing is one of the best ways to build long-term wealth. To keep your portfolio from losing money and succeed as an investor, avoid these common investing mistakes.
1. Not Having an Investment Goal
One of the most common mistakes while investing is not having proper investment goals. Goals give you direction, and an investment strategy helps you fulfil them.
Determine what your short-, mid-, and long-term investment goals are, how much you need to invest to get there, and use the best investment vehicles to achieve your goals.
2. Herd Investing
Don’t follow the crowd without doing your due diligence. Don’t make investment decisions based on tweets, rumours, hot tips, stories, conjecture, future predictions, or an expectation the market will go up without doing your due diligence.
Stop looking at others to guide your investment decisions. Instead, do the research yourself and use that knowledge to make informed decisions.
3. Not Thinking Long-Term
Don’t treat investing as a get rich quick scheme. Patience is a virtue that should be practised while investing. Investing for the short-term won’t give your investments time to potentially grow.
Look beyond short-term volatilities and concentrate on the long-term growth potential of your investments. Create a long-term investment strategy to help you build wealth.
4. Relying on Historical Returns
Don’t confuse historical returns with future expectations. Past results are often not accurate indicators of future performance this is why you need to plan your investments wisely.
Historical performance should only serve as risk indicators for any asset you choose to invest in.
5. Making Emotional Decisions
Making emotional decisions when investing can lead to losses. The fewer feelings you involve when investing, the better.
Don’t rush your investment decisions or let fear and greed control your investment decisions. Focus on the bigger picture instead.
Rule No.1: Never lose money.
Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No.1
-Warren Buffet