During our travel down life's path we come to many places where the trail divides and we must make a decision. Some involve psychological (emotional) choices ? marriage, divorce, leaving home, career changes, etc. Others are monetary ? buying a new car, home, starting your own business, investing, etc. Many are interwoven having aspects of both psychological and monetary.
The marriage decision means you have decided to live and share everything with a partner and also support that partner in every way including financial.
Investing in anything is at first mostly financial, but as you accumulate a larger and larger amount it begins to have a grip on your emotions. Greed and fear are the two great motivators in the investment community. Everyone wants to buy that $1.00 stock that goes up to $200 per share. Unfortunately, for most, the pot of gold remains at the end of the rainbow. As the years pass by and your investments become larger and larger fear of loss creeps into the subconscious. No one wants to lose.
During the past 3 years we have seen many people lose a great deal of their stock market investments. Both fear and greed have taken their toll. Wall Street has not taught you how to prevent loss and they never will. Until you have experienced losses you go along with the program and too late you realize there must be a better way, another path. Once you have found it you now have the decision to break away from old conventional wisdom. You realize that you have been following the wrong path.
Wall Street's maxims of Buy and Hold, Do Research and Dollar Cost Average have been and still are false. Once you have come to this understanding you will be on the road to successful investing. You will have taken the right turn on the path.
Losing money is not only a financial hardship but also a psychological burden. No one likes to be wrong, but hear this bit of advice about the stock market. It is OK to lose a small amount, but never OK to lose a large amount. Protection of your capital is of prime importance.
Whenever you buy a stock or mutual fund your first consideration should be how much am I willing to lose if it goes down instead of up? You can set that parameter at 5% to 20% of your investment. For stocks you can have the broker put in a permanent stop loss order, but for mutual funds you must set the price and make the call to tell the broker to sell you out. You are on the right path because you are in control. If you do sell with a 10% loss remember you now have 90% of your money remaining so you can find a more profitable vehicle. Ask around to find out how many of your friends now wish they had had one of those stop orders in place during the past 3 years.
The secret pathway to success in the stock market is selling, not buying.
Al Thomas
Author of "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!"
Never lose money in the stock market again.
http://www.mutualfundmagic.com
Tinley Park executive chauffeured services .. Lockport Chicago limo O’HareEvery day I see in the financial section of newspapers... Read More
Mutual funds by definition are a mixed bag of stocks,... Read More
Financial markets provide their participants with the most favorable conditions... Read More
You remember (they show it on TV every year) the... Read More
There are formulas for just about everything, but it has... Read More
The stock market has been in an up trend for... Read More
For some "long term" would mean holding a stock position... Read More
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall and all the King's... Read More
Why? Because I am going to shatter your conventional wisdom... Read More
1. Do not spread your money too thin.My friend has... Read More
If you are a baby boomer, time is not on... Read More
You'd have had to be living on a desert island... Read More
Because there are so many stocks that are NOT paying... Read More
We need a rabbit!This was a pretty horrible week for... Read More
The Bollinger Band theory is designed to depict the volatility... Read More
One of the greatest challenges of investing in stocks is... Read More
Its dinnertime and the phone rings. It's Joe Noname with... Read More
Stocks breakout from properly formed bases everyday but many investors... Read More
The stock market often closes a week in the middle... Read More
A stock market index is a statistical measure of changes... Read More
It depends on your level of understanding of the market... Read More
Every stock market investor faces one primal enemy. An enemy... Read More
In today's volatile and confusing stock markets everyone is searching... Read More
I go to the Money Show every year to visit... Read More
The higher the market goes the more confusing are the... Read More
limo Chicago Hickory Hills ..We all know the expression, "My country, right or wrong",... Read More
The Law of Chaos is the theory of random unpredictable... Read More
Has your broker been calling you recently with the "great... Read More
As I have said many times before in this column... Read More
If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck... Read More
It looks like we have now entered a new bull... Read More
It has often been said that there is only two... Read More
If you are fed up with early redemption charges and... Read More
How do you invest? What do you really pay? At... Read More
It has fallen upon the consumer to make our economy... Read More
I made my very first investment in the stock market... Read More
Every broker and financial planner will tell you that you... Read More
This is the continuing story of our two imaginary traders,... Read More
It has been said that low cost or even free... Read More
One of the basic laws of physics is that a... Read More
There is so much involved in developing peak performance, that... Read More
Refuse is a serious issue in any society, about as... Read More
During the month of January the Dow Jones Industrial Average,... Read More
It seems that every day I turn on the TV... Read More
With an insecure job market, overworked employees, insufficient retirement savings... Read More
Invest in the stock market for the RIGHT reason, using... Read More
The following are a list of nine things you want... Read More
I don't know what kind it is, but I saw... Read More
I often hear from people, "I don't trade. I invest.... Read More
I know there are a lot of you out there... Read More
Stocks & Mutual Fund |