Have You Got The Right Attitude For Investing?
In the world of investments, attitude counts for a lot
. Why is that, you may be asking? The answer is simple: in investing, it's important that your decisions be founded exclusively on information and reasons pertinent to that investment. You never want to put yourself in the situation where you end up making a decision on an investment based on completely extraneous and irrelevant matters. Hence the saying "Plan the trade, and trade the plan." I've listed some points which may help you with this.
1. Only invest with money that is not and will not be destined for basic living expenses. Even if the money is needed only several months down the line do not even think of using it for an investment. The reason for this is that if you do invest that money, subsequent decisions on the investment will be shaped by basic living expense needs, which strictly speaking is not a factor pertinent to the investment.
For example, Lets say you need that money in 3 months to pay a mortgage repayment. Your investment may temporarily drop on the very week you need the money. In this situation, the correct decision, based on your strategy, could be to hold for another week. But because you have the mortgage, you make the decision to close the investment. This decision was made on information which was irrelevant to the investment and ended up ruining the trade and causing a loss. This issue would never exist if you only invested money you didn't need.
2. When making investments, it is often a helpful technique to imagine to yourself that that money has been completely lost the minute you invested it. The simple reality is that many investments look bad before they end up looking good, which is simply due to the normal fluctuations in investment markets. Countless investments have been ruined by people (myself included) who chickened out too soon and didn't allow the investment to come to fruition in time.
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. Failed trades are a simple fact of life with every investor. You will make trades that lose you money. Your attitude to losing trades is extremely important. You will never end up a successful long term investor if you have the wrong attitude to making losses. Here are 2 great ways to view a trade which is not successful.
3a). Instead of looking at your portfolio as a series of individual investments, think of them as a group or a totality. Imagine that based on a certain investment strategy you are running, four out of every five investments runs a profit (which alternatively means that one out of five is a loss). Instead of considering the losing investment as independent of the other four, rack all five up together in terms of net profit and then divide that by five, not four. The answer, which is your profit per trade, must reflect on all trades in the strategy and in that sense, 20% of the final net profit is courtesy of the failed trade. Remember: if it's a necessary part of the overall strategy, it is not strictly a loss.
In this manner, you save yourself from abandoning a good method simply for fear of small failures.
3b). View your losses as education expenses. Most professionals in the finance industries have spent years and tens of thousands of dollars in universities and educational facilities, learning to ply their trade. Unsuccessful trades are a professional investors "university". To do this properly you have to make sure you analyze these trades and learn from them. Do this in a professional and unemotional manner, otherwise you may fail to make the grade, which will mean you miss out on making long term money through investing.
The investment markets, any of them, can bring out the best and worst of your emotions. It is ultra important to get these under control so they don't impact your investment decisions. Remember, Plan the trade, and trade the plan.
by: Damian Papworth
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