Sunday, July 11, 2010

Smart Investing Made Easy

Dear Investors:

As a business person, you are constantly working hard to make a steady paycheck. If you are not working for someone, you are probably working for yourself.

Either way, you are interested in saving not only for your retirement, but also so you can have a safe haven for your money to grow over time.

The problem is that there are too many shady people out there who know what you are trying to do and will take advantage of you in a hurry.

You will more than likely hear their pitch and like what they have to say. Then you get involved in it, only to find you wasted your money and time.

Once this realization has set in, you know you were taken for a ride. Does this sound all too familiar?

You just can’t seem to find a way to invest your hard earned money so it can grow for you.

Who do you trust? Where do you go?

So why do so many investors fail to invest?

Why do they end up losing their shirt?

The problem lies in several areas:

1. They find the wrong investments and end up losing a lot of money.
2. They are not educated enough to understand the market and how things work, so they go in blind.
3. They take the wrong advice, make bad investments, and end up losing their shirt.
4. They don’t take the time to learn so they rush through, thinking they can get rich quick, only to lose in the end.
5. They end up investing in really risky stocks, only to find the stocks later become worthless.

If you find yourself in one of the above categories, don’t fault yourself. Maybe you weren’t trained in investing.

And even if you were trained, maybe you did not receive full training or you were just too impatient.

The biggest reason why investors fail is because of emotion. Investors are too emotional at times.

They see other investors pull out, when instead they should be patient and wait it out.

Keep in mind, investors normally base their purchasing on their present mood, what the market is doing at the time, and investor sentiment.

In fact, there have been many investors who looked at stocks without seeing the history of the stock. Or they invest in mutual funds without looking at the fund’s performance.

Study after study shows the average investor does much worse than the average mutual fund, as he switches from his poorly performing fund to the latest hot fund just as it turns down.

The best use of past performance is to determine how a manager behaved in a particular set of prior circumstances.

Yet investors read that past performance is not indicative of future results, and then promptly ignore it.

If you do, I have news for you. You are not alone….

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