All the investing greats, be it Peter Lynch, John Singleton, or Warren Buffett, are considered greats because they not only made money in the stock market, but they made it year in, year out because they approach it with a long-term view. People who are just looking to make a killing in the short term often end up losing their shirt and then some. This is not what this article is about. If you want to learn about how to be a long term winner in the stock market, read on.
1. Set your goal. Take your personal factors into consideration to come up with the type of portfolio that best suits you. Then analyze every potential investment by thinking about what you want out of it and whether or not it fits into your overall investment plan. Just like a sports coach, have your X's and O's ready, don't react to the market. This will save you a lot of headaches and money.
2. Devise a strategy. If you look up stock market investment strategies, it seems as if everyone has THE winning formula for success in the stock market. Obviously, they can't all be right, although there are some time-tested principles that all the greats have never strayed from. Find one of these strategies that you're most comfortable with, take it, and literally run with it. As in everything, you might come to a point where you have to improvise and make a little detour, but those moments should be the exception; changing your plan when a situation arises should never be the rule.
3. Assess possible risks. Your ability to assess the risks your investment carries will be critical to your success. The key here is to look at them realistically, not with wishful thinking. Your management plan must be as effective and practical as possible in order to minimize your losses and in turn maximize your profits. This step is to be completed BEFORE evaluating profit potential, to avoid you getting so excited about your potential profits that you fail to properly evaluate the risk you'll be taking.
4. Measure profit potential. One way novice investors lose out when they pick stocks that are winners is that they want to make the most money possible by selling at the top of the market. The problem is, there's no sure way to know when that time is. Your best bet is to have set profit thresholds where you sell to at least get your initial money back. You can then take more risks with the rest of the money. Knowing when to get out can avoid you huge losses.
5. Keep an eye out for comparable opportunities. Do a little more research. Check to see if there are other investments that have fewer risks, a better profit potential, or if there are is another strategy that will make your life easier (or hopefully a little richer at the end of the day).
6. Scale the mountain. This step goes hand in hand with devising a strategy from the get-go. Every investment you make will have its unique challenges to optimize rewards and minimize losses. Anticipating them gives you a leg up that will allow you to achieve that exact goal.
7. Have your plan B handy. Set specific boundaries as to when you should get out of an investment. Whether everything goes wrong and you need to bail out or you've hit it big and need to move on to other investments, having explicit, well laid-out limits prevents you from losing returns or just losing more money.
8. Choose correctly. You should be aware that investing is not exactly something that you can pursue offhandedly. So before you take the big leap and put your money in the market, you'd be well-inspired to take a step back and analyze your investing project in its entirety. You should be able to see the big picture as opposed to bits and pieces here and there. If it doesn't hold up, or doesn't show that it's worth your efforts, don't hesitate to scratch it: you'll be better off starting a new plan from scratch than losing on a big gamble.
9. Aim high. So your mind is made up on an investment, right? Well then just go for it and stop over-thinking things. You've done all the thinking you needed to in the previous steps. As corny as it sounds, if you give everything you got, you'll be a winner regardless of the monetary outcome. Even if you lost money, you won't have lost that much because you've learned to hedge your bets. All you have to do is following through on your game plan and the long term benefits will follow.
10. Debrief. On a regular basis, look back over your plan and analyze your results. If you picked out some duds and suffered heavy losses, try and figure out where you went wrong so that you don't make the same mistakes next time. The worst thing you can do at this point is give up because then you won't have learned anything from your mistakes. Instead, constantly tweak your approach and refine your technique until you find that perfect strategy. Once you've done that you'll be on your way to success in the stock market. - 15224
1. Set your goal. Take your personal factors into consideration to come up with the type of portfolio that best suits you. Then analyze every potential investment by thinking about what you want out of it and whether or not it fits into your overall investment plan. Just like a sports coach, have your X's and O's ready, don't react to the market. This will save you a lot of headaches and money.
2. Devise a strategy. If you look up stock market investment strategies, it seems as if everyone has THE winning formula for success in the stock market. Obviously, they can't all be right, although there are some time-tested principles that all the greats have never strayed from. Find one of these strategies that you're most comfortable with, take it, and literally run with it. As in everything, you might come to a point where you have to improvise and make a little detour, but those moments should be the exception; changing your plan when a situation arises should never be the rule.
3. Assess possible risks. Your ability to assess the risks your investment carries will be critical to your success. The key here is to look at them realistically, not with wishful thinking. Your management plan must be as effective and practical as possible in order to minimize your losses and in turn maximize your profits. This step is to be completed BEFORE evaluating profit potential, to avoid you getting so excited about your potential profits that you fail to properly evaluate the risk you'll be taking.
4. Measure profit potential. One way novice investors lose out when they pick stocks that are winners is that they want to make the most money possible by selling at the top of the market. The problem is, there's no sure way to know when that time is. Your best bet is to have set profit thresholds where you sell to at least get your initial money back. You can then take more risks with the rest of the money. Knowing when to get out can avoid you huge losses.
5. Keep an eye out for comparable opportunities. Do a little more research. Check to see if there are other investments that have fewer risks, a better profit potential, or if there are is another strategy that will make your life easier (or hopefully a little richer at the end of the day).
6. Scale the mountain. This step goes hand in hand with devising a strategy from the get-go. Every investment you make will have its unique challenges to optimize rewards and minimize losses. Anticipating them gives you a leg up that will allow you to achieve that exact goal.
7. Have your plan B handy. Set specific boundaries as to when you should get out of an investment. Whether everything goes wrong and you need to bail out or you've hit it big and need to move on to other investments, having explicit, well laid-out limits prevents you from losing returns or just losing more money.
8. Choose correctly. You should be aware that investing is not exactly something that you can pursue offhandedly. So before you take the big leap and put your money in the market, you'd be well-inspired to take a step back and analyze your investing project in its entirety. You should be able to see the big picture as opposed to bits and pieces here and there. If it doesn't hold up, or doesn't show that it's worth your efforts, don't hesitate to scratch it: you'll be better off starting a new plan from scratch than losing on a big gamble.
9. Aim high. So your mind is made up on an investment, right? Well then just go for it and stop over-thinking things. You've done all the thinking you needed to in the previous steps. As corny as it sounds, if you give everything you got, you'll be a winner regardless of the monetary outcome. Even if you lost money, you won't have lost that much because you've learned to hedge your bets. All you have to do is following through on your game plan and the long term benefits will follow.
10. Debrief. On a regular basis, look back over your plan and analyze your results. If you picked out some duds and suffered heavy losses, try and figure out where you went wrong so that you don't make the same mistakes next time. The worst thing you can do at this point is give up because then you won't have learned anything from your mistakes. Instead, constantly tweak your approach and refine your technique until you find that perfect strategy. Once you've done that you'll be on your way to success in the stock market. - 15224
About the Author:
Before starting to invest, make sure you read our extensive stock market success article. You can also find more financial tips on our personal finance blog, Money Galaxy.
