July 2018 proclaimed my 10 calendar year wedding anniversary as an self-directed trader. That means I have already been managing my own personal stock portfolio of investments for ten years (and counting). I’ve been celebrating (mostly in my mind) all month. I couldn’t let July 2018 pass by without sharing the top ten trading lessons I have learned over the past a decade!
I shared a similar post last year for my 9th wedding anniversary but ten years is kind of a huge deal (in my own head) and so, we are here. A little background story – I found out about investing for the very first time nov 2004 – a semester before I graduated from college.
This amazing “discovery” completely shifted my perspective on what’s truly possible when it comes to building prosperity. I immediately made sure my level included a financing focus. I graduated with a bachelor of science in business and Finance. Of taking multiple finance courses Regardless, and regardless of my “book” knowledge on the subject, hands on investing still seemed overly complex.
It wasn’t until a good friend of mine sat down beside me and strolled me through the detail by detail procedure for buying a Stock and tracking a personal profile that things began to click. That was back the summer of 2008 and 10 years later I could affirm, without a doubt, that understanding how to make investments has been among the best skills I’ve obtained in my own life to date.
- Loan Options
- 18 729,690 28,552 1.0% 7,297
- 8 years ago from Vermont, USA
- 5 years back from London, United Kingdom
- Issuing bank’s low credit ratings
The amazing thing is that the learning never ends and I continue acquiring amazing lessons as time goes on. In this article I get to reveal 10 what I consider to be the best lessons so far. 1 Patience could possibly be the most difficult skill to learn as an trader but it can also be the most satisfying. When you put your cash in amazing companies being patient with business cycles and random stock fluctuations can pay off tremendously over time. And incidentally – The keyword here’s amazing companies.
If you are placing your money in rubbish (ie: Penny stocks, the latest trend, a arbitrary obscure business that could be part of a pump and dump structure) being patient doesn’t make a difference. I cannot speak for that as I don’t spend money on those kinds of things. 2 A number of the riskiest stocks to purchase include retail and companies which have one single source of income and lots of competition.
The retail industry is a tough one to invest in because customers are fickle and frequently change their mind about brands, the costs they want to pay, where they want to shop, and the list goes on. For that good reason, most (not all) retail companies are struggling today. Brick and mortar Specially.
Be careful with companies for the reason that realm. There is just a handful of companies from that industry which i consider “safe”. Another risky type of stocks to purchase involve companies that rely using one single way to generate income yet have other competitors doing the same thing – not only better but ALSO by offering other services to consumers. I strongly believe that diversification isn’t only important for your portfolio but also for individual businesses. The type of businesses that involves mind when I believe of ‘solitary way to obtain income’ include music loading business or those food kit services that send you elements.
Be careful with those as well. Can you think of other illustrations? 3 The best time to be on a shopping spree in the marketplaces is when the majority are fearful. About 3 months after I opened up my online brokerage account and bought my very first stock the marketplace crashed. It wasn’t a brief lived crash that lasted weekly.
It was the financial crisis of 2008 where several major companies, some that were around for 100 years almost, proceeded to go bankrupt and the world seemed like it would fall apart. In retrospect I realized that the timing couldn’s have been more perfect. Many people want to jump into the marketplaces and do all kinds of crazy things when everything is going well but then hide when everything is dropping apart. How effective do you think that is?