Signs Your Investment Skills Need Some Help

Investing is something that the vast majority of people should be doing. That’s because, when done well, it can help to mitigate risk and enable people to adequately prepare for the future, Notice, though, that we said something very important- “when done well.” Poorly done investing is not worth doing and can end up being much more harmful than beneficial in the long run.

The unfortunate thing is that most people who are bad investors are not aware that they’re bad investors. Thus, they never end up improving the way that they should, and, when the don’t improve, they can never really reap the full benefits of investing.

The good news, though, is that if you pay close attention to your own investing habits, you’ll often find some pretty clear indicators that your investment skills aren’t quite up to par.

Sign #1: You Make Emotion-Fueled Decisions

To start off with, good investors never make decisions based merely on emotion. They don’t get sucked into investment plans because someone taps into their desire to be rich or to get rich quickly, and they don’t pull out of investments because of panic, fear, or other emotions either.

Instead of being ruled by constantly changing and sometimes inaccurate emotions, good investors follow logical, detailed plans and investment strategies that have to do with real risk and possible return, NOT just with how the investor feels on a given day.

Sign #2: Your Track Record is Bad

The most obvious way to determine whether or not you’re a good investor is to take a look at your track record. Has your history been filled with mostly gains or is it riddled with nothing but losses? While no one is going to be a perfect investor every time, your investment history should be more good than bad.

If you don’t have a good track record or if you find other indicators- these are just a couple of many- that you’re maybe not the best investor in the world, that’s okay! It doesn’t mean that you need to give up on investing for good, but it does mean that you should consider hiring an investment adviser to teach you the ropes and guide you until you are capable of making smart investment decisions on your own.