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The TOP 3 DOs and DONTs To Be a Successful Investor

Many times we ask ourselves "Why do some people make money easily while I have a difficult time doing so?". I already have a few friends who are making tons of money after huge investment in crypto and I have another friend who has made tons of money in options trading. I am still struggling and I have been asking myself why. What am I lacking compared to them?

I believe it is the amount of effort and time that my friends have placed to master the art of trading and investing -that make them successful. They will only focus on one thing and continue to sharpen that skills and knowledge relevant to that instead of jumping from one to another. For my case I have dabbled in the futures market, day trading, options, some crypto....all with mild or no success. 




It is time for a change.  I have to put in more effort to be a more of a successful investor. knowledge without action is meaningless. We must Do the right things and DONT Do some things that may hinder our progress to be successful in investing.



#1 - Invest Seriously

To be successful, we have to take investing seriously. No one goes into the stock market expect to have fun--its all about making money. We should take every every single investment decisions seriously. Not to say its can not a fun thing but if we take investing half hearted, then the result will be half hearted as well.

The capital that we use to invest in stocks comes from our hard earned income and savings. So we make sure that we do our as best  we could before parting our money to invest and not only for the fun of it.


#2 - Invest a Game Plan & Stay Disciplined

To invest without have a plan is like sailing a boat across the Mediterranean Sea without a map. 

We have to continually invest with a plan, be certain of when to enter, what type of trade to do, and understand the risk involved so we can protect our capital. We will they make mistakes and the journey will be hard, but I believe as long we stay disciplined and stick with the Plan, do not always succumb to the 3 deadly sins in investing -- hope, greed, vengeance --- we wil be rewarded handsomely as long we survive long enough in the game.


#3 - Capital Allocation

Know exactly how much we should invest and risk in a single trade. We will should never invest beyond our means and never fall in love with a stock.



#1 - Never be too Gung-Ho

We may out a lot of time and effort in stocks research to find the next big win in stocks. But that does not mean we have be gung-ho and jump into every single one of them. 


#2 - Never Follow Blindly

Most investors including those with some experience love to follow tips blindly. I've commited this DON'T  so many times by following blindly advice from gurus, friends and analysts thhus making huge losses from doing such an irresponsible action. If one has already experienced huge lessons after following others blindly without self doing research, jus consider it a BIG lesion learned and as a reminder to Rule no 2 of DON'Ts -- 'Don't' Follow Blindly!

Tips and advice from gurus, friends and gurus can help but we must always do our due diligence and never follow blindly. Sure it is easy to just follow and put the blame on them but end of the day we are responsible for our our investments, not them.


#3 - Never Blame

True investors will always take responsibility for their actions including every trades, every decision, every outcome.

We should never ever blame others nor the market  for any trades that has made us lose money. We also also not blame the market if the market does not go our way. There is a saying for this...the market is never WRONG, but people's opinions usually are. The most important thing is how we should respond to losing positions both in trades and mental state.



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