Successful Investing
"The investor's chief problem - and even his worst enemy - is likely to be HIMSELF."
Ben Graham
*** WORK IN PROGRESS ***
What determines your investment results?
When people think of investing, many think about stock-picking as the key to success. Some want to find the next Amazon, Google, or Apple. Others seek to hold a basket of handpicked blue chip stocks, believing that's the smarter way to invest. And some say stock-picking is a fool's errand and that you should invest in the right mutual funds to achieve long term success.
What's the problem with all of these approaches? They fail to understand what matters most.
The academic research is clear: investor behavior, asset allocation, and minimizing fees are the factors that account for the vast majority of investment results.
The best thing that investors can do is to focus on the big things first. Let's look at the biggest three factors one at a time.
Investor behavior
How does investor behavior effect results?
Savings rate
Investors trying to time the market based on their emotions at the time (primarily fear and greed).
Investors constantly fiddling with their portfolio.