You Need To Check Your Emotions At The Door Before You Invest In The Stock Market
August 21, 2009 by Marc Abrams
Filed under Stock Market
We have all been victims of other people’s stock advice. “This stock is guaranteed to go up!” Sometimes the advice comes from a neighbor, or a close friend. It may even come from your own investment advisor.
Our emotions get us thinking. You don’t want to lose out on the potential gains. Irrationally, without blinking an eye, you invest. Most of the time the end result is much worse than you expected. Surprisingly, you continue to repeat this same mistake over and over again.
What is wrong with our thinking? The answer, for most of us, is that our emotions take control of our decisions. They are so powerful that we often ignore our rational, logical thoughts. The opportunity for a quick dollar or hope to “get rich quick” heightens our emotional thinking. You must realize that it is not the rational side of our brain that is tripping us up, but the emotional side!
We tend to ignore many sound investment plans due to emotions. You can, however, quiet that emotional side that forces you to ignore your well thought out investment strategy if you work at it. You can learn to stick to your investment plan through both good and bad times.
Some investors, however, cannot shake the investing demons that compel them into making the same mistakes over and over. It is this type of trader that cannot overcome emotions while investing. They often lack the experience that allows them to treat investing like a business, and not like a game of poker.
The main driving emotion for many investors is the fear of losing money. The next is making a quick buck. Lets not forget to mention greed, the king of all emotions. All of these cloud judgment and prevent you from thinking clearly about how an action affects your portfolio. It doesn’t take long for disaster to strike when this kind of thinking is in play.
When investing, I had a difficult time getting my emotions under control. I was finally able to control my emotions and let my logical side control my investment decisions. To help me do this, I developed an investment system that I use over and over with consistent success. I have certain parameters that I follow to guide me towards the right kinds of investments. This system is black and white, very logical. Now I remain focused and stick to my strategy even when that emotional beast tries to rear its head.
There is no shame in making poor investment decisions over and over. There is good news, you can change things starting now! I made that change and as a result I have been more successful than I ever have been investing in the stock market. I also managed to do this when the stock market was in a sharp decline! I promise you, to be a successful investor all you need is a solid investment strategy and the ability to keep your emotions checked at the door. Take the advise of someone that did that very thing!
