Four things anyone can do to improve their Investment Performance

Personal Financial Solutions

When managing your finances simple steps can pay huge dividends. Too often investors focus on radical changes while overlooking the basics. Many are surprised and even shocked at the results of simply going back to basics.

1. Set goals:

A goal determines the risk, time frame and appropriateness of your investments. Choosing the wrong investment for a particular goal is a critical mistake. You could miss out on the party by having to cash out too soon.

2. Understand your investments:

Simply understanding what makes a particular investment a good idea allows you to make significantly better investments choices. You may not understand all the detail financial information of an investment, but a friend’s recommendation, a headline in the news, recent increases in the stock price is not enough. Identify trusted sources for financial information, It’s better to miss an opportunity than to take a shot in the dark. Savvy investors know the difference between gambling and investing.

3. Track your investment performance:

There are many user friendly tools on various platforms and investment sites which allow you to track investment performance. Set up a model portfolio consisting of your holdings. One note of caution, avoid checking your portfolio every day. Once a week is enough to identify trends.

4. Sell winners:

The adage is to buy low and sell high. Most investors do the opposite. Emotionally its hard to sell when your investment is going up. The dilemma has always been how high is too high and how low is too low. Check your greed, avoid the gambling instinct and take profits. The compromise is to take at least enough profit so you won’t have regrets if your investment crashes and burns.