Successful Investment Series #3 Check Your Emotions at the Front Door!

Emotions are one of the biggest killers to a good investment! 

• Our emotions have a clever way of weaving their way into our financial decisions. 
• Everyone likes to think they have their emotions under control, but do you really?

This post lays out the emotional roadblocks I use to check my emotions at the front door.

Roadblock #1   "Forget about pride"

• Pride and investing have no room for each other.
• If you want to be a successful investor you have to recognize and accept the fact that you will not always come out ahead. 
• A successful investor is someone who can recognize their losses, exam their mistakes, and not let their pride affect their next move. 
• The ability to move past your losses will greatly determine your ability to be a successful investor or not. 

Roadblock #2  "Don't get attached"

• Staying emotionally detached from an investment that has given you good returns over the years is easier said than done.
• You must remember to continually evaluate each of your investments based on their merit in your portfolio and not on your past relationship.  
• If you find yourself struggling with this one, you may want to consider seeking the advice of someone you trust or a professional investor. 
• Similar to breaking up with someone you have been dating for a while, but you know is toxic. You just need a few friends to help build up your courage before you break it off. 

Roadblock #3  "Forget about everyone else"

• The all mighty powerful "FOMO" (Fear of Missing Out) has a lot of sway over many unprepared investors. 
• FOMO can generate itself from recent media hype, or your friend telling you that you have to buy this before its to late. 
• Do not fall trap to the FOMO.
• The best way to fight FOMO is to educate yourself on the situation, looking at it from all angles as to help you not make rational decisions.

Roadblock #4  "Know yourself"

• The most important road block in checking your emotions at the door is to know yourself.
• You must constantly self analyse. 
• Am I in a good mood today? Is that affecting my decisions? Should I workout and then come back? Should I push through? Should I take a break?
• Knowing yourself and being honest with yourself is the only way that you will make it in the long run as a successful investor. 
•  You have to be able to look back at your day, week, month, year or more and ask yourself what you could have done better? What you did well? What worked and did not work?

Roadblock #5  "Use a professional"

• Having someone in the middle of you and your investments helps keep you from making poor investment decisions. 
• Professional investors do this for a living and have seen the ups and downs and know what should be done. (Be aware of those who are pushing you into high fee investments)
• They can offer comfort and reassurance when the markets are in turmoil. 
• I recommend using a professional investor if you do not feel that you can successfully complete the above 4 road blocks on your own. 

Key Points 

1. Pride will only loose you money in the long run.
2. Use critical analysis to help you stay detached from poor investments. 
3. Forget about what everyone else is doing and go with what you know is right. 
4. Constantly reevaluate and self analyse. 
5. If you can not complete the above 4 steps on your own, use a professional. 

If you enjoyed this you may also enjoy my first two posts of the series. 

#1.) https://steemit.com/investing/@elderfinancial/successful-investment-series-1-importance-of-goal-setting

#2) https://steemit.com/money/@elderfinancial/successful-investment-series-2-forming-financial-habits

Thanks for reading!