That One Thing

In my brief time writing this blog, I have attempted to offer quick thoughts on how I feel about the market or a specific stock at a given time. Its not much, but in a way it helps me keep things together and hopefully someone out there reads this and benefits in some way. So in the spirit of helping everyone around me become a better investor I am going to offer one rule which you should stick by.

Never listen to tips, advice, etc. on your investment ideas.

Now you may say hold on a second, this blog writes about stocks should I listen to it? No. There is nobody better than you, to invest your money. Provided you have the time to do the research (and by research I mean read the 10-k's, q's, press releases, conference calls, articles, and familiarize yourself with that company's competitors, at a minimum) nobody will do a better job with your money than you. In general people are filled with bad advice. Its not intentional, they simply just don't know what to do with the market. If you buy a stock on a tip, prepare yourself beforehand to lose your money. Nine times out of ten it will happen. This has been the most expensive lesson I have learned trading. I have told people about my positions and they have said to ride it out, or talked me out of them, only to find out that I was right and they were wrong. Worse yet often times I have abandoned my own thinking and adopted the advice as if it was "the truth". Now I am not saying that all advice is bad, its simply that you are better than anyone else at investing, know that, and profit from it.