Jump to content

Welcome to the new Traders Laboratory! Please bear with us as we finish the migration over the next few days. If you find any issues, want to leave feedback, get in touch with us, or offer suggestions please post to the Support forum here.

  • Welcome Guests

    Welcome. You are currently viewing the forum as a guest which does not give you access to all the great features at Traders Laboratory such as interacting with members, access to all forums, downloading attachments, and eligibility to win free giveaways. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free. Create a FREE Traders Laboratory account here.

dbelov275

Secret to Be a Successful Investor

Recommended Posts

Investing is a calculated risk.

 

Throwing money into a venture without understanding the downsides, upsides, and being unable to control the moving parts is a gamble, no different than going to a casino without understanding the game of odds.

 

When I am investing in real estate, I am taking a calculated risk with every purchase. My business model is centered around buying property 70-80% of fair market value. Meaning, if i know the house is worth $1,000,000, I refuse to buy it unless I can get it for $7-$800,000.

 

This is me covering my downside, in case the market tanks, in case the house sits on the market for too long, in case there's a huge defect with the property, I've bought conservatively enough that in the worst case, I'm going to break even.

 

Speculation is if I buy the property at 950,000 with the hope that the market will continue to climb and so I can sell the home for 1,100,000.

 

Investors do not bank on speculation. Investors understand and evaluate all the factors in their industry and either hedge for the downside, or can control the moving components to reduce the risk.

 

When VC's are evaluating their next venture, they spent time evaluating the management team because a business is only as good as team directing it. That is a part of how they evaluate how risky the venture is.

 

Risk can be the unpredictability of a market or it can be the lack of education that you have concerning the industry.

 

An old investing adage goes like this:

"Cover your downside and the upside will worry about itself"

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


  • Similar Content

    • By Pro_Traders
      Hi Everyone,
      A lot of people are investing in the stock market as a preparation for retirement days. Yes, it is one primary reason why you should start getting involved in the world of trading but there are other valid reasons you might need to look at. Investing in the stock market means for most people, securing their immediate future and of course hoping that along the way, they earn a considerable amount of cash. Investing in the stock market could give you the power and means to possibly buy the home you've always wanted. While you do not essentially need the full money upfront, you still need the money for down payments to lower down the interest and get a good deal. With a better deal, you will pay less over the years you need to complete to pay the house in full. It also means that you will have immediate equity in your home as an additional bonus. Another good benefit of investing in the stock market is you are not only preparing your future but as well as your children's future. Winning big in the market possibly set up scenarios in which you could send your kids to college for them to start establishing their careers and make their dreams and your dreams a reality. This is yet another long term goal but not that long compared to retirement.

       
    • By divyanshisharma
      Hello All,
      Hope you all doing well, 
      I need to know the simplest strategy for a regular trader who trades daily and earn little to fulfill his/her needs?
    • By inthemoneystocks
      One of the most important reasons why traders take big losses is because they often fail to recognize when a trade has gone wrong. You see, stopping out of a trade is probably the biggest fault of traders and investors. Often, this happens to young and inexperienced traders and investors, but I know many veteran traders and investors that struggle with this as well. Early in my own career I struggled with stopping out of a bad trade myself, so I can sympathize with this problem. 

      The problem with taking a loss is really two fold. First, the trader has to admit that he is wrong. As you all know, as human beings we all hate to be wrong. The ego simply gets in the way and we all want to always be right all the time. The first secret in this business is to check the ego at the door. The market does not care about your the color of your skin, religion or anything else. It will move in the direction of the money and that is the bottom line. Once a trader or investor goes into what I call 'hope mode' the trade is over. I'm sure everyone has been in this position at one time or another. Simply put there is no room for ego or hope in the stock market. The market is always right and there is no reason to fight it. 

      Here is the second problem with taking a loss, it hurts. Pain and pleasure are the two reasons why humans do anything at all. As a human being, we are always looking to have pleasure and avoid pain. Well, losing money is painful and many people would rather simply hold a losing equity than lock in a small loss and move on. I cannot tell you how often I see a trader hold a losing trade only to see the position move further out of the money. Many years ago I watched a day trader blow up a $200,000 account in a single day averaging in on a bad day trade. To this day I can remember the look on his face as his money vanished in thin air. Believe it or not, this trader could have exited the position with a $500.00 loss, but instead he kept averaging in and fighting the position until he was wiped out. As a rule, once you have your full position you should never average in on a trade. At that point, it is critical to know where your max loss is going to be and stop out if that level is breached.

      Now when should we stop out? The answer to this question is not that simple, but here is what I personally do. I always place my stop loss below an important breakout or pivot on the chart. You see, prior breakout or pivot levels are usually defended when retested. After all, this is usually an area where institutional traders and investors got involved, that is why there is a pivot low or high on the chart to begin with. If that level is breached on a closing basis then I will move out of the position. So If I took a trade based on a daily chart pattern then I will usually check the daily and weekly chart levels. If there is a major pivot on the weekly chart then I will use a week chart close as my stop out level. While this method may not be perfect, it has saved me from much bigger losses when I have been wrong.



        Nicholas Santiago
  • Topics

  • Posts

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.