10 Investment Tips for Successful Investing (2024)

by Bridget Mackay

10 Investment Tips for Successful Investing (1)

When Stephen Covey’s bestselling book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” took off in 1989, it emphasized universal principles, mainly based on one’s character. A wave of prescriptive self-help books, videos and articles followed, with applications in many fields, including finance.

Here is a compilation of some guidelines from a variety of sources.

Some guidelines for regular investors

The following habits are divided between behavior and education. This list is not so much intended for ultra-high-net-worth, highly sophisticated individuals who have access to exceptional advisers and products. In fact, the ultra-wealthy also exhibit risk profiles different from more typical investors and may be willing to take on extra risk, knowing that their basic life needs are already met.

These principles also distinguish between investing and trading. The former takes a longer-term approach, with a view to wealth accumulation, retirement or inheritance planning; the latter focuses on maximizing short-term profits.

10 habits to cultivate

  • Make a long-term financial plan and stick with it — creating a simple plan can help you ride out market volatility if you commit and adhere to it. Discipline is key. Besides, your investments should gradually compound, and compounding is said to be the eighth wonder of the world!
  • Diversify — it’s the only free lunch. Spread your investments across stocks, bonds and cash in a variety of regions and industry sectors.
  • Be tax efficient — taxes alone should not dictate investment decisions, but consider tax treatments for the funds you place in different accounts.
  • Invest consistently — investments can be made at regular intervals instead of as lump sums. Dollar-cost averaging is an example.
  • Keep an emergency fund — liquid assets are there for crises, like unemployment or a medical emergency. Keeping funds on hand to weather three to six months can shield you from dipping into retirement accounts or resorting to fire sales.
  • Maintain realistic expectations — don’t chase trends or expect to profit every time. Fear and greed are your worst enemies.
  • Don’t be tempted to time markets — over time, it doesn’t work. Even the most prominent investors who try to navigate fluctuations will often come to grief.
  • Engage and trust qualified professional advisers — hire a knowledgeable attorney, accountant and investment adviser. It may seem expensive, so do the homework carefully to line up an honest expert team.
  • Allocate assets — studies show that top-line allocation — such as stocks, bonds and cash — is much more important than picking securities. It is by far the most critical element in portfolio returns.
  • Be decisive — planning to do something is not the same as actually following through and doing it. Assess an appropriate and prudent risk level for your situation and goals, and take action. Don’t just talk about it.

You are your own best investment

Self-education is an ongoing lifelong pursuit for managing your own finances and investments. As Warren Buffett said, “There’s one investment that supersedes all others: Invest in yourself.”

  • Do the research — it may feel like drudgery, but take the time to understand any investment in which you are committing money. Remember that it took hard work to earn that money, so make the effort to do the research and make informed decisions before you fling your money around too casually.
  • Learn what makes investors tick — some basic behavioral psychology can help you identify and control bad instincts, such as herding, anchoring, framing and mental accounting. Read about or ask your adviser to tell you more about those all-too-human tendencies!
  • Think in terms of probabilities or likelihoods in markets. Understanding probability is the closest we can get to envisioning the future. It is “probably” the best thing you can do to get the odds on your side.
  • Follow the financial press — develop an analysis of trends and underlying factors by reading clear and basic articles in newspapers and online. Learn more about companies, industries and market trends.
  • Travel — roam around the U.S. and other countries if you can. It truly does broaden the mind and inspire new ideas for investing.

Talk to your professional advisers about how to follow these goals. They will be able to give you practical tips for your own circ*mstances.

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10 Investment Tips for Successful Investing (2)

Bridget has been practicing law for over 25 years. After graduating from Santa Clara Law, she spent 10 years as a Deputy District attorney in both Solano and Sonoma Counties. After the birth of her daughter, her priorities changed, and she began a practice in estate planning and Medi-Cal benefits planning. This transition was a natural fit and all her skills of listening, compassion and fearless pursuit on behalf of her clients translated well to this area of law. She lives in Petaluma with her daughter and Bernese Mountain dog.

10 Investment Tips for Successful Investing (3)

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10 Investment Tips for Successful Investing (2024)

FAQs

What is the 10 rule in investing? ›

So, when you're ready to invest, you want to implement something I call the 10% Risk Rule. And this basically is just limiting your risky investments to no more than 10% of the total money you have invested.

What is the 10/5/3 rule of investment? ›

According to this rule, stocks can potentially return 10% annually, bonds 5%, and cash 3%. While these figures are not guarantees, they serve as a guideline for investors to forecast potential returns and adjust their portfolio accordingly.

What are four 4 very good tips for investing? ›

With that in mind, here are four risk-management principles to get you started—and to stick with throughout your investing career.
  • Align your risk with your goals. What are you investing for and how are you going to achieve it? ...
  • Diversify. ...
  • Rebalance. ...
  • Watch out for leverage.

What did Warren Buffett tell his wife to invest in? ›

Buffett on how to invest his wife's inheritance after he dies — and it's not Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett said he revises his will every three years, and he still advises his wife to allocate 10% of her inheritance to short-term government bonds and 90% to a low-cost S&P 500 index fund.

What is the golden rule of investment? ›

Keeping your portfolio diversified is important for reducing risk. Having your portfolio in only one or two stocks is unsafe, no matter how well they've performed for you. So experts advise spreading your investments around in a diversified portfolio.

What is the 10 5 3 rule? ›

The 10, 5, 3 rule. This is the expected long-term return from equities 10%, bonds 5%, and cash 3%. It hasn't quite worked out like that since 2008, but it's a long term view over 20 years. It can be combined with the rule of 72, so we can see how long it takes for each asset class to approximately double in value.

What is the golden rule of money? ›

It's a simple rule, but it's still the most potent piece of money wisdom: don't spend more than you earn. Living within your means is a sure-fire way to stay out of debt, avoid creeping interest costs and create financial stability.

What is the 70 20 10 rule for investing? ›

The 70-20-10 budget formula divides your after-tax income into three buckets: 70% for living expenses, 20% for savings and debt, and 10% for additional savings and donations. By allocating your available income into these three distinct categories, you can better manage your money on a daily basis.

What is the 1 investor rule? ›

For a potential investment to pass the 1% rule, its monthly rent must equal at least 1% of the purchase price. If you want to buy an investment property, the 1% rule can be a helpful tool for finding the right property to achieve your investment goals.

What are the 4 C's of investing? ›

To help with this conversation, I like to frame fund expenses in terms of what I call the Four C's of Investment Costs: Capacity, Craftsmanship, Complexity, and Contribution. Capacity: The amount of capital a strategy can prudently oversee without degrading its integrity is of paramount importance to its cost.

What are the 4 P's of investing? ›

These are People, Philosophy, Process, and Performance. When evaluating a wealth manager, these are the key areas to think about. The 4P's can be dissected further, but for the purpose of this introduction, we'll focus on these high-level categories.

What is 4 3 2 1 investment strategy? ›

The 4-3-2-1 Approach

One simple rule of thumb I tend to adopt is going by the 4-3-2-1 ratios to budgeting. This ratio allocates 40% of your income towards expenses, 30% towards housing, 20% towards savings and investments and 10% towards insurance.

At what age should I get out of stocks? ›

The 100-minus-your-age long-term savings rule is designed to guard against investment risk in retirement. If you're 60, you should only have 40% of your retirement portfolio in stocks, with the rest in bonds, money market accounts and cash.

What is the Warren Buffett 70/30 rule? ›

A 70/30 portfolio is an investment portfolio where 70% of investment capital is allocated to stocks and 30% to fixed-income securities, primarily bonds. Any portfolio can be broken down into different percentages this way, such as 80/20 or 60/40.

What is the 90 10 strategy? ›

According to Buffett, you should invest 90% of your retirement funds in stock-based index funds. According to Buffett, the remaining 10% should be invested in short-term government bonds. The government uses these to finance its projects.

How does the 10 rule work? ›

Lesson Summary. The 10% Rule means that when energy is passed in an ecosystem from one trophic level to the next, only ten percent of the energy will be passed on. An energy pyramid shows the feeding levels of organisms in an ecosystem and gives a visual representation of energy loss at each level.

What is the 10 rule formula? ›

Step 1: Identify the population size, , and calculate 10% of the population size, . Step 2: Identify the sample size, . Step 3: Compare the sample size to 10% of the population size. If n ≤ 0.1 N then the 10% rule is satisfied.

What is the 10x rule in investing? ›

While it is true that angel investors (like our dragons) typically seek 10 times their money back over 3-5 years that isn't the source of the "10x rule". The 10x rule means that in order to gain market traction a product must be exponentially better. ie 10 x faster, 10x smaller, 10x cheaper, 10x more profitable.

What is the 10 rule in real estate investing? ›

It involves calculating the expected annual income from the property and ensuring it equals at least 10% of the property's purchase price. This rule considers various expenses, including property taxes, insurance, maintenance, and property management fees.

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