Steve Buhaly: 7 Secrets of Successful Investing (Part I)

Learn the first secret of successful investing with Part I of our three-part series!

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Did you know that the average individual investor does worse in the stock market than the market itself? In other words, if you just held a broad index fund and did nothing but hold on until you hit retirement you would do better than most.

It turns out that the problem has nothing to do with a lack of market savvy or anything like that. Instead, it has everything to do with human emotions. Once you learn the enemy you can master it! So let’s take a quick look in the mirror and get acquainted with our opponent!

The first secret is simply to invest as soon as you can. Don’t sit on the sidelines! Start now and let compounding do the heavy lifting over time. Make the effort to learn something new: like how to set up an account and put some money to work. Either do it on line or call one of the big brokerages. You’ll be richly repaid for your efforts!

The next secret is to avoid being too conservative when investing for long-term goals. Many people are reluctant to invest in the stock market because they are afraid they’ll lose money. And they’re right – they will! But allow enough time and the results come back to the long term averages. Take a look at this chart showing the S&P500’s results from 2007 through 2015. That drop in 2008-2009 was pretty terrifying – I know! I personally lost over a third of my money in it! And it was really uncomfortable. But look what happened after that. It took several years but the market came back and is now well above where it was before the great recession. The right thing to do is to stay the course. Invest when you have money to do so and only sell when you need the money. This is really important. Hang on when you’re in the middle of one of these lurches and don’t sell or change your game plan.

[ashleyrobinson]

I like your straight-forward outlook on investing. You address investing in the Stock Market but what about real estate? There are many emerging FinTech companies that allow investors to place stakes in property and collect returns as the borrower repays their mortgage. These are not REITs. Would you say that the same approach you spoke about regarding the stock market could be applied to property investing? Thanks!

[deleted]

I love how clean this video was, it had no annoying music in background during the advice and it was very well made, showed examples and had a nice gentle voice. Loved the video !

[dandreher]

When I Say No Retirement And My Company Insists I send My Resume out to Competition Companies for 401K and Stock Options!1 Free tip Green Energy Stock is rising and Oil Crude not Refined is dropping!!

[ivynacol]

Thanks, Steve, you're doing a great thing!