I hope I'm not getting into a discussion that is over my head but here goes. In my opinion, I would suggest to anyone that is not sure of themselves 1. not to get caught up in the panic of feeling you will miss the only opportunity in your life. There are always more. 2. Begin with small amounts of money. "small" is whatever the individual perceives as small for themselves. Different for everyone.
3. Now this is important. Practice your knowledge and discipline with these small amounts until you "discover" your self and your abilities. Practice-discipline-practice-discipline. It doesn't matter how good a stock looks, practice with small until you have proven your theories and abilities over and over again. Here is the scoop...People will undoubtedly pick an amount they can afford to lose as meaning "small". If you find yourself in a stock that you made a mistake in, you will easily let yourself get out with a tiny loss. If you are in a stock that is performing like you expected, and you reach the point you know you should take your profit, you will, because as small as it may be you know you are practicing and will be happy with a small profit. You will soon find that your theories work and you have gained emotional discipline. That's the first step. The big problem is, and this is even true for professionals, is when you start dealing with money that is "big" which is money you do not want to lose, the ego comes into play. If you have big money invested in a stock that is going sideways, the ego does not want you to let go because of the big loss. This is the same stock you would have instantly sold playing with small money. You end up hanging on and on, hoping and hoping. If you are in a stock at a point where you know you should be taking a profit, the ego won't let you sell because of the big leverage, you get greedy and want to make more and we soon are in the should of could of stage. This is the same stock you would have eagerly sold when you were practicing. So if one can be successful with "small" money and apply those principles with "big" money and keep beating down the ego, you will be very successful.
Hopin I don't sound stupid!
Gordo |
