The
Importance of Education to the Investor
by Brett Fogle
How many of you out there think that
the market is performing well?
How many think the market is
performing poorly?
And how many feel the markets
performance is neutral?
Actually none of these answers is
correct. You see, the market does not perform, you do.
You perform!
Sometimes you perform well, and other
times you do not perform so well. The market doesn’t perform, it moves.
It moves up, it moves down and it moves sideways.
It moves along like anything else that
travels in a business cycle. If the market did perform, then you would
only be able to make money in an up market.
As you know, it is possible to make
money in a down market, and even in a stagnant market.
Thus it stands to reason that the
market simply moves and you react to it. So, let’s talk about your
performance. You have two ways that you can perform, directly and
indirectly.
Directly, you pick your own stocks.
Indirectly, someone else picks your stocks for you, whether it is your
broker or a fund manager.
In the latter case, the fact that you
chose someone else to pick the actual stock does not mean that the
responsibility of a loss is theirs. After all, it was you who chose
them.
In the end, it is you and you alone
who are responsible for your performance.
Consequently, it is your
responsibility to become an educated investor.
Years ago, individual investors didn’t
have to worry about who was managing their money.
Now, things have changed as poor
returns from money managers and investment firm scandals have shaken
our confidence in these ‘professionals.’
To get a better look at what lies
ahead, you have to go back and look at what transpired to get you to
where you are now. From there, maybe a clearer path into the future
will become visible.
During the Great Bull Market of the
1990’s, many investors, like you, entered the market and reaped the
returns of the largest bull market in history.
Everyone, it seemed, made incredibly
high rates of return. The market’s incredible, unprecedented move
appeared to make geniuses of us all - but in actuality, it masked some
major flaws with many industry professionals. It also created a
misconception in the general public that all market professionals were
experts.
Suddenly, the bubble burst and those
flaws were exposed.
Not only did we find out that most of
those experts possessed more luck than skill, but we also discovered
that some had been cheating us out of our hard earned savings.
Many investors were discouraged with
these market developments, and to make matters worse, many had lost
significant amounts of money. Not to mention, the prospect of regaining
these losses seemed slim to uncertain, at best.
Furthermore, the very people we
normally looked to for help in retrieving these losses either lacked
the talent to recover them or had lost enough of our trust and
confidence that we wouldn’t even entertain the thought of letting them
try.
--------------------------------------------------------
) 2005 Brett Fogle Brett Fogle is the founder of The Options University
which teaches traders options trading strategies for safer investing
and explosive profits! You can discover how to protect your investments
with the leveraged power of options & learn how to trade options
like the pros... Visit us online at http://www.optionsuniversity.com to
learn more!
Brett Fogle is a prolific
net-preneur. He is the owner of several businesses including MacArthur
Water Gardens (http://www.macarthurwatergardens.com), Options
University (http://www.optionsuniversity.com) and Blog-Power
(http://www.blog-power.com).
Brett Fogle may be contacted at or bjf_enterprises@yahoo.com
|
