Have you ever been skydiving? Most people haven’t but most people do know some of what it involves. Mainly, they know that, on your first few dives, you will be jumping in tandem, rather than being thrown out of a plane by yourself. The reason for this is that, whenever you start something new, you have to have an expert to hold your hand while you do it.
Gregory Lindae isn’t a skydiving expert, but he is an investment expert. And the biggest mistake he sees people make again and again, is that they believe the can read a little bit of information online, such as on Wikipedia, and believe they suddenly know it all. The reality is that you can read as much as you want, you will never have real life experience unless you have an actual go. But, just as with skydiving, there is no room for mistakes. They say that, if at first you don’t succeed, you should simply try again, but this, for obvious reasons, isn’t possible with skydiving! Similarly, it is not really an option with investing, because you will lose all your money if you don’t succeed.
The Other Key Mistake to Make
The reason why so many people who invest for the first time do things wrong, is because they are driven by their emotions. Did you know that studies have shown 96% would prefer to burn their mouth than to wait for food to cool down? And that 50% of people hang up the phone if they have been on hold for a minute? We want instant gratification, something that simply doesn’t exist in the world of investment.
Gregory Lindae also warns that we are no longer in the 1999 or 2000s, when stocks just grew and grew and people made millions overnight. At the start of 2000, there was a 15.6% drop in shares, and people panicked, selling everything that they had. Had they hold on to their stocks, they would have been sitting on quite a lot of money today. But that would have required patience, something that beginner investors in particularly do not have.
Similarly, those without experience often miss golden opportunities. Take solace in the fact that even Warren Buffett has been guilty of this. He once recommended people didn’t invest in big tech, including Amazon and Google, something that he now feels a lot of guilt about. He didn’t believe in tech systems himself, and that was a mistake.
Key to being successful, clearly, is to work together with an expert, someone who knows the ropes. But even that isn’t enough. It is best to have things checked and double checked, because even the experts have emotions. This is why people like Gregory Lindae always get second opinions on any decision they want to make, and they recommend their clients do the same. By building on the success of others, you have the greatest chance of becoming successful yourself.
