How to improve your investing habit

Valuable tips to help you improve your investing habit and make more money.

By NM Personal Finance

The best route to financial freedom and wealth is by saving and investing your funds. With the rising inflation rate in the country, money saved in the bank is useless and would depreciate with time. The best thing to do as a smart person is to invest your money and sleep while your money works for you

. Investment entails more than just knowing about the stock market and investing, it involves having a healthy investing habit. It takes a lot of study and growth to imbibe these habits. Keep reading for tips on how to improve your investing habit and make more money.

Keep at it 

A good investor doesn’t start today and stop tomorrow. You have to be consistent with your investment plan and learn not to eat all your returns. Reinvest your interest and keep investing till your last breath, that is how you make more money. When Albert Einstein was asked what man’s greatest invention was, he said ‘compound interest’. According to him, “compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world, he who understands it, earns it; he who doesn’t pay it.” Imbibe the art of reinvesting today and keep at it.

READ: 10 Actions That Can Make You a Succesful Investor

Have a plan

‘A goal without a plan is a wish.’ Having defined your financial goals, you should come up with a plan on how to achieve your goals. Gone are the days when you just invest blindly. To improve your investing habits, learn to plan ahead. Decide what to invest in, look out for the risks involved in your investment, calculate your interest rates and see if it would benefit you, and track your investment.

READ: Studying after COVID-19: How education will be changed in 2021

Spend more time on research 

“It has long been the prevalent view that the art of successful investment lies first in the choice of those industries that are most likely to grow in the future and then in identifying the most promising companies in these industries”
An excerpt from the book, “The Intelligent Investor; The Definitive Book on Value Investing” by Benjamin Graham, updated by Jason Zweig.
The importance of research cannot be overemphasized. As a smart investor, you should do thorough research on the industries that have great potential and would give you better results. You should also do in-depth research on the risks involved in investing in specific industries. Arm yourself with enough data before investing.

Learn from your mistakes 

There is no successful investor that has not made a financial mistake or lost money due to some sloppiness. However, what makes you a better investor is the ability to learn from your mistakes and move on. This rule applies to all facet of life so it shouldn’t be new to you. If you make an error in your numbers or make some huge mistakes, pick yourself up and try again.

READ: MTN Nigeria records gain, investors profit up by N42 billion

Wait on it 

You can not be an investor and not know how to be patient, disciplined and eager to learn. One of the habits of successful investors is patience. You have to learn how to let go of your funds and let it come back to you when it is ready. Also, the market won’t always be proposing huge returns or favourable investment plans; your patience will go a long way in helping you survive situations like this.

READ: Fidson reports over 500% increase in profit for 2019

Be a copycat but also think for yourself 

Do research on successful investors, find the ones that have the philosophy that aligns with you and follow their steps. You cannot know it all. You should also learn from their mistakes along the line; that is the key to becoming better than them. You must also be able to harness your emotions and think for yourself as an investor. Don’t underestimate the power of your intuition.

In addition to the tips listed above, below is the Buffet approach to investment, extracted from “The Warren Buffet Way: Investment Strategies of the World’s Greatest Investors” by Robert G. Hagstrom.

Explore the Nairametrics Research Website for Economic and Financial Data

1. Never follow the day to day fluctuations of the stock market.
2. Don’t try and analyze or worry about the general economy.
3. Buy a business, not its stock.
4. Manage a portfolio of businesses: Intelligent investing means having the priorities of a business owner (focused on long-term value) rather than a stock trader (focused on short-term gains and losses).

We wish you well on your investing journey.