miclad
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« Reply #1 on: November 09, 2008, 12:35:39 PM » |
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3. Invest, then check back in six months. Face it: You're not going to outsmart the market day in and day out. So stop trying. The daily ups and downs will just agitate you and make you jump in and out of stocks, running up your transaction costs. Pick investments with solid long-term prospects, then forget about them for a while. If you're really worried, you can put in a standing stop-loss order to sell a stock that drops 10% or 15% from your purchase price. (Although maybe you shouldn't buy that stock in the first place.)
4. Think about your portfolio. Sexy stocks give you that little thrill. But you will be more rational about risks and rewards if you consider any stock in the context of your entire portfolio. That means knowing your objectives and asking whether this is the best stock to get your there. Sound too dull? OK, keep most of your portfolio in harness to your goals, but set aside a small percentage, say 5%, for play. Starting small is also a good way to avoid getting hammered as you build up experience and risk tolerance with a new type of investment.
5. Try naps and fish oil. Pay attention to your body. Simple things such as hunger or lack of sleep can make you less rational than you want to be. You know that mid-afternoon slump when you can't focus, and buy and sell are just a blur? One widely touted quick fix is to eat a carbohydrate snack -- popcorn or pretzels, for instance -- to boost serotonin levels and quickly improve mood and mental sharpness. But the same snack might just put you to sleep. "Taking a short nap is likely to be much, much more effective than trying to manipulate one's alertness through food or caffeine," says Peter J. Rogers, a biological psychologist at the University of Bristol. Still, changing your diet can have long-term effects. In particular, fish-oil supplements or foods with plenty of omega-3 fatty acids seem to increase vigor and decrease anger, anxiety, fatigue, depression and confusion, the very moods that cause us to make stupid decisions.
6. A mantra for money? You may think meditation is for Buddhists in monasteries. But it can change your brain to help you handle risk more intelligently. In a University of Wisconsin study, employees of a chemical company learned traditional meditation techniques of sitting quietly, breathing deeply and becoming calm. After eight weeks of daily sessions, MRI tests showed a 10% to 15% shift in brain activity away from areas associated with skittishness and withdrawal. Training for trading? Can that really make a difference in the marketplace? Former Medtronic CEO Bill George says meditation helps him see what's important and accomplish it with minimal stress. In a single year, he acquired six companies at a cost of $9 billion. And between 1989 and his retirement in 2001, he boosted his company's market cap from $1 billion to $63 billion. If meditation "were a drug," George says, "it would be considered malpractice not to distribute it."
7. You need a friend. To be a better investor, you should get out and socialize. Being with friends and family releases the so-called trust hormone oxytocin, and that calms down the fear circuitry of the brain. You might not want to make too many "buy" decisions when the oxytocin is flowing. But if you want to come in to work tomorrow and make decisions based on fact rather than fear, try going home tonight and playing with the kids. Can your pet help you invest? With all these techniques, the goal is to prevent the emotional mind from short-circuiting the rational mind -- and to find the sweet spot where the two parts of your mind work together. That's how you'll get past the fear and greed. And that's what will ultimately make you a successful investor.
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