It's been 6 months into my investing journey and I've come to learn 4 lessons which I wish I knew back then. But even now, I still have to remind myself of these instead of buying caught up with the fear of missing out.
Lesson 1: Don't just buy.
I remember the excitement when I saw all the "popular" stocks like Goog, Tesla and Apple. Coupled with popular sentiment that "Stonks only go up", it was easy to get caught up with all the hype. In fact, even during a downturn now, there is still hype about which stocks will withstand the downtrend. As a famous trader said: "You must know what you are buying and why you are buying it."
Lesson 2: Have an investing plan
I remember just thinking about the stocks going up and not what happens if I lose. Looking back now, during this down turn, I am lucky to have my savings to fall back on.
It's very important to have an allocation of how much you want to save, spend on daily expenses and then decide how much you want to invest.
There is also a need to follow a disciplined plan of spending if you want to dollar cost average, never spending more or less. The other need is for savings which are actually tiding me through right now.
Lesson 3: Understanding Macro Conditions
This may be a paradox but knowing what's happening around the world is important. However, between having a disciplined plan to buy and watching out for the macro conditions, well, this is anyone's guess. By understanding no one can time the market, you may need to tweak when you can buy. Balancing lesson 2 and 3 is important, but not as important as staying vested.
Lesson 4: Deciding how long to hold
There's a time to buy and a time to sell. But one should always plan for a timeline. Unlike traders who play it by the ear, investors must plan to hold as long as possible, according to their plan of course.
Conclusion
My general lessons are not impacted much by external factors (such as war or inflation). Even for point 3, it is just an understanding, but I think having an investment plan over the long run is the most important. My current trades are in $DBS GROUP HOLDINGS LTD(D05.SI)$, $Alphabet(GOOGL)$and a little bit of $Grab Holdings(GRAB)$.
These are the lessons I wished I learnt when I first started. And I'm still learning to apply them now.
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