I know, the title sounds strange to an investment community, but the fact is that anxiety can be your enemy in general, but worse than that, it can make you lose money. How many of you, especially new players, feel anxiety due to volatility when trying to time the market or because you desperately want to buy some stock (the famous FOMO). Well, I lost some money not long ago and as bad as that may be, I gained a very good experience with my pain. Since then, I have invested without much haste. I study my own actions more and am more critical with what seems to be common sense, considering that there are many opinions coming from people from whom you have no reference in relation to the experience they accumulate when it comes to investments. Also, I understood that basically every day there is an opportunity in the market and that āthe rush to make moneyā makes you take hasty decisions. So currently I see many people as I was, mainly by the comments I read and I think a topic like this could help someone, especially newbies. However, Despite my willingness to help, Iām still learning, so maybe someone more experienced could add more to this topic.
Would anyone else have any thoughts about this or even some experience to share?
As someone who has been an investor for over 20 years and also had a problem with sports gambling in the past, Iād say these feelings veer strongly towards the latter. Investing shouldnāt make you feel pain. Yes human instinct can bring ups and downs emotionally and influence your trades, but it should not give you anxiety and pain.
When I invest, I decide why I am buying and what the time frame is. If the investment goes down 100% during that period then thatās unfortunate, but if I have done my research in the first place then hopefully the wins will outweigh the losses.
In times gone by I would advise someone who experiences anxiety and pain to stay well out of the stock market and stick to cash deposits, however in these times of zero interest maybe I would say either stick to mutual tracker funds where the decision making is taken out of your hands (and it is fear and regret at decisions made which bring these bad feelings) or if you donāt want to do this then at least you should try to keep your stakes very low and diversify so mistakes donāt hurt so bad. Also, donāt follow the latest rising stocks as you will always be chasing and holding the bag in any ponzi scheme thatās going on. Try not to trade so often as unless you have devine intuition or are a chart whisperer then every time you trade you are increasing your costs/losses due to the buy/Sell spread.
TLDR: investing shouldnāt make you upset. Decide why and for how long you are buying the investment, hold for the period you decided and then sell it. If it goes up then great, if not then oh well, you were wrong, No big deal.
Ps. If you want inspiration for being a good loser, head over to the Fresnillo thread where Iāve been getting battered for over a year
Thanks for sharing. I understand what you mean and I think it fits perfectly for those who already have a lot of time on the market, however when it comes to new players these feelings become natural because you are still developing. So feeling frustrated (a better word than āpainā in this case) because you have taken decisions anxiously is part of the learning process. I donāt see this as a reason to give up anything and as I said above, the lost money brought a valuable experience that I wouldnāt have realized if I had given up.
I referred one of my friends to Freetrade whoās a complete beginner investor.
Even after a year of investing, sheāll text me with emojis when the markets are down, to which I always reply with ānowās the time to top up your investments on the cheapā but she never does.
However, when markets are doing well, sheāll say āFeeling confident, buying more!ā
Hopefully, she will realise what she is doing at some point!
