Harley Hahn Web Site - How Thinking Affects Investing

Money and
Economics

How Thinking
Affects Investing

The Final Word

The recipe for long-term success can be summed up simply:

Adopt a reasonable plan that is likely to work in the long run.

Stick to your plan.

At regular intervals, carefully reevaluate your plan and your results, and make any adjustments that are necessary.

These three guidelines are the foundation of all successful, long-term investment strategies. As such, I am sure they make a great deal of sense to you. However, there is more.

Being a good investor requires more than becoming proficient at trading stocks and managing money. You must also develop a sense of humility. As you do so, you will slowly learn about yourself, your thinking habits, and your unconscious motivations. In the long run, these insights are crucial to your overall success, as they enable you to master your emotions, particularly fear and greed.

The stock market is a complex and uncaring place, and it is up to you to look after your own interests. You must learn to respect the strong, impersonal forces that can affect you without warning. This requires an honest, realistic understanding of your personal shortcomings, as well as the limitations placed upon you by your environment.

This idea is so important that I will embody it as one last rule.

— Harley's Fundamental Rule of Investing —

The market doesn't care whether or not you make money.

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