Strategies of the successful investor Part 1: Set up a plan

This is the first part of a series of post which would be about the strategies of the successful investor. As we have previously discussed the only way to be secured financially is through investing. However there are some very important things the the beginner investor must keep in mind so that his portfolio will grow with time.

A plan is the cornerstone of your investing journey. The plan is simply a document that would guide you and make sure that you do not get off-track.

It contains firstly your objectives.Each person may have different objectives and to state them clearly and the time available is crucial to your plan. You may want to retire in 35 years or to send your child to college.

After having written your objectives you would thus try to determine the amount of money that would be required to achieve these objectives.

After having identified your objectives and the money that would be needed, you would then be able to identify the return that would be required to reach that amount of money. Your portfolio will thus have to have a certain annual return so that you will be able to reach that objectives. If you cannot reach that return then you would be unable to achieve your objectives.

However the return is also related to another term and that is your risk tolerance. This is related to the different component of your portfolio and the return of your portfolio. You have to understand that some investment instruments are risky in that you can lose your money especially if the company go bankrupt but if you can hold on to it and the company stays afloat you would have greater return. The higher the riskiness and the greater the return. Some people have a low tolerance and as a result would want safe assets. However safe assets would result in low return. Hence if you want higher return you would have to invest in riskier assets.

After having chosen the return that you want and the risk that you are prepared to tolerate you would thus be able to choose the investment instruments that you need to invest in to achieve the return that you want.