Improve your investment returns by taking your time.
The friendly people of Barbados are world famous for their relaxed outlook on life and for putting off today what they can do tomorrow -- or so the legend goes.
Meanwhile many private investors approach the stock market with caffeine-fuelled urgency and a fear of missing opportunities if they do not act quickly. However, more often than not, hasty action leaves plenty of time for leisurely repenting.
So, pull the sun bed out of the garage, get your feet up, and sip on your iced rum cocktail. Chances are, you will make more money on the stock market, and more quickly too, if you take your time and wait for opportunities to come to you rather than working too hard to find them.
You have probably noticed that the markets have pulled back a little bit recently. That is the thing with the stock market. From time to time decent companies are offered for sale at attractive valuations -- that is the time to buy them. Market corrections often occur in a bull market, and they can reward the patient and under-active investor. Likewise, individual share prices can drift down when there is no news flow or due to a temporary company specific set back, presenting a good buying opportunity.
You do not have to work very hard once you have bought your shares either. Investments take time to mature, so providing you have done your initial research, relax. The worst thing you can do is to glue your eyeballs to the computer screen - that kind of over activity leads to investment errors as you may overreact to daily events and market movements by selling too soon. The secret here is to withdraw from the market -- do not get too close. If you feel so inclined you could maybe check your investments every other week or so, rather than every day.
Setting up a watch list is not a bad idea. You will have to do a bit of work valuing and identifying the companies whose shares you would like to own. After that, you could wait for an attractive valuation to present itself, either by means of the share price dropping or the company's prospects improving by perhaps good trading results or other news flow. The use of automatic alerts for share price movement or news flow can help to optimise your time in this area.
So chill, the tortoise often beats the hare when it comes to investing. Take your time. The stock market will be here tomorrow, next week, next year and there will always be opportunities coming along. There is no hurry to get rich, and if you take your time, you may find yourself doing better than you thought possible.
Invest as if you are in Barbados and you may end up spending a lot of time there or somewhere similar.
