How to become a successful investor

Every investor has a different strategy that works for them.Some investors like the low-risk investment approach of slow and steady "wins the race" while others like the high-risk investment and the potential to earn thousands or millions of dollars. No matter what your investment strategy is, you need to understand how it works and what you need to do in order to perfect it. This article will help teach you some basics of investing and how you can become a successful investor.

Know your risk tolerance
When you are young, financial "experts" tell you all the time to invest in the stock market and high risk ventures like real estate, etc. While you can earn a nice return for your investment, if you don't know what you are doing, it is not going to work in your favor. Your best bet is to sit down and write out all the projected expenses you will have in your post-retirement years. Set a number that you would like to achieve for your retirement account and then focus on proper investing to get there.

If the "expert" tells you to invest in some blue chip companies, you don't have to listen to them. Remember they are just offering you advice, you ultimately have control over what you want to do with your investments and you get the option to choose what type of investments you want. If you don't like to take a lot of risk, stick with mutual fund investing. This way you can spread out the risk. You will have some money placed into high risk investments like stocks, and then you will have money in low risk stocks, bonds, and other accounts.

Understand your involvement
When it comes to investing, how much involvement do you want to have? Are you looking forward to checking on your investments daily or do you just want to receive quarterly updates to see how you are doing? You need to know what type of involvement you can have in your investments and if this is right for you.If you invest in stocks, you are going to deal with a broker. Does this broker communicate effectively and do they have the right type of involvement you need? Some brokers don't ever communicate with their clients, leaving them in the dark about their investments and what their portfolios look like. Always look for a broker that offers online support so you can login and see what you retirement account looks like and how you can buy or sell to change it up and make more money.

Get an education
Your retirement needs you involvement and your attention. In order to make money you need to focus on learning about your retirement account. Find out about the companies you are investing in. If you want to invest in real estate and become a landlord, learn more about it and find out if this is what you really want to do. There are so many different investment opportunities that you don't want to just settle for one that most likely won't provide you with the return you are seeking.

Here are some final points to remember if you want to learn how to become a successful investor:

• Make smart decisions. You will have some "oops" decisions in there once and awhile and that's okay. Learn from your mistakes and move forward with them.


• Create an investment strategy that you are comfortable and stick to it. You can listen to advice of others but remember, it is just advice.


• Know your risk tolerance. If a particular investment doesn't feel right, don't go for it.