Don't Get Fooled by Winning or Losing
In 1999 everyone was a great investor. The NASDAQ zoomed through the roof. Yesterday everything was ugly. Today was great. Did I do a lousy job yesterday and a great one today? No.
When I first started investing in stocks I picked five companies. I didn't know nearly enough about investing or the companies I was investing in. I don't remember all the details this many years later but two of the five stocks I bought were Amazon and StorageTek. I bought Amazon because I used their service and it was great! I bought StorageTek because I was in the industry and saw the explosion coming in data management. I worked with StorageTek products and they were well built and technically solid products.
I made money, lots of money, in Amazon. I invested about $800 in each of the stocks and several years later I took out several thousand dollars to put a down payment on a house.
I was lucky. I work hard to earn my money. I put far less thought and effort into my decision to plop down $800 on Amazon than I did when I bought a $70 microwave.
Don't get me wrong, I'll take luck when it comes my way.
But spend some time researching your investments. You don't have to be a guru or a math wiz to get started. Try MSN's Research Wizard. It will guide you through much of what you need to know.
And above all, whether you make money or lose money, think about what went right and what went wrong. Just because you made a lot of money doesn't mean that you did the best you could. Just because you lost some money doesn't mean there wasn't merit in your work. Always be intellectually honest and examine why you ended up with a win or a loss.