Three Traits of Good Investors
There’s a lot to consider when it comes to retirement investing. Some worries that may arise include how much to save, how often, what to include in a portfolio, and will it all be enough when it’s finally time to retire. An advisor may help answer some of your questions, but practicing good investing habits on your own can be beneficial as well. Three habits that could help you reach your financial goals are patience, prudence, and diligence.
Patience
Very few people become millionaires overnight or even find themselves with a large sum of disposable money instantly. Keep in mind that long term investing is a marathon, not a sprint. Practicing patience should help ride the waves associated with long term investing. Sometimes investors shares will increase in value, sometimes they’ll decrease. Sometimes your dividends will be substantial, other times you’ll wonder if it’s worth holding on to a particular investment. An advisor can help navigate the choppy waters.
Numerous studies point to time as a key factor in increasing dividends, specifically the Barclays Equity Gilt Study. The study’s main example focused on a hypothetical investor. If the investor reinvested dividends into equities, instead of spending them, the investor would earn about 94% more in the same amount of time.
Prudence
Holding onto investments for long periods of time may require prudence from some people. This means making decisions rationally, not based off emotion. For many people, this is easier said than done, even for the most disciplined. As humans, emotions, especially negative emotions sneak into many of our decisions: anger into road rage, sadness into excess shopping, and anxiety into rash investment moves. Usually in these situations another person can help deter the emotional decision making: a spouse calmly reminding the driver to be safe, a friend chatting with a sad pal, and an advisor helping deter rash investing. Financial advisors can present rational prospective both pro and con. This helps deduce ideal options, and stick or alter pre-determined plans. All you need to provide is a bit of prudence.
Diligence
Saving for retirement can be stressful, especially when personal budgets are tight and special short term goals, like a vacation, are more attractive places for funds. However, diligence in terms of saving regularly is important to helping achieve financial goals. It doesn’t matter if you began saving late in life or you can only set aside a small amount a month. Saving is best accomplished when you set aside a certain amount from every paycheck.
Make the money save itself in a sense, through investments. Adding funds into your company’s retirement plans may produce returns that boost your retirement savings.
Patience, prudence, and diligence are ideal habits to incorporate into any life, particularly in the area of retirement saving. With the help of a financial advisor, it might be easier to practice the habits, and could possibly ease some worries associated with saving for retirement.
Whether you have a dollar or a million dollars in your retirement account you will be able to explore the value of a real advisor simply by visiting the Self Directed Brokerage Account advisor contact site. From this site you can begin to take advantage of the features of your retirement plan. If you wish you can also download a fact finder sheet that can be used to create your personal retirement financial plan.
To learn more about Rick Willoughby, view his Paladin Registry research report.
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