Principles Defined

There are ten principles of investing that I believe if properly employed will put one on the road to the wealth that one seeks, or at the very minimum, allow the individual investor to consistently beat the market. The trick is to firmly believe in these time tested principles, work on them daily, and finally obey them no matter what. It is the final clause that gets most people. It is all too easy to make excuses in the market for a given situation and rationalize a decision that almost always ends in tears. The ability to stick by one’s guiding principles is what separates the winning investor for all others. I believe the path to success in the market is based on the following:


1. Investing is a business
2. Always obey the Golden Rule
3. Have a system
4. Implement a money management plan for your trades and your portfolio
5. Learn to use charts
6. Start with a small amount of money while learning
7. Keep a trading log
8. Measure success in terms of years and not days and weeks
9. Concentrate, do not diversify
10. Don’t buy on tips alone

These tenets will serve as the basis of this blog and it is my goal to explore at least one a week. The curious reader may ask on what foundation are these principles based. I will be upfront and confess that these ideas are not my own but rather they are founded on the habits and thoughts of great speculators which span from over 100 years ago to the present. The real secret is that they hide in front of us.

There is one final principle which I purposely omitted. This last precept is in fact the real key to your ultimate success in the market and personal happiness in life. I have searched for it all of these years and I have still not achieved it and never thought I would have found it in this endeavor, but I believe it is within all of our grasps. I will share more as this blog unfolds and I promise I am not recruiting for a cult.

My wish is that you will visit often as I discuss these principles. They are truly what separate the winning speculator from the losing, but hopeful, investor.