Successful Investing: 19 Lessons

Successful investing might be easier to achieve than many might expect. The trick is not using some complicated strategy. But instead, sticking to simple, easy to understand, and consistent principles. In this post, inspired by investment advisor Ben Felix, I’ll share 19 insightful lessons about successful investing that highlight the importance of simplicity and consistency, when thinking about the keys to achieving long-term success.

1. The Market is Smarter Than You

You might be smart, but you’re not smart enough to beat the market. The market is the combination of everyone else put together. Most active investors can’t beat the returns of passive benchmarks due party to overconfidence bias, which will drag down your returns.

2. This Time is Different

Doomsday investors and overly optimistic investors both fall prey to the misguided belief that “this time will be different.” Despite past economic crashes from which humanity has always recovered, and often with great returns.

3. The Market is Forward-Looking

Market prices reflect all current and past information, as well as expectations about the future. Often, information that might seem like an edge is already factored into current prices.

4. Market Forecasts Are Not Useful

Market forecasting plays with our emotions and feeds our emotional biases. But they’re popular because they are designed to be easy to digest. However, such forecasting should be taken with a grain of salt or avoided entirely. Because its most often wrong.

5. Time in the Market Beats Timing the Market

Most investors miss the market rate of return due to attempts at timing the market. But, staying invested through both good and bad times yields higher returns and offers greater peace of mind.

6. Most Funds Do Not Beat the Market

Chasing the past returns of successful funds is a losing strategy. As past success does not predict future performance.

7. Incentives Matter

Financial advisors often make investing seem more complicated than necessary to benefit from the fees their advice will generate. Investors should avoid overly complicated strategies for this reason.

8. Expected Economic Growth and Stock Returns Are Unrelated

The stock market and the general economy are not directly linked. As factors like inflation, market composition, and government roles also play significant roles.

9. Good Investing Does Not Make Up for Bad Financial Planning

No amount of investing wizardry can compensate for poor financial planning, such as lack of a will or excessive spending. Creating a financial legacy that lasts through generations requires both sound investing and prudent financial planning.

10. Risk and Expected Returns Are Positively Related

The efficient market hypothesis shows that risk and return are related; higher risks often lead to higher returns. Successful investing means finding your own balance of risk and return.

11. Term Structure and Liquidity Matter

Time horizon matters: stocks are risky short-term but perform better over long periods, while cash is safe short-term but risky long-term.

12. Fees and Taxes Matter

Active management tends to incur higher taxes and fees than passive strategies. So, successful investing often turns out to be the most simple, long-term, buy-and-hold strategies.

13. Complexity and Costs Are Positively Related

More complicated investment strategies often have higher fees and provide worse outcomes compared to simple, low-cost alternatives.

14. There Is No Universal Optimal Investment Strategy

Since everyone has different values, goals, and time horizons, there is no one optimal investment strategy. However, successful investing means picking a strategy and sticking with it.

15. The Best Investment Strategy for You Is the One You Can Stick With

Long-term returns are best achieved by following a strategy consistently, whether it involves stocks, real estate, bonds, or any other asset class or investment type.

16. Wealth Does Not Give You Access to Market-Beating Investments

Wealthier investors often pay higher fees, contrary to the expectation that they would have access to better investment choices. This irony is due to several factors including providing more incentives for salespeople, and mistakenly believing that the most exclusive and expensive investment choices are also the best. The opposite is true.

17. Diversification Is (Still) the Only Free Lunch in Investing

While diversification is crucial for managing risk, it doesn’t guarantee wealth—effective risk management does.

18. Investments Should Be Evaluated on Process, Not Outcome

Factors out of your control, like world events or economic downturns at critical times, can affect investment outcomes. But they don’t determine whether your choices were sound.

19. Successful Investing Has Been Solved

For the most part, successful investing is straightforward if you consistently spend less than you earn and invest regularly in consistent ways.

Successful Investing

Investing isn’t about finding complex solutions but about adhering to proven principles over the long haul. If you’re seeking to simplify your investment strategy or need guidance in aligning it with your financial goals, feel free to contact me to discuss how we can apply these lessons to achieve your financial objectives.