Louise Bedford says adopting the right system, mindset, guidelines and habits will set you up for success in any field of investing.
While good investment strategies have many things in common, they’re not a ‘one size fits all’.
On a recent episode of the Get Invested podcast hosted by KnowHow’s Bushy Martin, the share trading expert, author and co-founder of The Trading Game said being a successful investor is about working out what’s right for you and then establishing the foundations.
“You have to consider the system, psychology and maintenance – they’re the three tenants that are so important for [investors],” Louise said.
“So the system part, which most people struggle with, you can’t create it yourself unless you’ve got a good decade or two, maybe even three, up your sleeve. You can’t create your own system, you have to have external input. Psychology, what goes on between your ears, will determine your success. And then how you manage those trades, how you manage those property investments, and how to intermingle those types of investments as well, that’s all part of maintenance.
“So we need help on all three areas … and it’s so important to have those three aspects woking together. It’s a very unique individual solution – one size does not fit all.”
Bushy added that part of the process is to also understand your timeline and adopt your investment approach accordingly.
“A lot of the mistakes I see investors make is they don’t think enough about how much time they’ve actually got available to devote to building their wealth through investment. And they’ll adopt a very aggressive investment approach that doesn’t match their time and then wonder why they get themselves into strife,” he said said.
Louise and Bushy talked the importance of risk management, especially when it comes to emotional triggers. The safest way to achieve this, both in trading and property investing, is to set rules and guidelines you can follow in times of doubt.
“If you’re adopting a trading system with very set rules, then you are removing your own emotion from the equation, which is, I believe, the biggest thing that shipwrecked myself early on, for I allowed my emotions to cloud judgement,” Bushy said.
“Having very clear rules … that takes a lot of time out, but it also takes out a lot of the emotional danger that people get themselves into. It’s a lot easier now that the whole system is automated.”
Louise added: “Have a look emotionally how [your investing] is going to impact you and the people around you that you love. Work out who your support system is.”
Finally, Louise elaborated on her secrets to successfully implementing and following her investing approach; it comes down to making a habit out of habits and knowing when to let go of things.
“I think habits are the core of everything, I’ve got 500 different habits that probably contribute,” she said.
“This is one of the ones that’s probably not all that appealing, but I actually quit on things that I don’t care about and that don’t mean a lot to me, and I quit fast. Otherwise, I don’t have room for the things that do mean a lot … I hear a lot of people saying ‘persist, persist, persist’. I do get that, but only for things that are in line with your core values.”
Listen to the full interview here.
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