When most people are asked what are they doing in the stock markets? Most of them do not really know how to answer that questions. Checking with just friends around me, I knew that not many really understood what they are doing.

Their answers normally surrounds the following basic answers such as:
I am investing in stock market, or I am trading the stocks. I am a long term investors. The sad parts is most people do not really make money in the market. And normally their excuse is I buy the stock for a long term. when they start making a little money, they are always in the hurry to sell. Sometimes they may not even know the real meaning of investment.

Investment to a Business people and to a Working people may means different things as well. Maybe I will try to summarise a little bit here what I have learnt from my own experience in making money from the stock market or even from my other investment.

These basics for me is very important because only when I decided to follow them then only I started to see results in my own investment.

1. Investment is not about making money, But it is about preserving the value of your money. The rest is Bonus. Warren Buffet never invest in something that he is not familiar, that is why Warren Buffet follow very closely these rules in investing:

Rule No 1: Never Lose Money,

Rule No 2: Follow Rule No 1 Strictly

When you know the risk in one investment, then only you are able to manage it well and make it grow.

2. Knowing when to exit even before entering into any investment. If it is for a long term then let it be long term, you must be able to stomach the up and down of the stock value. If it is entered for only one month then keep that terms strictly. Most people change their exit everytime the market moves. If the market moves in their direction than they will take profit prematurely, when the stock goes into the opposite direction of their trade, they normally stay too long and expose themselves into greater losses.

3. Investing requires great amount of patience. There are times that I lost patient in watching the market moves, so I enter into the trade too early and exit too late. or it can be the other way as well, entering too late and exiting too early. There are time the money are better save as cash sitting in the bank rather place in any investment.

4. Knowing yourself and knowing your own limits. A lot of people do not know the condition of their own mental health. When you are not feeling well, or when you have very bad day, then put off trying to invest your money in anything. Learn more about the investment that you are going to undertake and do not ever take it too lightly.

Well, understanding where you stand in your investment profile will help you to reduce a lot of heartache due to losses. knowing whether you are better as trader or long time investors and knowing the difference will take you further in your investment life.

Knowledge reduces risk, get knowledgeable and you will be able to manage your investment risk well.

Do you have courage? One of the most crippling force in this world is fear. Fear of dying, fear of failure, fear of losing your loved ones, fear, fear, fear… Coming from a place where security and safety has been a problem, where the law of the land is not feared rather the law of the jungle, where you can see one of your best friend in the headline of major newspaper for being murdered and hung on the tree along the expressway, where protection money is collected all over the places, you will be wondering what life would be for you without Courage?

In life somehow this is very true. A lot of people afraid to die, so they never thought about it and they never plan for it and at the end of the day, and they never really live. Why am I saying all these? Because we are talking about a Law of Life here. If you want Success, then are you willing to go through what life will throw at you. All successful people has one characteristic that is above the shadow of doubt obviously seen, that is they all have Courage that most people don’t.

Courage to say No in the face of a bad deal, Courage to go on when their spouse left them, Courage to face the danger in running their business, Courage to face economy downturn, Courage to face bankruptcy, Courage to be Alone, Courage to be betrayed by their closest associates, Courage to be misunderstood, Courage to face failures, Courage, Courage, Courage.

The Question is, are they born with it? or are they conditioned to all the challenges? It is really amazing when you learn how one became really successful and what they had to go through in life. Having the privileges of looking at some of the most successful people life story, I realized that they are not born with these courage, the truth is how they condition themselves in the face of fear. Do they feel afraid? Yes many time. Do they stop? No, they don’t. This is where they make the difference.

If you have watched the show The Pursuit of Happyness; maybe you can catch a glimpse of what it takes to be successful. This is a movie about a true story of a successful man Chris Gardner. This show touches my heart a lot. In order to achieve more in life, your courage will be put to test and the degree of passing each test at different level of your life will then determine your success in achieving your dream.

There is a saying, if you are hard on yourself, then Life will be Easy on you, But if you are Easy on yourself than Life will be Very Hard on You.

Then the question is, how do you condition yourself so that you will be able to face all the challenges ahead? In order to be courageous, you need to condition your mental strength and your heart, one of the best method for me to condition my self is by having a role model. Find successful people and read through their life story, what they went through in life.

You will realize that a lot of successful people went through similar or the same experience. There are only so much that life can throw at you, but it is the response that these people give back to life that makes the difference in what they achieve. What if life strike your daughter with sickness, like leukemia and your daughter life cannot be saved. Most people will go into despair but successful people response is exactly the opposite, they are able to convert despair into a tremendous energy in fighting leukemia.

Notably some of the most successful cure for diseases was discovered because someone with the courage to face the lost of loved ones and determine to prevent the same pain happening again to others.

Be Courageous My Fellow Dreamers and Make your Dream Come True.