Cardinal Rules of Investing by Greg Pollack

1) Remember to recognize what is in our control vs. what is out of our control, and to focus on what is in our control, namely: risk, diversification, and the underlying economics of the portfolio.

 

2) Investing, like life, is about wisely picking your battles. ­ Remember anytime you sell something, someone else is buying and you both think you¹re right, so you're making a trade-off somewhere whenever you make a shift, and you need to know whether that's giving up returns to avoid risk or taking on more risk for potential returns, etc.

 

3) There needs to be a direct correlation to what you are doing with the money and what you need the money to do. So if you need money in the next 6-24 months, we may not want it fully at risk.

 

4) Remember, there has never been a downturn in the history of the US stock market that hasn't fully recovered and reached new heights.  Now how do we mesh those two? You must remember that the time horizon of the market rarely coincides with our personal time horizon.

 

5) If you can manage to lose less during the downturns, you don't have as far to go to fully recover.

 

6) Past performance does not guarantee future results. Diversification strategies do not assure profit or protect against loss. 

 

If you have any questions about Greg's cardinal rules of investing, give him a call at 541-323-1008 or email gpollack@gpollackfinancial.com. You can also hear more on Greg's weekly radio show with KBNW, every Sunday at 10:00am.