You're Doing It Wrong: 4 Mistakes That Make Everyone a Bad Investor

"How can I become a great investor?"
That's probably the most common question we get from Motley Fool readers.
But for most investors, especially beginners, it's the wrong question to ask. Most investors underperform the market. When that's the case, how to become a great investor isn't what's important; becoming a less-bad investor should be the goal. The difference is subtle, but important. Economist Erik Falkenstein explains:

In expert tennis, 80% of the points are won, while in amateur tennis, 80% are lost. The same is true for wrestling, chess, and investing: Beginners should focus on avoiding mistakes, experts on making great moves.

Accepting this should change the way new investors think about investing, from trying to find the next big winner to trying to avoid the next big blunder.  (more)

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