PERSONALITY = INVESTMENT STRATEGY

What is the best asset an individual can have for a successful investing? Huge capital? Tons of investment information? Connections? Skills?

All of the above are great investment tools, but the best asset is your personality. Your capital, financial knowledge, set of investment skills, and an array of connections are useless if you do not know yourself. As Aristotle once said, "Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom." Every person has a distinct investing approach. However, many are not familiar with theirs or how their attitude can affect their financial goals.

The most successful investors are the ones who know themselves. In "The Psychology of Investing" book co-written by Dr. Lawrence Lifson, psychiatrist and investment guru Dr. Richard Geist states individual personality traits guide investment decisions. But many investors tend to ignore their intuition. Instead, they let news items dictate them, which can have a detrimental impact on the stock market’s direction.

Financial advisors are fully aware of the connection between an investor’s character and portfolio success. A shrewd advisor can judge a client’s behavior, including his tone of voice, choice of words, physical responses, patience level, and risk appetite, among others. Advisors know a happy, satisfied investor is more about matching the suitable portfolio to an investor’s personality and less on computations.

But a successful investor goes beyond understanding oneself. It also entails controlling yourself when faced with financial decision-making. Frequently, our emotions drive our choices and impact returns. The best way to keep emotions in check is to assess your reaction to each financial matter and utilize it to create a feasible investment technique.

Your natural reaction to economic issues may be reduced by forming internal coping mechanisms. For instance, you tend to be impulsive when a hot stock tip comes up, come up with a long data collating process that can last for at least a week. Employing a particular research methodology can cut your tendency to invest right away without doing any research at all.

Once you understand and rein in your emotions, and integrate those into your strategy, you feel more confident about your choices and are more likely to stick to your plans and attain your goals. Remember, your personality defines your investments and its returns.