Good investments are like good friends: they’re hard to come by, and they’re more precious than gold.

This is the reason why the internet abounds in investment tips. After all, if investing were easy, anyone could find success with it—and then we’d all be millionaires.

Investing money well is something of an art. Nevertheless, there are certain strategies and methods of investment that are known to produce results, and we’ve listed them here. There’s no such thing as a sure bet when it comes to stocks—but these methods will help you level the playing field.

So check out these five tips for investing in stocks.

1. Do Your Homework

Before you start investing, you must do adequate legwork.

This means researching all investment opportunities and spending some time learning the jargon and the abstruse theories of investing. Okay, this isn’t the most glamorous part of investing; investment-speak is pretty dry stuff, and if you’re not really into it, it can be a big turnoff.

But the keyword is investment. You need to invest the time in research to make your investment strategy really pay off.

2. Invest With a Cool Head

One of the best tips for investing money is this: don’t rely on emotions and “gut” instincts.

This means your investment decisions must be driven by a cool and level head. We’ve all seen the mass panics and selloffs that come with emotion-based investing—they’re the stuff of stock market crashes.

So don’t get emotional. Avoid urges and instincts, and stay calm when investing.

3. Keep Your Eye on the Long Game

If your goal in investing is to make a lot of money quickly, then you might as well forget it.

If you’re serious about investing, then looking for long-term value in your investment should be uppermost in your thoughts. Don’t invest money that you will need in the short term (for instance, the next few years); put aside some money that you can spare, and don’t expect an instant return.

4. Diversify Your Portfolio

Yeah, we know. It’s a cliché. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

The bottom line is: it’s a cliché for a very good reason. You see, by diversifying your investment portfolio, you can spread out your risk among several investments. That way, if one stock underperforms, it doesn’t greatly affect your investment strategy.

So whether you’re using a passive investment strategy, or an active one, aim for multiple investments. Keep in mind, however, that you shouldn’t diversify too much—this can dilute your returns.

5. Don’t Overreact

We can’t stress this enough.

The urge to check your stock portfolio incessantly is hard to overcome. It’s natural enough to want to find out about the health of your investments, but it tends to become detrimental.

Excessive checking leads to overreactions. Instead, check on your stocks once every quarter, and assess your investments in a calm frame of mind. Don’t react to every little waver and fluctuation in the market. That way leads to madness.

Know How to Make Good Investments

Choosing good investments is all about having the right strategy. So don’t think you can enter the market shooting from the hip and relying on your gut instincts. That’s no way to be successful.

Use these five investment tips to begin. And consider investing in self-storage holdings, for a safe investment that can realize a high return on investment. Contact us today to learn how.

Scott Meyers

Scott Meyers is one of the nation’s leading experts in the self-storage business. Scott has a passion to share his experience and wisdom to help others succeed. Since 1993, he has architected dozens of extremely successful real estate transactions. He has built several multi-million dollar businesses in real estate including; single-family flips, to multi-family projects, industrial buildings, commercial office buildings, cold-storage buildings, warehousing, parking lots, and his favorite – self-storage.