I follow many of today's biggest movers and shakers in
investing, finance, and business worlds, and even those in the
social media/start-up arena. These folks have had great success in
their careers, and some are willing to share anecdotes about their
past failures they've learned from.
Most people, however, aren't willing to admit the own mistakes.
This fact holds many folks back from achieving their true
potential.
At Dividend.com, we're not shy about admitting the occasional
misstep. For example, we downgraded Wal-Mart (
WMT
) from our
Best Dividend Stocks List
back when the stock was approaching the mid-$50âēs. We even
suggested investors consider ringing the register on the stock
altogether. Well, guess what? The stock is over $60 now.
This stuff is simply going to happen when you cover the markets.
Not every call will be perfect, but we rest easy knowing that 1)
most of our recommendations have done extremely well, and 2) our
cautious, calculated, long-term approach will reward subscribers in
the long run.
The fact is, everyone makes mistakes from time to time. Even
those most successful investors in history have made a few bad
investments. This concept applies to every profession, in fact.
We'd all like to think of medical surgeons as being perfect, but no
human being can make that claim. For example, one of my best
friends was recently diagnosed with blockage in one of his
arteries. During surgery, his doctor realized it was not blockage,
but he in fact had a couple of smaller arteries than is usually the
normal size. He simply drank some highly-caffeinated coffee that
triggered what doctors originally thought to be a mild heart
attack. Fortunately, however, he is fine and no complications arose
from being opened up.
You see, mistakes are inevitable in life. In fact, you are
likely better off dealing with someone who has made a mistake or
two along the way. Remember: sometimes we learn much more from our
mess-ups than from our successes.
Dividend Investors Never Get Rattled
Back in my days as a full-time trader, I remember several days
of bad trades that cost me large sums of money. My kids were very
small back then, and thankfully they'd help snap me out of the funk
I'd enter during those dark periods.
Losing days were bad days, but fortunately they weren't a common
occurrence. Despite knowing capital was lost, I knew that if I
stuck to my discipline I would be able to bounce back. Following
years of trading however, it became clear that my ambition was to
go beyond trading for a living.
Everyone has their good and bad times throughout the course of
their career. It's how we react to the bad times that determines if
the train will come off the tracks completely. In football, they
often refer to a quarterback getting "rattled" after an
interception or fumble. Elite players, on the other hand, are able
to gather themselves quickly and get back down to work without
missing a beat.
In dividend investing, bad plays really aren't much of a factor
- unless of course you get sucked into buying deep "value" plays in
hopes of a turnaround. We tend to stay away from reclamation
projects for the most part here on Dividend.com. We focus instead
on strong stocks that have periodic healthy pullbacks throughout
the course of a year. As you look ahead and push forward on your
plan to build wealth, take comfort in the fact that your road is
clear of any "do or die" moments. The day-to-date market action
really melts away when you focus on the long term. Isn't dividend
investing great?
Go Beyond This Newsletter
We know many of you enjoy reading the daily newsletter, but
remember that with our
Dividend.com Premium
service, the newsletter is just one small component of what we
offer. Here are the "Big Three" benefits of our Premium
service:
- The
Best Dividend Stocks List
is used by tens of thousands of investors to help build their own
portfolios.
- Creating your own
Watchlist
allows you to track the performance, news, and upcoming dividend
payouts of the particular stocks you care about.
- Finally, we offer the most complete and easy-to-use dividend
data on the web. Many subscribers use this data as part of a
"Dividend Capture" trading strategy, but long-term investors can
use it to keep track of impending payouts. Just visit our
Ex-Dividend Calendar
for a complete outlook on which companies will be paying out
soon.
We don't ask for a credit card to use our free trial, and we
don't bill you when your trial ends. No obligation whatsoever! So
keep enjoying the newsletter, but please give
Dividend.com Premium
a shot if you haven't already subscribed!
An Important Note Regarding the Best Dividend Stocks List
We want to make sure everyone understands that the stocks on our
Best Dividend Stocks List
are the names we currently like for new investor capital,
regardless of what date the stock was first recommended on. If and
when a stock is removed from the list, we will clearly state
whether the stock should be sold (which is rare but occasionally
will happen), or simply held in one's account until we see a better
entry point or catalyst.
And here's one last thing to remember about what we do here at
Dividend.com. It's not just the names that we recommend that can
help you build wealth, but also the things we try to steer you away
from that are just as important. Forget about speculative or penny
stocks, chasing unprofitable IPOs, and listening to the manic
talking heads in the business media!
Thank you for sharing part of your weekend with me, and please
be sure to pass this post on to anyone you think we can get
inspired and educated about money, building wealth, and using
common sense to do so.
Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the
Best Dividend Stocks
, as well as a detailed explanation of
our ratings system here
.