When the student is ready, the teacher will be available. This is a good disposition to learning about investment.

Yes – on investment, so much noise and so much confusion – where do one start from?

Good question, every good endeavor must start with oneself. Go out and take stock of them all, great investors that I have known were all men of controlled temperament with mastery over their own emotion and personality.

Are they the best of fellow out there?

Absolutely not, but when they go investing they drill themselves to comply with the rule of the game – investment has rule and it is the ability to abide by this that makes you profits or losses. This therefore calls that one who wants to succeed in making investments would require tough discipline on himself; which is not common with ordinary folks out there.

Investment isn’t another world it is part of life and it is life in itself.

Whatever outcome you have from investment is only a reflection of your personality. Think of staying power, discipline, self-confidence, greed and emotion, they are traits which are more profound and important than investment strategies themselves. The man who masters himself will be able to master any other thing in nature which he put his mind to. Rule your world by firstly having rule over yourself.

Investment is not an anointed area for a few personalities – I believe the market respects no single person. True investment market cannot be manipulated or controlled by one man – but like the ocean as large as it is, each and everyone can have a part to him. The bottom line is that if you can discipline your emotion, you can have a part of the wild world of investment to yourself; and nobody is expected to have all. When one man has it all, it is no longer an investment, it becomes a monopoly.

This implies that those who are making progress are those who abide by the needed rule of the game through controlled temperament. The hardest thing for man to do is to subdue his own self. I have seen people who failed in one thing, what you see them do next without taking stock is rush out to find another venture until they have gone round and round doing so many things. Often their failure is not as a result of the non-yielding of the ventures they tried, the problem usually lies in their poor personality that refuse to learn what it takes.

Failure in life is often as a result of a failed personality. In investment, you will likewise not be spared the rod for negligence of personality. Sit up, find out where you have failed and objectively identify and take care of such. Ability to learn from failure is one good trait of the successful ones.

You don’t need to perfect your personality before making a venture into investment? Personality is perfected in growth; perfection is growth, and there is no other definition. And it is in doing that you get perfected.

Remember that the law of recognition comes before possession. It is easy to deal with an enemy you know than those you don’t know. Be aware of your personal tendency – such as being fearful, greedy and impatient. Often in your investment decision, this three personality trait will play crucial roles in what decision you make, but by recognition and discipline, couple with experience and time, you will learn to master them for profit.

Find out whether you are overly dependent on others for decision or not.

Finally, put it firmly in your mind that the winning investors are those who take charge, they are people with good self-esteem; they are positive and confident personalities. Lack of confidence leads to the death of investment, meaning that the life wire of profitable investment is confidence; and you should not be found in the market when your confidence is down. Take charge and you will be writing your name on the winning side.