Page 432 - How to Make Money in Stocks Trilogy

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• C HAP T E R •

Twenty-One Costly Common

Mistakes Investors Make

Knute Rockne, the famous winning Notre Dame football coach, used to say,
“Build up your weaknesses until they become your strong points.” The rea-
son people either lose money or achieve mediocre results in the stock mar-
ket is they simply make too many mistakes. It’s the same in your business,
your life, or your career. You’re held back or have reverses not because of
your strengths, but because of your mistakes or weaknesses that you do not
recognize, face, and correct. Most people just blame somebody else. It is
much easier to have excuses and alibis than it is to examine your own behav-
ior realistically.
When I first wrote this book, I came across lots of people who were advis-
ing: “Concentrate on your strengths, not your weaknesses.” That sounded
logical and reasonable in many situations. But now, after 50 years of day-to-
day experience in America’s amazing stock market, where every cycle
thrusts forward dozens of brand-new, innovative, entrepreneurial compa-
nies that keep building our nation, I can state this:
By far the greatest mistake 98% of all investors make is never spending
time trying to learn where they made their mistakes in buying and selling (or
not selling) stock and what they must stop doing and start doing to become
more successful. In other words, you must unlearn many things you thought
you knew that ain’t so, stop doing them, and start learning new, better rules
and methods to use in the future.
The difference between successful people in any field and those who are
not so successful is that the successful person will work and do what others
are unwilling to do. Since the early 1960s, I have known or dealt with count-

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