Those who don’t know that much about investing, probably look at it as a quick and easy way to make money. People think that if you are investing in some stocks, you’ll quickly see the money rolling in.
There are perhaps certain techniques through which you can achieve this. Buying and selling more quickly until you find a company that is quickly generating cash does work for some people, but it comes with a lot of risks.
And while it may result in quick returns, it might not necessarily result in big returns. If you truly want to maximize the potential of your investments, then long-term stock investing is the way to go.
Planning your investments out over the span of several years, smart and strategic buying and selling, and a willingness to adapt if necessary. That’s how you secure a flow of income and not just a trickle.
If you want to try long-term investing, here’s what you need to remember:
#1. Do a Ton of Research
This is the part of the process that nobody really likes. The juicy part for investors is the actual investing and seeing the results of it start to flow in. Nobody likes slogging through financial data and historical information.
The reality is that the slog is important if you actually want to make the right decisions. You can learn so much about how likely you are to see positive returns by doing a deep dive into specific companies.
This is the best time to be an investor because you have more access to information than ever before. There is official documentation available online for the majority of large companies. Also, there are certain resources you should be on the lookout for.
10-K and 10-Q forms can give you annual and quarterly reports on the company’s finances. You can learn about revenue, price-earnings ratio, and return on equity too to get a more well-rounded view.
And then also make sure to do qualitative research. This shows you how the company make money, their competitive advantage, and numerous other factors too.
#2. Be Patient
Perhaps the most important virtue that an investor need is patience. This goes back to what we discussed above. Being an impatient investor might lead to a certain amount of returns, but it’s not valuable when you’re practicing long-term investing.
After you’ve made a smart and informed selection, you need to make your investments and then stick to them. If you did the right kind of research about what sort of company it is, how they are doing financially, and how historical precedent for stock fluctuation is likely to influence them, you will eventually see results.
It could take months and months for the needle to move and once it does, the income may be slow. Don’t think of your ROI as like winning the lottery. Think of it as a snowball rolling down a hill and steadily gathering mass.
All that snow is your wealth. And the tradeoff for you being patient is that it will be a passive income when it arrives, and you can just watch it build and build.
#3. Know When to Sell
On the other side of that coin, you do have to accept that certain unexpected factors can mess up your projected gain. Ownership of a company can change, the competition can change, or the economy could get thrown for a loop by some global catastrophe
A pandemic perhaps? You can be sure that a lot of people’s investments were thrown off course by what happened in 2020. In addition, it’s possible that you just made a bad decision despite all of your research and planning.
There’s no shame in that, it happens to every investor at some point, especially when they’re just starting out. You can counter the effects by knowing when to sell. Also, you should put some time into learning how to spot a loser.
You will usually have to pay a fee to sell, but the positives are that it will free up capital to invest in a company actually likely to generate ROI. You will also get rid of a bad investment from your current portfolio.
Realizing you have to sell is frustrating, but it’s a necessary part of the process.
When it comes down to it, good long-term investing is often as simple as just doing research, being patient and recognizing when it’s time to sell. Honing these three skills can put you on the right path to seeing some serious results over a long period of time.
