I've been in global markets for 37 years now as an analyst, trader, and consultant, and if there's one thing I've learned, it's that personal success - to be clear, I'm talking about big, life-changing profits - comes from something a lot of investors fail to grasp.
The single most important thing you can do as an investor is to realize that wealth is a choice... but getting there is a skill.
Let me repeat that: Wealth is a choice, but getting there is a skill.
You have to work at it, just like studying for an exam or going to the gym. You don't pass Nuclear Physics 201 without significant effort any more than you'll look like Arnold Schwarzenegger without lifting weights.
Unfortunately, too many investors fixate on shortcuts or "magical" systems - things that somehow promise fast, easy returns but that all too often end in frustration and loss.
The way to really "get there" is to put in the work and learn. But as I'll show you in just a second, it doesn't have to be anywhere near as difficult or expensive as you might think.
In fact, just being aware of that simple fact puts you far out ahead of the crowd of investors...
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Most Investors Make It Difficult for Themselves
Take the Unstoppable Trends I talk about all the time.
They've been minting millionaires in one form or another for centuries now - and certainly more millionaires than any trend not on this short list. There are just six of 'em worth your time and money: demographics; scarcity/allocation; medicine; energy; technology; and war, terrorism, and ugliness.
Understanding the difference between "must have" products and services and "nice to have" alternatives was another major breakthrough.
The distinctions all seem perfectly clear now, even obvious, but that wasn't always the case. Figuring these things out, quantifying their impact, and identifying opportunities took years of toil - thousands upon thousands of hours of work and research.
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It might not surprise you to learn that a great deal of that effort was spent learning how to separate the noise from the worthwhile signal.
Most investors fall prey to too much information.
They get bogged down with thousands of indicators, hundreds of thousands of search results, and millions of data points. They want to make things more complex when making them simpler is the key to profitability.
You don't need, for example, to scan the markets looking for divine intervention or a flash of inspiration from some super-computer operating at "Star Trek"-like warp speeds.
And you sure as hell don't need to finesse every trade or investment.
What you do need, though, is to understand that the noise is what everybody else focuses on. Get rid of that, and suddenly everything becomes crystal clear.
You can invest by identifying opportunities others don't see or understand before the crowd figures out they're even valuable. Then, use the skills and tactics we talk about in Total Wealth regularly to grab your share of the profits.
This Illustrates My Point Perfectly
To use an example we talked about last week: People are still thinking about Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) as an iPhone-driven stock. Whenever the herd's "iSales iExpectations" don't get met, the stock gets hammered.
So what if Apple sells fewer iPhones? What the crowd doesn't get is the numbers that show fewer iDevices sold also reflect unprecedented growth in services, in medical devices, and in Big Data and AI. The margins there are extraordinary.
Unprecedented growth means unprecedented opportunity... but all most investors can fixate on is that Apple missed an arbitrary target in a metric that's growing less important by the month.
And so they sell the stock.
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You can take advantage of that by using simple trading tactics like the "lowball order" to buy shares whenever Apple dips. The great thing about a lowball order is that you name the price you want to pay. It could be ludicrously, insultingly low if you want it to be; in this market, it won't be long before a stampede of panicked investors obliges you... and you own a great stock at an unthinkably low price.
What's more, you can rebalance your portfolio - often in 90 seconds or less - whenever prices rise to a threshold that makes sense. Some people use percentages; others use dollars. The point is, again, it's your call.
If an investment doesn't go your way?
No big deal. When you set trailing stops like I recommend, most - if not all - of your principal is protected. That gives you the breathing room you need to take a loss in stride and determine what there is to learn from it.
Remember, we're talking about a skill you develop over time... something you practice. So, figure out what went wrong, and then get right back up and get back in the game.
The profits will come if you do the work and develop the skills.
End every investing day with a victory, even if it's a loss, because that's what you build upon - the victories.
Robert Herjavec: Indisputable Proof That Anybody Can Get Rich Through Angel Investing
When Neil Patel launched the Angels & Entrepreneurs Summit, he had only planned to invite a small group of guests to join him and guest "Shark" Robert Herjavec... but then Neil revealed something truly shocking.
During this clip (about halfway through the event), he reveals indisputable proof that anybody can transform their life through angel investing.
We knew we had to show this event to everyone - the information is just too valuable to keep under wraps.
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About the Author
Keith is a seasoned market analyst and professional trader with more than 37 years of global experience. He is one of very few experts to correctly see both the dot.bomb crisis and the ongoing financial crisis coming ahead of time - and one of even fewer to help millions of investors around the world successfully navigate them both. Forbes hailed him as a "Market Visionary." He is a regular on FOX Business News and Yahoo! Finance, and his observations have been featured in Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, WIRED, and MarketWatch. Keith previously led The Money Map Report, Money Map's flagship newsletter, as Chief Investment Strategist, from 20007 to 2020. Keith holds a BS in management and finance from Skidmore College and an MS in international finance (with a focus on Japanese business science) from Chaminade University. He regularly travels the world in search of investment opportunities others don't yet see or understand.