What is your best approach for missed opportunities?

mn1

How do you deal mentally with situations where an opportunity for good investment has been missed ?
For example when an advisor gives advice to buy an investment, one does not, market goes up, then one keeps waiting for a dip that seems to never happens. 
Same when the market is plummeting and one is reluctant to accept a loss and keeps hanging to a losing investment hoping for a reversal.
Thanks in advance 

thegentleway

You can’t change the past so no point worrying about it. 

mn1

thegentleway said:

You can’t change the past so no point worrying about it. 

I totally agree, but how can one improve discipline when making investment decisions? 

masonic

mn1 said:

thegentleway said:

You can’t change the past so no point worrying about it. 

I totally agree, but how can one improve discipline when making investment decisions? 

If you are having problems following through on your plan, then the best option is to automate it as much as possible. Use a regular investing service to take money from your bank account and invest it automatically. Or give your adviser the power to manage your investments for you.

Thrugelmir

mn1 said:

thegentleway said:

You can’t change the past so no point worrying about it. 

I totally agree, but how can one improve discipline when making investment decisions? 

Create yourself a set of rules and stick to them. When considering any investment decision list down both the positives and negatives. Rationalise your decision process, detach emotion.  

jacklaurence

I would say don't dwell on the past- focus on the future and what you can impact going forwards. This is my approach

Savingsfox

It's pretty simple for me; markets always go up over time.
I Invest every 2 weeks / every month and don't think for one second whether I'm buying at the "top" or the "bottom" - because over time I'll buy somewhere in the cycle, but over time the market will always win.

MaxiRobriguez

mn1 said:

thegentleway said:

You can’t change the past so no point worrying about it. 

I totally agree, but how can one improve discipline when making investment decisions? 

As others have said, base your decisions on criteria and detach emotion from the decision making process.

If you still end up with a missed opportunity because you bottled it, then use that missed opportunity as justification to follow through next time.

The hardest time to invest is when markets are sinking but remuneration wise they are the best time to invest. If time is on your side you'll be fine. Some of my investments in March last year are up 70% since. If you're not in the game you can't win the prize.

Thrugelmir

Savingsfox said:

It's pretty simple for me; markets always go up over time.

There's many markets. Over a given period of time, some will perform better than others. Complacency can be an investors worst enemy.  As often the signals are flashing well ahead of actual events. 

Voyager2002

mn1 said:

How do you deal mentally with situations where an opportunity for good investment has been missed ?
For example when an advisor gives advice to buy an investment, one does not, market goes up, then one keeps waiting for a dip that seems to never happens. 
Same when the market is plummeting and one is reluctant to accept a loss and keeps hanging to a losing investment hoping for a reversal.
Thanks in advance 

You learn more from occasions when you got it wrong than from those when your decisions turned out to be right. So use these events as an opportunity for learning.

In investing as with gambling too much early success can be very dangerous. It is often a matter of chance whether or not an investment works out, yet believing that you were successful because you have some special skill or were simply born lucky is a recipe for disaster further down the line.

Bobziz

All of the above for me. Making mistakes, fortunately relatively cheap ones, has been a good way to understand how I respond emotionally and to know my limitations. Write down your plan,  set rules and have a clear objective/s.