Habits of Highly Successful Stock Market Investors

 The most successful investors were not made in a day. Learning the ins and outs of the financial world and your personality as an investor takes time and patience, not to mention trial and error. In this article, we'll lead you through the first seven steps of your expedition into investing and show you what to look out for along the way.

Set Some Financial Goals and Choose a Strategy

It's a cliché, but it is true—you must know where you are going so you will know you are there when you arrive.

Your goals should be specific and focused. For example, "I want to retire in about 20 years and have a nice, fat nest egg" is not a good goal. A better goal might be: "I am 40 years old and want to retire by age 65. At age 50, I will have built my nest egg (not including 401(k)) to $250,000. At age 55, it will be $350,000. At age 60, it will be $500,000, and at retirement, it will be $600,000."

These numbers may be off for you and you probably have other goals, such as a college fund or buying a home. However, the point is you need to focus on specific goals with specific deadlines if you are going to be successful.

There are three basic investing approaches: value, growth, and blended. You will hear others mentioned, but these three are the basis for all others.

Take informed decision

Proper research should always be undertaken before investing in stock market But that is rarely done. Investors generally go by the name of a company or the industry they belong to. This is, however, not the right way of putting one's money into the stock market.

Patience Is Key

You may have never heard of Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, but he's well known in the investing world. An investor from Saudi Arabia, he founded the Kingdom Holding Company later made a major bet on Citigroup's (C) predecessor Citicorp in the early 1990s, becoming the bank's largest shareholder.

Find a mentor (but don’t be lazy)

If you are lucky enough to be able to find someone to apprentice under then you will be able to springboard your learning. But finding a mentor also doesn’t mean being lazy and just trying to piggyback off them. (most great investors won’t allow that anyway, but will make sure you learn for yourself) Mentors can be actually bosses that you work for (at a fund) or “virtual” such as someone like Warren Buffett who may never know who you are but you follow religiously and emulate your investing style after.

Want to take advantage of this stock market crash?

Do not panic and jump out of investments, assuming to avoid further loss. If you’re having an unavoidable financial need, handle them wisely. You can use your debt investments, emergency funds and also use the EMI moratorium if you’re badly in need. To know more read:  Advantage Of Investing in the stock market 

Research Before You Trade

Arguably the most fundamental tip of all, traders need to research the markets and the companies in which they are trading first and foremost before they even think about risking their capital. Thorough research is the minimum unless you are prepared to lose your money. Only research makes the difference between gambling on stock market prices and physically trading on them, and those that put in the conscious time and effort to research and understand markets will be all the better traders for it.