My 🔟 Biggest Investing Mistakes 🧵

1⃣Only looking at the share price

I bought penny stocks at the start

My logic: 100 shares of $1 stock > 1 share of $100 stock

WRONG!

The price of 1 share is meaningless!

What matters is how great the company is!
2⃣Only looking at dividend yield

I bought stocks with 10%+ yields

My logic: 10% yield > 1% yield

WRONG!

The dividend got cut and the share price dropped -- a double-whammy!

A high yield is Wall Street's way of saying "this yield is not sustainable, watch out"
3⃣Selling a great stock early

I bought $DXCM in 2007 for ~$6

I sold it 1 month later after a 15% gain

Current price: $412.58

I was in a rush to take profits, so I missed out on HUGE upside

If the opportunity is huge, hold!
4⃣Not buying a great stock due to valuation

I've made this mistake over and over again

I didn't buy $ZM at $80 because the valuation was "insane"

Current price: $455

If you like everything about the company except the valuation, but some

Even if it's just a little bit
5⃣Buying too much of a "sure thing"

I thought $KMI was a SURE THING in 2014

I made it my largest position at $35

$KMI fell 70% in 2015

70%!!!!!!

Lesson: Cap your exposure, NO MATTER YOUR CONVICTION, and let your portfolio concentrate itself
6⃣Only looking at P/E ratio

I use to apply the P/E ratio to ALL stocks

I didn't buy $CRM in 2005 at $5 cause its P/E ratio was >100

Current price: $240

Lesson: P/E ratio only works on stocks that are OPTIMIZED FOR EARNINGS

Don't use it on companies in phase 1, 2, 4, 5
7⃣Thinking "I Missed It"

Great companies can win for years and years and years!

I haven't bought lots of great stocks because I thought the good times were over

If it's a great company, you can get in late, and still win big
8⃣Comparing myself to other investors

I have a bad habit of comparing myself against other successful investors

but, if other investors are doing better than me, SO WHAT?? That doesn't matter!

What matters is how I am doing compared to my goals!

Comparison is the thief of joy
9⃣Not listening to people I trust

I have ignored buy recommendations on $SHOP, $NFLX, $NVDA, $ZM, $MTCH, $IDXX, $TWLO, $ADBE

FOR YEARS

Even though they were recommended by @DavidGFool @TomGardnerFool and @FoolJeffFischer

All of whom are much better investors than me!
🔟 Repeating the same mistakes

I have a habit of learning investments lessons the hard way AND slowly

I can all but guarantee that I'll repeat some of these mistakes again (especially the "not buying on high valuation" mistake)

What can I say - I'm human
Like these graphics?

I email them daily for free

https://t.co/GKYc6e2v3b

More from Brian Feroldi

More from Trading

12 TRADING SETUPS used by professional traders:🧵

Collaborated with @niki_poojary

Here's what you'll learn in this thread:

1. Capture Overnight Theta Decay
2. Trading Opening Range Breakouts
3. Reversal Trading Setups
4. Selling strangles and straddles in Bank Nifty
6. NR4 + IB
7. NR 21-Vwap Strategy

Let's dive in ↓

1/ STBT option Selling (Positional Setup):

The setup uses price action to sell options for overnight theta decay.

Check Bank Nifty at 3:15 everyday.

Sell directional credit spreads with capped


@jigspatel1988 2/ Selling Strangles in Bank Nifty based on Open Interest Data

Don't trade till 9:45 Am.

Identify the highest OI on puts and calls.

Check combined premium and put a stop on individual


@jigspatel1988 3/ Open Drive (Intraday)

This is an opening range breakout setup with a few conditions.

To be used when the market opens above yesterday's day high

or Below yesterday's day's

You May Also Like

This is a pretty valiant attempt to defend the "Feminist Glaciology" article, which says conventional wisdom is wrong, and this is a solid piece of scholarship. I'll beg to differ, because I think Jeffery, here, is confusing scholarship with "saying things that seem right".


The article is, at heart, deeply weird, even essentialist. Here, for example, is the claim that proposing climate engineering is a "man" thing. Also a "man" thing: attempting to get distance from a topic, approaching it in a disinterested fashion.


Also a "man" thing—physical courage. (I guess, not quite: physical courage "co-constitutes" masculinist glaciology along with nationalism and colonialism.)


There's criticism of a New York Times article that talks about glaciology adventures, which makes a similar point.


At the heart of this chunk is the claim that glaciology excludes women because of a narrative of scientific objectivity and physical adventure. This is a strong claim! It's not enough to say, hey, sure, sounds good. Is it true?