Investment Mistakes in a Bear Market

Successful investing is not magic, just keep things simple and maybe follow few investing and money rules of thumb and you’ll be fine in the long run.

Investment Mistakes in a Bear Market

1.  Selling without any logical reasoning or attention to long-term goals.  Often they all miss the fact that they are selling at the bottom to only repurchase them back at the top. Stop selling without a reason, only sell if the fundamentals have changed for the long term or the investment does not fit in your plan, not because everyone else is selling in the market.

2.  The only worse thing one can do than selling out in a bear market is stop investing during the bear market.  Would you stop shopping if retail prices dropped 30%? No.   When you stop investing during a bear market you will miss out on many undervalued investment opportunities which can have great returns in the long run.

3.  Some investors start to look at alternative investments, (e.g. gold) because they believe somehow these will perform better than the equity markets.  Although alternative investments have their place in a portfolio the excessive focus during bear markets makes them dangerous.

4.  Just stop wasting your time and money trying to time the markets. Investors are more likely to time the markets during a bear market, as there are often big swings, which are seen as opportunities by investors, this strategy will only hurt your portfolio.

I know bear markets hurt, but you trying to “improve” things will only make things worse.  

• What were your investment mistakes during this bear market? 
• What have you learned from them?  
• Do you know anyone who made these mistakes?