Greed Causes People to Lose Money

You have to know when to hold and know when to fold when it comes to investing money. This same concept can be used for gamblers. A win is a win if you are gambling and a gain is a gain if you are investing in stocks. Fortunes have been lost because people want to win more and make more. This greed causes people to lose money.

I've known people who have lost money because of greed. My friend invested in Enron. His portfolio was once valued at $250,000. He thought it would continue going up in value. Needless to say, my friend ended up loosing his initial investment and his profit because of greed.

People think about money differently when they don't have it. They can tell you what they will do if they acquire money. How many times have you heard someone say what they'll do if they won the lottery? They spend the money 10 times before they get it. So once it arrives, it's already spent.

You will earn 1.2 million dollars in your lifetime if you work for 30 years and earn $40,000 a year. There is no doubt, a million dollars is a lot of money. Many people have been lucky at the lottery and collected a million dollars after taxes. Greed has caused these same people to be broke today.

An old saying "A bird in the hand is better than 10 in the bush" could serve as a guide when you have made money. How much you decide to keep is a personal decision, but it's one of the best decisions you can make. Leave a winner if you gamble. Make money if you are an investor. Don't let greed consume you. Don't lose your profit and your initial investment.

Don't spend your life regretting that you didn't keep the money you made.

Tame the obsession to be greedy. Walk away a winner and keep the money you make. Can you place guidelines on your investments? Of course you can. Then, why don't you?

Decide to double your money. Or, decide to triple your money. Whatever you do, make a decision.

When the stocks you've invested in increase 300 percent, this means you have doubled your money. You now have your original investment plus a 200 percent profit. Taking your profit means you now own a stock without investing your money. I call this investment tactic "risk free".

A risk free investor makes money from stock investments all of the time. A risk free gambler never loses.

More, more, more is not an investment strategy. Greed can cause you to never develop an investment strategy. The decisions you make about profit limits can help remove the greed obsession from interfering with your ability to make money.