Yes, every bad decision has been the result of not knowing enough about the company before investing. But I've also come to the realisation that time often evens out the bad especially if you invest at the bottom of a cycle.

What is my investment approach now though? If I like something new, I'll spend time researching it, if it looks better than something else in my portfolio or it adds depth to my portfolio then I'll invest a tiny amount, like 10 bucks or less. Over time you start to get a feel for the stock, soaking up all information on it, getting an understanding of when it's cheap and when it's expensive. My new friend on tiger trade @Barcode has serious convictions about an Aussie company $PROPEL LTD(PFP.AU)$ So did a little digging of it myself and yep, it looks good and certainly adds a very different stock to my portfolio. So I brought 1 share, it dropped 20 cents, so I brought 9 more shares. I'll just keep watching it and probably add more as it bottoms.

99% of my portfolio is invested into shares I've owned for well over a year, my extreme is one I've owned over 20 years. Stocks are cyclical even though may trend up or down over time, they trend. the ones trending down I tend to burn. The upward trends I tend to lock in some profit at higher points, then repurchase at lower points. Pretty much all of my banking stocks atm I'm selling off some, because most are up round 50% in the last 12 months. 

It's kinda like blackjack, if you start on a winning streak, you cash out and just bet with the houses money. And then double down with your money again when the stock is cheap again. It's a strategy that requires ALOT of patience, and the knowledge that comes from truely knowing not only the business you are investing in, but also market sentiment. 

This approach gives you an emotional buffer, the stock mite drop 20% in a year, but because you are still up 30% it's a buy. Psychologically this is very important, very very important. I call it building a buffer zone. You mite be loosing but compared to the person that brought at the high l, well u are still winning, and they are loosing. It's the old concept of time in the market vs timing. The more time you are in the market, the less timing matters. Many times I've actually sold, then brought back at I higher price, but I'm not bothered because I locked in profits, and I'm buying back in because, well my assumptions were wrong for selling, so I need to get back on that gravy train. Anyone that is selling u a concept of ten easy ways to become a millionaire investing in stocks... well it's just lies, it's actually very very complicated.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be putting up a post about a stock that I think will Go crazy soon, but it's more about how I make investment decisions based on the future not the past. If you follow me, yup it's that company. But I'll have my evidence prepared by tomorrow to present, happy trading[Miser]