3 Steps To Success

David Young from Paragon Wealth Management believes the path to success is by keeping it simple. In his view, to succeed, you must spend less than you earn, commit to a strategy you can follow, and be disciplined and exercise patience. I agree, but as most of us already know, it is easier said than done.

I've written about the stock market in some manner or form since 1998 and one thing you can always count on it is that the website will see a surge of new visitors around this time of the year usually between the beginning of March through April. This is relatively unusual because it has absolutely nothing to do with how the market itself is performing at the time. As most people probably can guess, websites like mine always see an increase when the market experiences a correction or a large scale rally as little guy investors "tune in" to the market.

Tax season forces people to take a cold hard look at their finances and investment portfolios whether they like to or not. I know if my friends are of any indication, a lot of people do not want to know how they're doing for fear of being upset or frustrated and those who do don't have a lot of time to do it. However, tax time forces people to face the facts whether they like it or not. Most Americans are too busy with their careers and family to dedicate a tremendous amount of time to their investing. And, even if you do dedicate the time and effort, the market doesn't guarantee that success will be achieved. There are a lot of people who spend volumes amount of time, but underperform the S&P 500 consistently.

Like David suggests, it always starts by keeping it simple. By living below your means (something most Americans no longer do), find a strategy that you can follow and commit to (think lazy portfolios), and have the discipline and patience to stick with it (develop a strategy you can manage and be in control of) and you'll do better than you're doing right now. At least that's what I continue to be told by those who "get" the message I've been trying to get across for as long as I've been writing about the market.