Don't Lose Your Money or Your Mind: Simple Strategies to Invest with Confidence and Never Lose Your Principal

By Marjan Stojanovski

You've been trading for a couple years, but instead of making money, you're frustrated by a lack of results. You've tried everything—newsletters, programs, investing gurus—but nothing has worked. No matter how much you learn or what you try, you're not getting ahead. In fact, you're losing money. For the sake of your sanity and your principal, you'll have to quit trading if you can't find an approach that works.

Here's the truth: trading requires a counterintuitive mindset. You must go against the advice you apply elsewhere in your life and stop following your instincts.

Marjan Stojanovski wants to help you develop this counterintuitive mindset. In Don't Lose Your Money or Your Mind, he'll explore the flaws of the human mind that hinder success in trading, including cognitive biases, fear, and greed. You'll learn how to spot these flaws and develop the discipline to conquer them. Get ready for an approach to trading that is not only simple, but ensures you will never lose your principal again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Dec 10, 2019
• ISBN: 9781544506531

Book preview

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Copyright © 2019 Marjan Stojanovski

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-5445-0653-1

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I dedicate this book to my wife, Elena, my son, Branko, my brother, Sasho, my mother, Ljubica, and my father, Branko Sr.

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Contents

Disclaimer

Introduction

1. Investing Is Unique: Simplifying the Complex

2. Are We Born to Fail? Don’t Let That Stop You

3. Avoid the Potholes: Anticipating the Obstacles in Your Investment Journey

4. Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: How Investment Pioneers Make Their Way

5. Put It Together: Building Your Portfolio

6. The Smart Investor: Protecting Your Investment

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

About the Author

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Disclaimer

I do not act as a personal investment advisor, nor do I advocate for the purchase or sale of any security, investment, or for any specific individual reading this book. You should not consider any part of this book’s content personalized investment advice. Always do your own research and consult with a licensed investment professional before making an investment. You should not make any investment decision based solely on what you read here—it’s your money, and your responsibility.

The strategies I write about have worked for me in the past, and they continue to work for me now; however, I do not guarantee that what I talk about in this book will work for everyone.

Investment markets have inherent risks with no guarantee of future profits. While a potential for rewards exists, by investing, you put yourself at risk. You must be aware of the risks and be willing to accept them in order to invest in any type of security. Do not trade with money you cannot afford to lose. The past performance of any trading system or methodology is not necessarily indicative of future results.

At the time of publication, several central banks around the world had negative interest rates. This included the European Central Bank with the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. Other countries with central banks experiencing negative interest rates at the time of publication were Denmark, Japan, Sweden, and Switzerland. This means that the currencies of these countries have bonds and bank deposits that are not suited for the strategies discussed in this book. Negative interest rates are an aberration and not considered normal or permanent, yet the duration of this status is unknown. Australia, Canada, China, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, Russia, and other large countries are not included in this group.

By reading this communication, you agree to the terms of this disclaimer. You further warrant that you are solely responsible for any financial outcome that may come from your investment decisions.

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Introduction

When people talk about investments or the stock market, what thoughts come to mind? Do you immediately wonder what tip you might garner from the conversation or presentation, or does your mind jump to the last time you took a chance on an investment, only for it not to live up to your expectations? Maybe you even lost your principal—or several principal investments—and now you’re reluctant to try again.

If you’ve picked up this book, you’re most likely excited about the topic of investment, even if you’ve been burned by past decisions or market downturn. The prospect of hitting it right in the stock market is undeniably appealing for a variety of reasons. Earning money and financial security is probably the number one reason, but being right about something is a close, often subconscious, second.

The stock market, though, is complex. It’s easy to overcomplicate the act of investing to compensate for our nerves and the market’s volatility. Rather than forming a plan and sticking to it, we monitor and adjust, follow the crowd, and react to trends and emotions. We choose to play it safe with conservative investment choices, but it’s impossible to reach our full potential when we never take a chance.

Taking a chance doesn’t mean you have to gamble, or accept a high level of market risk. Despite what many believe, you don’t have to have a degree in finance, a trust fund, the right connections, or years of experience to be successful in investing. I certainly had none of these when I started down this road. I did, however, know my answer to what turned out to be a very important question in my career—one that I ask my clients, and that I’m asking you now: do you think it’s possible to invest in the stock market and protect your principal investment?

My Journey

In the summer of 1984, I had just completed my mandatory year of military service with the Yugoslavian army after graduating from high school the prior year. Like many teenagers, I was still trying to figure out my next steps and what the future might hold. The world was harshly divided by western capitalism and eastern socialism, and Yugoslavia—my country at the time—was somewhere in the middle. Private property was permitted, but private business was not.

For a college-bound high school graduate passionate about economics, the social and economic world stage was not ideal. I was determined to follow my interest, but my father had other, smarter ideas. The world is starting to open up, he said, so you need a degree that is recognized throughout the world. Our economics are different than the economics in the west and in the east. Practicing economics, right now, means staying in Yugoslavia your whole life.

My father made sense. Instead of pursuing economics, my first love, I studied computer science. It was a new field in the early 1980s, and I was good at it. I knew, however, that I would one day follow my early ambition and find a career in economics when the timing was right.

Just three years later, the movie Wall Street was released, and I instantly connected to it. The world of stocks, hedge funds, and investment strategies captivated me. I finished my studies and found a job that allowed me to bridge the fields of computer engineering and economics so that I could make the transition and devote all my energy into what I knew was my destiny.

Years later, my dream came true. I had worked for eight years as an independent consultant when I was offered a position with a major hedge fund as the general manager. Accepting the role without hesitation, I finally felt at home in my career.

The Investor’s Nirvana

I was older than most when I started out in the world of investment. At the time, Merrill Lynch was at the top of their game as an independent wealth management firm. They were strong and respected, and they impressed me because they were pioneers.

In the late 1990s, Merrill Lynch