Your Money Mentality: How You Feel about Risk, Losses, and Gains

Know thyself

One of the biggest and most glaring pitfalls new investors face is not knowing their own money mentality, especially when it comes to risk. They don't have enough experience to know their comfort level, and so they make mistakes like buying aggressively at the top, selling in desperation at the bottom, and-the cardinal sin-leveraging funds that should be set aside for long-term peace of mind.

Things don't have to play out this way. Investors can do better. One of the biggest ste...