Develop your investing savvy

Developing your skills as an investor is an evolutionary process. As you gain experience in one area, you're ready to move on to the next — whether that means adding individual securities to a portfolio that's been concentrated in mutual funds or hedging your stock portfolio by buying put options.

As part of the learning process, the best investors always evaluate what went wrong with their buy and sell decisions to learn from their mistakes. One approach is to write down the reasons you've decided to make an investment, and re-examine your reasoning if you end up losing rather than making money.

What you don't want to do is wait for the perfect trade or the perfect moment to do it. If you wait to buy until you've found exactly the right investment at exactly the right price, you'll end up with a portfolio of cash.

Many investors find that working with an adviser not only helps them be alert to the risks they might otherwise have missed, but it also makes them more willing to take appropriate risk and puts them in a position to benefit from a stronger and more consistent return.