Six biggest investor mistakes

Most people should buy index funds. no?

It's interesting to read the responses here on the various words from experience. I would note that these things change and sometimes what is good experience turns into bad advice- like "Don't play takeovers", something that was good advice earlier but now harmful to money-making (In a very recent item posted in the (blue label) Weekly Stock Digest at http://www.Barrelomoney.com, noted Forbes columnist and author Ken Fisher recommends putting a lot on takeovers). If conditions change it is sometimes good to go with the flow, at least for awhile, rather than your past experience which is limited and may reflect different market or economic conditions. On the other hand, if you study your own transactions you can find things that you may not have seen before. Back in the 1980s, I analyzed my portfolios and saw that a good percentage of profit was coming from dividends (this has been a general truth for investors) so I made that a more important factor in selecting stocks. In the 1990s though the best stocks to be in were the net stocks not dividend payers- until the party came to an end.

Many comments here are down on Jim Cramer but I have made more money on his picks than I lost and he has made many good calls. I can see how you can lose money following him though if you don't have some of your own analysis in the game because he has many risky stocks and sometimes tells people to "Buy high and sell higher" a risky strategy if the market turns down. The point is that you have to put some thought into what you are doing.

I study Jim Cramer and find he is very poor at making mad money for his viewers , he picks a stock to help raise his trust funds, also to date he is only up 2% from his picks , not very good.
dave

I take the stock picks Cramer gives and do my homework like he says. I've done really well with the ATI & GS picks. He's doesn't like VLO, but I've had that stock since 2001 and have made lots of money with it$ No ones right 100% of the time in their picks, if they were, we'd all be rich$$ At least he gets people interested in investing!

I watch Cramer for 3 reasons.
# 1 He is a true entertainer and its a good exercise in concentration..
# 2 He has some good reasoning in his talk if you listen carefully.
# 3 Some of his picks actually go up (most in fact)if you watch list them..I have been watching for years... I make money on the averages..
The critics should be so dumb..

You watch Cramer to listen and learn how the market really works and what drives equity prices.He gives great insights into the minds of traders-professional trading is an entirely different world and foreign to the average investor. The select issues I have bought on his recommendations have, on balance, made a lot of money.He is better in an up market than a down market. It surprises me that he does not discuss more the use of stop lossses. I always let some time pass before buying. I have used his principles of investing to make money in other areas and his advice about being diversified is superb.People pay lip service to diversification but do not do the homework to make sure they are diversified.Cramer has made me focus more in that area.I'd rather listen to someone who has made it big as an investor than most customer's men/women at any broker I have found.Many of the knocks on Cramer are not justified unless you are an investor-lemming chimera.
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I started with Cramer last year, seven out of ten suggestions have paid off for me. Research, does pay off. Re:fwlt

Cramer did something right making more money than most in the hardest times of the market.
I think if you do your homework as he always suggests, the stock plays are good.
He is only trying to give you a jump start on small to large stocks.
I personally like blue chips.
The only gamble taken this year AFTER Cramer's thumbs up was MA.
I wish I bought more.

Well taking advise from some television personality is dumb all the way if it is Jim Cramer Peter Lynch or Louis Rukeyser who im pretty sure would't be a guy to take advice from at this point of his life with his health problems. The reason we watch is for the entertainment value period. If you work with a broker or are a do it your selfer online if you make money in the market no reason to knock it if it works it works. But if you are a do it yourselfer because you are too proud or cheep to hire a broker then you deserve to continue to loose money in the market. Personally is use a full service broker and have averaged well over 16% per year the last 4 years better thank trading stocks on ebay and holding my TRow, Schwab, and Fidelity funds that are not performing. Reading books from Peter Lynch I think wouldn't be helpful either since he is no longer a active money manager I think he is retired but he had a nice run with the Magellen Fund but that was over 20 years ago things have changed since his day of buying stocks and bonds.

I don't agree with setting buy and sell limits, because it can lead to too much trading and therefore too much money lost to commissions. I prefer to buy good, dividend-paying stocks and hold on to them for the very long term. So far, my strategy has served me well.