The miracle of "compound interest" has been well documented. Investing to leverage this power can be richly rewarding if managed properly. Done poorly, one can easily create great damage to a portfolio of assets. And over the last twenty years or so I have done both.
Being the curious type, and like many personal investors, I have been on a quest to find that "holy grail" of investing, the practice, process, method, newsletter, chart or whatever, that would lead to incredible returns. I have read voraciously, analysed, tried, tested, listened to others, and yet the holy grail remains elusive. That said, I have learned a number of important lessons along the way, which are well documented in books written by some amazing students of the market and great investors, like John Bogle, Ken Fisher, Joel Greenblatt and Benjamin Graham. I thought I should share some of these in the hope that you could avoid some of the pitfalls. Here are some of the lessons I have learned:
