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My 
Biggest Investing Mistakes 
Biggest Investing Mistakes
Only looking at the share priceI bought penny stocks at the start
My logic: 100 shares of $1 stock > 1 share of $100 stock
WRONG!
The price of 1 share is meaningless!
What matters is how great the company is!
Only looking at dividend yieldI bought stocks with 10%+ yields
My logic: 10% yield > 1% yield
WRONG!
The dividend got cut and the share price dropped -- a double-whammy!
A high yield is Wall Street's way of saying "this yield is not sustainable, watch out"
Selling a great stock earlyI bought $DXCM in 2007 for ~$6
I sold it 1 month later after a 15% gain
Current price: $412.58
I was in a rush to take profits, so I missed out on HUGE upside
If the opportunity is huge, hold!
Not buying a great stock due to valuationI've made this mistake over and over again
I didn't buy $ZM at $80 because the valuation was "insane"
Current price: $455
If you like everything about the company except the valuation, but some
Even if it's just a little bit
Buying too much of a "sure thing"I thought $KMI was a SURE THING in 2014
I made it my largest position at $35
$KMI fell 70% in 2015
70%!!!!!!
Lesson: Cap your exposure, NO MATTER YOUR CONVICTION, and let your portfolio concentrate itself
Only looking at P/E ratioI use to apply the P/E ratio to ALL stocks
I didn't buy $CRM in 2005 at $5 cause its P/E ratio was >100
Current price: $240
Lesson: P/E ratio only works on stocks that are OPTIMIZED FOR EARNINGS
Don't use it on companies in phase 1, 2, 4, 5
Thinking "I Missed It"Great companies can win for years and years and years!
I haven't bought lots of great stocks because I thought the good times were over
If it's a great company, you can get in late, and still win big
Comparing myself to other investorsI have a bad habit of comparing myself against other successful investors
but, if other investors are doing better than me, SO WHAT?? That doesn't matter!
What matters is how I am doing compared to my goals!
Comparison is the thief of joy
Not listening to people I trustI have ignored buy recommendations on $SHOP, $NFLX, $NVDA, $ZM, $MTCH, $IDXX, $TWLO, $ADBE
FOR YEARS
Even though they were recommended by @DavidGFool @TomGardnerFool and @FoolJeffFischer
All of whom are much better investors than me!
Repeating the same mistakesI have a habit of learning investments lessons the hard way AND slowly
I can all but guarantee that I'll repeat some of these mistakes again (especially the "not buying on high valuation" mistake)
What can I say - I'm human
