Small Investors Stuck in Catch-Up Mode

Most investors should have an investment plan, but don't. That allows them to be easily swayed by what they hear from other investors boasting about recent successes, according to Nofsinger: "They start to feel, 'I'm being left behind.'"

Instead of chasing returns, Nofsinger contends, what works is "the old boring, diversification, hang-in-there approach." That means that at any given time, some assets will do well while others will be in quiet and/or down periods.

During those times, says Nofsinger, "People feel their investments aren't working for them." Unfortunately, he says, "The next hot sector is pretty hard to predict."