Apprenticed Investor: Prepare for Battle

The purpose of "Apprenticed Investor" is to teach you to become better investors. Today's lesson is about having a healthy respect -- not fear, but respect -- for your opponents.

I am always surprised at how eager and confident new investors are, entering the fray with hardly any hesitation. The reason for this is fairly simple: Many investors have achieved some level of success in their chosen field. This is how they have amassed their investing capital, and their prior success breeds a healthy self-confidence.

Healthy, that is, in your chosen fields. In the capital markets, that self-confidence is dangerous, even reckless. People tend to forget that once they become investors, they have essentially started a brand-new career -- and started at the very bottom, too. ...