There are many types of investors. When it
comes to investments, people making the investment decision based on different kind
of reasons, for example company’s fundamentals, technical analysis, valuation,
opinion of investment experts, and so on. However, it is very important to
understand the motivations behind your investments, and whether the information
that you are relying on is valid.
What is Investment Speculation?
Speculation is the purchase of an investment with the hope that it will become more valuable in the near future, i.e. engaging in risky financial transactions in an attempt to profit from short term fluctuations in the market value of a tradable financial instrument – rather than attempting to profit from the underlying financial attributes embodied in the instrument such as capital gains, dividends, or interest.
Many speculators pay little attention to the fundamental value of a security and instead focus purely on price movements only. Speculation on the stock market is similar like gambling, for example playing blackjack, your decision making is based on the probability and odds, which there is no logical basis.
What is Investment Research?
Investment research is a broad term that encompasses many different aspects of investing. It can include analyzing past returns to make predictions about future returns, analyse the company fundamentals, selecting the type of investment vehicle that is best for an investor’s needs or evaluating securities such as stocks and bonds for valuation and investor specificity. It is generally on investment decisions made on logical reasons.
Your approach to investment research has to be consistent. If you tend to jump from one methodology to another, then your results will be inconsistent.
Making Appropriate Investment Decision
Whether you are using technical or fundamental methodologies to invest in the stock market, do not based your decisions on untested theories, valuation methods or something new that you learnt from website, forum or trading course.
It is advisable to make your investment decisions based on logical basis, you have a proven method to work in the past, and of course put aside your emotions.
There is a good chance that more well-thought out investment decisions tend to fare better than those based on gut feeling.