Why should I keep an investment journal?
An investment journal is a great way to store the investing decisions you have made or thought about making to help build your confidence and ability.
The more information you keep, the more you can learn as you progress on your investing journey.
Use your journal to create your own investment strategy by identifying what does and doesn’t work for you over time:
- Research - As you discover companies of interest or research properties and suburbs, add them to your Watchlist and add a journal note about why you are watching them
- Learn- Found an article that you want to read later or keep handy? Add it to your journal
- Invest- When the time comes to buy or sell an investment, add a note about why you made the decision.
- Review - Keep your journal up to date with any investments or changes to your Watchlist so that you can keep track of why you bought or sold an investment.
What worked?
Use your journal to record what worked for you.
- Record investments you have made that were profitable.
- Identify what these investments had in common.
An example could be shares that have good fundamentals, such as shareholder returns or dividend yield.
‘Good fundamentals’ refers to key indicators of a company’s performance over time that are consistent and above industry average that rate well against its peers.
What didn't work?
Record any investments you made that were unsuccessful.
What did they have in common?
An example of this could be a stock tip you acted on but the share price never picked up or even went down.
Were you emotionally attached to a certain area and bought property there simply because you liked the area?
An investment journal can help you learn from your mistakes.
Make a Watchlist
Use your journal to help you create and use a Watchlist.
- Using a journal will help you answer questions such as why am I watching and when would I decide to buy?
- A Watchlist can help you put together your investment rules and build your confidence.