Whether you are a day-trader or a long-term investor like me, successful investing requires discipline, focus and an even temperament.

It also requires creating a process and sticking to it. And, once the process is in place you can’t let yourself be distracted, especially by outside events over which you have no control.

To help ensure you fulfill these criteria, I ask that you—with apologies to Henny Youngman—take this pledge, please!

I [your name here] pledge to:

  1. Allocate globally and diversify, diversify, diversify;
  2. Remain calm in the face of contrary, global geopolitical events;
  3. Take with a grain of salt what I read, see or hear in the financial media;
  4. Refrain from chasing yield/returns by trying to time the market;
  5. Manage my expectations;
  6. Make sure my investing assumptions are accurate and well-informed;
  7. Use a truly relevant benchmark when evaluating my performance;
  8. Always invest with an eye toward limiting any potential tax liability;
  9. Eliminate emotion from my investment decisions;
  10. Strike the right balance between risk and reward when designing my portfolio.

As an advisor, I never use the word “guarantee” when discussing investment returns with clients, but if you take this pledge, learn it and live it, I strongly believe that you will find success investing in the long-run.

So take this pledge, please.

#####