Most people envision the person being referred to as the investor as a well to do affluent “monopoly guy.” While many people envision investing to equal tremendous amounts of wealth, that’s not necessarily true. Most investors are just “Joe average American.” They work in auto body shops, school teachers, firemen, nurses, they come from all walks of life. They are newlywed couples, single moms/single dads; they are 20-year-olds, 30-year-olds, 40-year-olds… You get the point. The face of the investor is the same face you see every morning when you wake up and look in the mirror. The American investor does not necessarily have great wealth, they don’t have a private jet, and most of them don’t even own a car that costs more than $40,000.

You are the face of the modern investor. No matter what your background, no matter what your job, whether you are unemployed, or the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. You are the investor.

Investors mind set.

There are a million books written about investors mind set. What you should do, what you should invest in, how much money you should spend on seminars, etc. etc. now, while most of these books give brilliant information. Not a single book will ever be a perfect guide to lead you on the path to whatever your ultimate investment goal is. You have to map that out on your own. I cannot emphasize this enough. To achieve your investment goals, you must map this information out on your own!!

Being an investor and doing your own research, is the number one skill that one can acquire to achieve the financial freedom that they are looking for. Networking with other investors, or industry professionals, within the area of investment that you are considering should be in ongoing circumstance in your education.

My personal library of investment books, videos, DVD/ CDs probably approaches 4000 reference materials. Now while I am not saying you need to go out and create your own New York public library size investment /reference library. What I am saying is that every book out there, while most of them do indeed re-emphasized the same information from previous books written by other authors, you can gain new information from every book you read. Most investors have a different spin, or a have taken a different path to achieve their idea of financial and investment success. Please keep in mind, no investors can exactly duplicate someone else and their success. This means that your setbacks are 100% unique, completely dependent upon your condition at the time of the investment and at the time of your decision. Your mistakes, if passed on to another investor may save that investor from duplicating it. Keep in mind that you can read all the books on investing you want. You can attend hundreds of seminars, and you will still at some point it a major bump in the road. (The severity of that bump is completely dependent on how you look at it).

Have investors endurance.

Investors and endurance is the most critical element for success in my opinion. The endurance to continually educate you on investing, investment strategies, market conditions, as well as news is a discipline that most successful investors have. The famous investor Warren Buffett has said many many times that he invests in companies he understands. That should be your goal. Whether you’re investing in a company, a new technology, real estate, or a startup, is sure it is an investment that you understand.

Your success in investing is completely within your hands.