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Striving to be a better family member, a better friend, someone who treats others with more kindness, a healthier self—and of course, a more accomplished investor.
If anyone claims to have mastered all the tricks of investing, they’re undoubtedly deluding themselves. You can tell them this wise advice comes from Brian Sozzi.
In today’s market, making money may seem effortless—even if the 2025 market wasn’t all smooth sailing, capital market trends are always volatile, and a moment’s carelessness could lead to being caught off guard by market reversals.
Consider this: If NVIDIA reports a sequential slowdown in core business growth in its earnings report a few months from now; if CEO Jensen Huang unexpectedly strikes a cautious tone in the earnings call; or if the new 2026 Fed Chair’s stance is less dovish than current market expectations—any of these scenarios could severely undermine the core logic supporting the U.S. stock bull market.
In any case, capital market trends are never smooth sailing. This means you need to hone your investment skills day in and day out, refining this "money-making craft." One way to do this is to set down a few investment self-discipline guidelines and post them on any of the eight screens in front of your trading desk as a constant reminder.
Below are ten personal investment self-discipline guidelines I’ve set for 2026:
Stop treating executives’ lofty rhetoric in earnings calls as gospel.
Delve deep into research to understand the complex intricacies and underlying motives behind executives’ compensation packages.
When analyzing earnings reports, assign greater weight to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) financial data than to non-GAAP figures.
Re-evaluate and assign more accurate investment scores to companies that have achieved tangible profit growth through new AI initiatives.
Identify five potential companies that could become targets of activist investors.
Conduct on-site visits to under-construction AI data center projects.
Continuously track capital expenditure trends of the top 15 technology companies by market capitalization.
Select the ten lowest-valued companies in the S&P 493 Index (S&P components excluding the seven mega-cap tech leaders).
Develop a discerning eye to more accurately identify five classic stock price patterns.
Discover a small-cap company that truly excels in a hard-core sector with significant growth potential.
Additionally, this week, three investment professionals shared their new year investment guidelines, which I’ve added as three extra items to form this list of thirteen guidelines: ▌Sam Stovall (Chief Investment Strategist at CFRA Investment Research) "I’ve always adhered strictly to investment rules. While historical experience can point the way, it’s by no means absolute truth. One core rule I live by: If the market rose overall the previous year, let profitable positions ride the momentum; if the market fell, invest in the three worst-performing sectors of the year. This contrarian strategy can boost your returns by about 30 basis points above the market average, with a 70% chance of outperforming the market. Admittedly, it’s no surefire win, but it’s enough to show that upward market trends often have lingering momentum." ▌George Seay (Founder of Annandale Capital) "Don’t try to time the market; stay on the trend train and cherish the current dividend period." ▌Thomas Hayes (Chairman of Great Hill Capital) "I believe we should continue the effective investment strategies of 2025 into 2026. One trend likely to surprise the market: equal-weighted indices may outperform market-cap weighted ones. Investors clinging to traditional market-cap weighted indices like the S&P 500 will likely be disappointed with 2026 returns, while those who dare to actively select stocks and make strategic allocations will reap substantial gains in the market’s structural rally. The simplest way to ride this trend is to invest in equal-weighted indices. This also means the market will see a long-awaited broad-based rally, with sector rotation breadth and individual stock participation exceeding general market expectations for indices. Such a rally is a sign of a healthy market—a positive, not a negative."