The typical learning curve for an investor begins when he or she gets their feet wet by placing some money in the stock market on a stock tip. I, along with many former colleagues, were in this boat sometime ago, before we found out that some discretionary income plus peer pressure and a sense of competitiveness over who can achieve the highest rate of return in the shortest amount of time can be a recipe for quick financial wipeouts. But we were young and silly then, so we can all just chuck it up to inexperience and youthful bravado.

These days, we know better. And most of us champion the prudent approach of taking a long term view towards investing as opposed to randomly playing the market when the urge strikes, although I do still have many buddies who like to time the market and feel more comfortable being invested for short periods at a time.