Six common mistakes you need to avoid while investing

Lack Of Patience: A slow and steady approach is needed for a portfolio's growth that would yield greater returns in the long run. Expecting a portfolio to do something other than what it is designed to do is a recipe for a disaster. Keep your expectations in line with the timeline for portfolio growth and return.

Past is past: People often check past returns to gauge particular stocks. While assessing the past performance of a financial instrument helps, any decision regarding its purchase must be rooted in its present context and its future possibilities. Returns from any financial instrument depend on a plethora of factors like inflation and current economic conditions

Don't put all eggs in one basket: Allocate your investments in different channels or to different categories. This would help to mitigate the risks associated with the investments that may be volatile or subject to extreme market movements, but are still worthy to invest in. Generally, investors refuse to look beyond debt funds and fixed money market instruments to earn fixed returns as this protects them from possible market losses. But at the same time it does not give access to good returns needed to beat rising inflation.

Periodic Review: A common mistake that everyone makes is not reviewing their investment portfolio regularly. While you may have invested in a myriad of financial instruments, your inability to check their performances regularly would keep you bereft of the necessary information needed to make your investment goal and decide the right balance of equity and debt funds in the long run

Be clear in what you want: Before making a choice to invest all your hard-earned money, ask yourself these questions, Why choose this instrument in particular? Is there a particular goal I am trying to achieve? How much return would i earn after a specific period? What about other options? These questions are important before making an investment decision

Research hard: Before investing in any financial instrument, gather all the information you can as the buzz in the market can prove to be a costly mistake in the long run.