I studied mutual funds, small cap and large cap stocks, bank stock, emerging investments, you name it. I subscribed to top financial newsletters and looked to Dow Jones advisor info. Checking over the counter (OTC), common and preferred corporate stock, market share and stock rankings became a habit. 

But it was penny stocks that made my heart beat faster so I zoned in on how to work them to my best advantage to make money. I began trading small and gradually increased as my market knowledge expanded. I eventually considered myself a pretty savvy Internet stock 'analyst', quite comfortable rendering my own stock opinion!

The Problem...

Even though this was fantastic and I was having a great time, the problem was my whole defense shield was altered. I was getting careless after making numerous perfectly timed predictions. And it was after convincing myself that my streak was unbreakable......

The Inevitable Started To Happen.

I began trusting my 'instincts' rather than running proper research on stocks. I threw money into almost any stock that had the appearance of a winner. Ridiculous philosophy, but I kept 'hitting' so I maintained the pattern. Until...

I had made some substantial profits over the previous months and I decided to pump up my earnings for the year with a particular stock I liked. But I got piggish. 

I Got Slaughtered. It was as if the values of that stock took my personal purchase as their cue to take a dive. In a matter of hours my pick had tanked. I was staring at a whole bunch of zeros without any numbers in front of them. Not only were the profits gone, but the sizeable principal amount I had added to the mix at the last minute was missing, too.