By Michael O’Connor

In the stock market you hear endless tales of missed opportunities from investors who are still mourning their unrealised fortunes.

Guilt-ridden investors recount how much they would be worth if they had just made that one mythical investment.

My theory: The same people who regal these self-proclaimed horror stories to anyone who has the misfortune of being within earshot are most likely the same individuals who will continue to miss every future opportunity.

Hypothetically talking about what you would have done is fantasy and has zero correlation with actual investing. The most important element to investing is simply taking action. If you can’t clear this first hurdle, your story is redundant.

It’s much easier not to put your chips on the table and then hide behind what you said you would have done after the fact. Hindsight is 2020. It takes an entirely different level of resolve to realise the inherent risk of the market and then offer up your hard-earned money without the certainty of future reward. While the probability of a positive outcome is in your favour, the possibility of future loss is ever-present.

Now don’t get me wrong, we all have a few of these stories. As someone who watches stock movements for a living, I am hyper-aware of the amount of opportunities I have missed. The numbers mock me on a daily basis. Fortunately, one realisation you are destined to have after missing hundreds of opportunities is, opportunities are everywhere.

The stock market is a smorgasbord of opportunities, some more obvious than others, but opportunities are always there for those who are willing to look hard enough. With that said, opportunity, by nature, does not statistically fall into someone’s lap. Opportunity most often strikes those who are actively looking. In the investing world, fortune favours the prepared.

So instead of spending all your time daydreaming about what-if investments, put a plan in place so you can take advantage of the inevitable future opportunities as they arise.

Next week, I will provide some pointers on how to build your investment plan to ensure you are prepared to strike while the iron is hot.

For more investment tips visit www.theislandinvestor.com.