5 Essential Rules For Managing Your Own Investment Portfolio

Roberts' first rule: write an Investment Policy Statement defining fundamentals, technicals, exit rules, and stop losses before placing any trade.

Every position needs two exits set up front — where to cut losses and where to take profit — instead of leaving outcomes to hope.

Rebalancing on a schedule forces you to trim winners and reassess laggards, the opposite of most investors' instinct to sell losers and chase winners.

Track your behavioral return gap annually versus a benchmark to expose whether emotion, timing, or overtrading is dragging your performance.