Brian Mathews 2016年5月22日
对新手来说投资可能是一个非常痛苦的过程。当今世界有许多能影响投资者决定的因素，它们的影响好坏参半。你可以通过简单的自我教学和建立一个财务计划来大大减小首次投资的压力。
新手投资者最大的障碍之一是对未知的恐惧。这种恐惧通常会使新手投资者放弃他们原有的投资动机并做出情绪化的决定。建立一个合适的财务计划能帮助你建立一个投资目标并保证你在紧张时不偏离轨道。
1.建立预算
投资之前首先要做的事是建立一个预算。首先要详细记录每个月的所有支出。在这之后，用支出与所有的收入来源对比。找出未来可能的大项支出，例如年度税款或者会员费。下一步是建立一个三到六个月的应急支出储备。你可以提取这个储备的盈余并标记出用于哪种类型的投资。有这些余额的缓冲有助于减少财务压力和保持长期投资。
除了房贷和低息车贷之外，投资之前你还应该尽量减少其他未偿还贷款。信用卡和个人无抵押贷款的利息非常高，偿还这些贷款应该优先于投资。
2.了解投资风险
潜在投资者应该充分了解各种类型的投资风险和他们相对的时间周期。在选择投资时个人风险承受能力是非常重要的。例如，投机性投资对不能承受损失的投资者来说是个非常糟糕的选择。此外，了解风险和潜在回报之前的关系也是很重要的。高收益的投资通常伴随着更大的风险。例如，银行存款机会不会对本金产生风险，但是回报也相对较低。一支上涨的股票可能实现两位数的回报率，但是损失也可能达到两位数。
3.确定合适的投资账户
确定你进行投资的最终目标，无论它是积攒退休储备还是进行孩子的教育储备。这对时间周期和流动性需求都有很大的影响。一个年轻人有20到30年的时间进行退休储备。在这种情况下个人退休金账户或者401k账户将是一个好的选择。选择这种账户是因为投资周期很长而且没有短期资金需求。
如果你需要仅仅在几年之后就提取这比资金，那么考虑下普通投资账户，因为个人退休金账户不能在59岁之前取钱。尽管这种普通投资账户不带有有利税率，它却能允许你随时提取投资资金。在决定使用何种投资账户时确定时间周期和流动性需求是非常重要的。
4.合理的投资选择和多样化
建立合适的投资账户类型之后要做的就是选择正确的投资了。在确定哪种投资会出现合理回报时需要使用分析师的调查报告进行深入研究。投资应该结合风险偏好和资金流动性需求。股票和债券的流动性很大，资金可以在三天之后得到结算。养老金和未上市交易的投资流动性很小，而且带有巨大的提前退出惩罚。
当你在选择投资时，一定要通过多资产和多板块使投资合理的多样化，这样通常能减小风险并增加整体回报。共同基金和交易所买卖基金是多样化投资的很好方式，但是他们带有额外的成本。尽管一些股票可能有良好的记录，但是在你的投资组合里只有一支或者几支股票将会伴随更大的下行风险。整体考虑你的投资并确保他们能符合你的风险承受能力并帮你实现投资目标。
5.建立一个财务计划并进行监控
最后的步骤是使用之前四步的信息建立一个财务计划。对许多人来说投资极其容易受到情绪影响，尤其是在管理自己的资金的时候。生活随着时间变化，观察财务计划可以帮助你做出合理的改变或者保持原样。当股票市场波动加大时，投资者可以参考财务计划来记住长期投资目标并坚持到底。做出感情化的决定和试图判断市场时机可能对你投资的长期回报产生负面影响，因此参考财务计划避免这些错误的发生是非常重要的。
5 Ways New Investors Can Reduce Stress
By Brian Mathews | May 22, 2016 — 8:00 AM EDT
Investing can be a scary endeavor for first-timers. In today’s world, there are many resources that can influence an investor’s decision-making, either for better or worse. You can drastically reduce the stress that comes with first-time investing by simply educating yourself and developing a financial plan.
One of the biggest obstacles for beginning investors is a fear of the unknown. This fear often causes first-time investors to abandon their original motives for investing and make decisions based on emotion. Developing a proper financial plan can help you develop an investment goal while keeping you on track when the times are tough.
1. Develop a Budget
The first thing to do before investing is to create a budget. Begin by carefully tracking all expenses on a monthly basis. Once this is established, compare expenses against all income sources. Look for large future expenditures, like an annual tax bill or membership dues. After a budget is created, the next step is to establish an emergency cash reserve of three to six months of expenses. Only from this reserve can you take any surplus money and earmark that toward any type of investment. Having the extra cash cushion for expenses will help reduce financial stress and keep the money invested for the long term.
Outside of a home mortgage or low-interest auto loan, your focus should be on reducing debt balances prior to investing. Credit cards or unsecured personal loans often carry high APR interest payments, and paying these off should be a priority over investing.
2. Understand Investment Risk
Potential investors should be fully aware of the different types of investment risk and how they relate to a specific time horizon. Personal risk tolerance is extremely important when selecting investments, as well. For example, speculative investments are a poor choice for investors who are uncomfortable with losses. Additionally, understanding the correlation between risk and potential return is important. Higher-returning investments generally carry more downside risk. For example, a bank certificate of deposit offers virtually no risk to principle, but has a low interest payment. A growth stock may have the potential for double-digit returns, but losses can hit double digits, as well.
3. Determine the Proper Investment Account
Determine the ultimate goal behind investing, whether it is to help fund retirement or to save for a child’s education. This has a great effect on both time horizon and liquidity needs. A younger adult saving for retirement has a 20- to 30-year time horizon. An appropriate investment account in this case may be an IRA or 401k that offers tax-deferred growth. These types of accounts work because the investment is meant to be long term, and there is no immediate need for liquidity.
If you are looking to withdraw money after only a few years, consider a taxable account where the IRS does not penalize withdrawals made prior to age 59 and one-half. Although there is no tax advantage in this type of account, it allows you to convert the investment into cash. Determining the proper time horizon and need for liquidity is important when deciding what type of investment account to use.
4. Proper Investment Selection and Diversification
Once the proper account type is set up, choosing the correct investments is the next step. Conduct thorough research through companies like Morningstar or by using analyst research reports when determining which investments are a potential fit. The investments should align with both your investment risk preferences and liquidity needs. Stocks and bonds are generally liquid, with funds being available after a three-day settlement. Annuities and non-publicly traded investments are not liquid and often have long lock-up periods or large penalties to exit early.
When selecting investments, be sure to properly diversify among many asset classes and sectors, as this often reduces risk while increasing overall return. Mutual funds or ETFs are a great way to get instant diversification, but remember that they carry an extra yearly cost. Even though some individual stocks may have excellent track records, there is significantly more downside risk to only owning one or a few in your portfolio. Consider all of your investments in unison, and be sure that they both match your risk tolerance and will help achieve your investment goals.
5. Create and Monitor a Financial Plan
The final step is to create a financial plan with the information from the prior four steps. Investing is extremely emotional for most people, especially if they are managing their own money. Life changes with time, and looking at a financial plan can help you make appropriate changes or stay the course. When the stock market goes through volatility, an investor can refer back to a financial plan to remember the long-term goal and stay the course. Making emotional decisions or attempting to time the market can have a negative effect on the long-term return of your investment portfolio, so it is important to refer to a financial plan to avoid these potential mistakes.
本文翻译由兄弟财经提供
文章来源：http://www.investopedia.com/articles/insights/052216/5-ways-new-investors-can-reduce-stress.asp