“In everything the middle course is best: All things in excess bring trouble to men” Titus Maccius Plautus, the Roman playwright, who lived in the third century B.C. said. Investment, as in most aspects of life, requires a balance. It will be prudent for us to pursue balanced and pragmatic investment strategies that can last for a lifetime.

Invest in what you can understand. Ignorance is never a bliss when betting on a particular sector or company. “If you don’t understand the business you invest in, you’re going to be highly unlikely to discern the noise from truly meaningful information that should factor into your decision-making,” an Investment Manager said.

Start investing as early as possible. The longer money remains invested, the more potential it has to compound and grow. Investors who start saving and investing early in life, practice patience and stick to long-term investment strategy, often get the best returns and create wealth.

Separate emotions from objectives. If you treat an investment possibility with the same partisanship as a sports team fan (or foe), you’re setting yourself up for trouble. Separate your emotional involvement with a security, in order to make rational and composed investment decisions.

Set up and stick with sound cash-flow management. This is an essential element of investment planning. Simply adhering to a strict cash-flow plan will put an investor 90 percent of the way toward achieving his or her investment goals. Automatically invest money during your working years, each month based on a cash-flow plan.

Turn discretionary spending into investing. Those who delay saving and investing are often those who confuse wants with needs. Reduce your spending on discretionary wants like a foreign tour or luxury gear and divert such discretionary spending to investments.

Make stocks a cornerstone of your strategy. Stock Market experts call stock investments as “one of the greatest wealth-creation tools known to mankind. Investors need them in their attempt to grow their portfolio and outpace inflation.” Even with many roller-coaster rides, Sensex gave a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) or annualized return of 16.1% in the period from 1979 to 2019.

Diversify for a smoother ride. “Diversifying across asset classes as well as within asset classes is a smart way to go. For example, equities come in different flavors when it comes to characteristics such as market capitalization, U.S. versus foreign or growth versus value. Though it doesn’t ensure a profit or protect against a loss in a declining market, being diversified provides the potential for a smoother ride,” says Jimmy Lee, founder and CEO of the Wealth Consulting Group in Las Vegas.

Calibrate. Don’t vacillate. In a large number of instances, portfolios need tweaking with time rather than a complete overhaul, which nervous investors too often resort to during down market cycles. “Investing is a long-term activity, not a sporting event with minute-by-minute adjustments,” says Dave Rowan, founder and president of Rowan Financial LLC in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. “Treat it as such, and make small, infrequent adjustments to your investing strategy rather than trying to time the market.”