Golden Rules of Investing

1. know thyself - your needs, emotions, triggers
2. have a longer time horizon (over 5 years). reduces risk of loss.
3. understand what you buy. ensure transparency.
4. cherish liquidity
5. ignore short-term volatility
6. grow by staying invested - harness the power of compounding
7. diversify adequately - keeping the entire portfolio in mind
8. monitor and realign the investments periodically
9. keep costs low - initial as well as on-going. but do pay for quality - it is cheaper in the long run.
10. invest regularly - a fixed amount every month is ideal
11. lessons from past crises: the markets recover from the worst of them and continue to rise
12. choose your advisers well. investing is a team sport