I’ve had some pretty negative experiences of investing. Some years ago, I put some money into bitcoin, but got nervous when the price dropped and sold at a loss. I’ve bought an investment property that had unexpectedly high maintenance costs. After that experience, I signed up with a buyer’s agent hoping they’d be able to find a better investment property. However, a friend who is an experienced property investor said that the property recommended by the agent wasn’t a good investment, so now I’m doubtful.

I want to invest, I’m trying to invest. But I seem to keep losing money. How do I rebuild confidence after losing money? And how do I stop losing money?

Investing can seem as easy as picking an asset and diving in. But there’s a lot more to learn.Credit: Simon Letch

There is a misguided notion that investing is largely about buying investments. It’s easy to think: “I am buying investments, therefore I am investing” or “I want to invest, therefore I should buy investments”. There is an over-emphasis on “buying” as the key part of the process.

But isn’t it true? Investing is about buying investments, right? Yes, that is the key action required to invest. However, it’s just one step in a bigger process.

To use an analogy – it........

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