The Simple Investor (and 5 big threats)
Feb 14, 2026Read time - 4 minutes / Disclosure
Keeping investing simple can:
- Save you money.
- Make you money.
- Help you avoid mistakes.
Unfortunately, there's many investing threats.
Losing Money
Many people who put off investing are afraid of:
- Making a big mistake.
- Doing the wrong thing.
- Picking a bad investment.
So they put off investing.
They hope someday they'll feel ready.
That they'll know just enough to finally get started.
And they'll avoid making mistakes.
But as they wait..
The cost of food doubles.
The cost of insurance doubles.
The cost of buying a home doubles.
5 to 10 years pass and they're still planning to start investing "someday."
Do what most people don't.
— JOHN HENRY (@thejohnhenry_) February 9, 2026
- Study money.
- Save every month.
- Invest every month.
- Keep at it long term.
- Escape 9-5 life early.
- Create your ideal life.
Patience pays in a world
full of distractions.
I was scared of making mistakes too when I started investing.
The thought of making a bad decision and losing $100 or $500 made my stomach turn.
Money I'd worked hard for.
Money I'd never see again.
But I also knew not investing would be a mistake too.
Because I didn't want to spend 4 decades of my life working a 9-5 job.
Feeling stuck living the same day over and over again.
Daydreaming of the day I'd finally quit and start living the life I truly wanted.
And have total control of my time.
"If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die."
— Warren Buffett
Working in banking was my most exciting job.
To the average person, it might sound boring.
But to me..
Looking through self-made millionaires tax returns, bank statements and credit reports felt like a cheat code.
A way to learn exactly what successful people did to make their money.
Things I could do too.
And 2 things came up over and over again:
- Investing in stocks.
- Investing in real estate.
But I was scared to pick individual stocks near the beginning of my investing journey.
What if I picked the wrong company?
And lost a lot of money?
So I invested in an S&P500 stock fund instead.
Which includes 500 of the biggest companies in America.
For example:
The Vanguard S&P500 Stock Fund (VOO) is one of the largest.
Most retirement accounts at work offer an S&P500 Stock Fund too as an option.
And I used my real estate playbook which I learned from watching how smart investors got up to $30,000 when buying a home.
Being a simple investor and doing just these two things..
A boring S&P500 Stock Fund and using the real estate playbook to own properties without using a lot of my own money took my investments from $0 to $1M in just over a decade.
But there were many mistakes and threats along the way.
The Hidden Threats
Here's 5 investor threats I wish I learned sooner.
Hope they're helpful.
Let's dive in.
1. The Impatience
Everyone wants to build wealth fast.
To tell their boss "sayonara".
To quit their 9-5 job this year.
I was an impatient investor too.
But most of the millionaires I looked up to in my banking job didn't go from $0 to $1M+ of investments in:
- 2 years.
- 5 years.
- 7 years.
It took most of them at least 10 years.
10 years can feel like forever.
But I figured it was better than having to sit under florescent lights at work for 40 years.
“There are no get-rich-quick schemes. That's just someone else getting rich off you.” - @naval pic.twitter.com/WGXyYi9fnR
— Brian Feroldi (@BrianFeroldi) December 31, 2025
"Only buy something that you'd be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years." — Warren Buffett
2. The Distractions
There's always a hot new investment out there.
Investments that can easily become a distraction.
For example:
- A hot new company.
- A hot new crypto coin.
- A high flying stock.
It can be easy to fall in love with a new idea.
An idea that might double, triple or quadruple an investment account.
Ideas I've thought a lot about too.
But according to JPM Asset Management.
New ideas can also be big mistakes.
The average investor trying to pick their own investments over the long term.
Doesn't do better than the average investor simply buying an S&P500 Stock Fund.
Source: JPM Asset Management
"One should only invest in what they know. Do not listen to hot stock tips." — Jim Rogers
3. The Judgement
Everyone has an opinion about your money.
Friends and family have said to me in the past:
"I saw Bitcoin is crashing, you don't still own that do you?"
"I read real estate is in trouble, maybe you should sell your rental properties?"
"I heard the stock market is crashing, maybe you should get out of stocks?"
And the truth is..
Most of these things are said out of love and concern from well intentioned people.
But I've realized most people sharing this kind of advice aren't living the kind of life I want to live.
"Far more money has been lost by investors trying to anticipate corrections, than lost in the corrections themselves." — Peter Lynch
4. The Emotions
Listening to the news can be dangerous.
"Stocks are crashing."
"The economy is crashing."
"A major recession is on the horizon."
Hearing things like this can scare the hell out of any investor.
And cause them to do things they hadn't planned on doing with their investments.
Things they may later regret.
Things I've regretted doing.
And people saying stuff like this can be very convincing.
And sound very smart.
But the truth is..
No one knows exactly what the economy is going to do in the next:
- 1 month.
- 6 months.
- 12 months.
It's just a guessing game.
"The big money is not in the buying and the selling...it's in the waiting." — Charlie Munger
5. The Discipline
Life gets wild sometimes.
The unexpected can sting like:
- A big hospital bill.
- An unexpected pay cut.
- A layoff you didn't see coming.
I'll never forget losing a job I'd had for 7 years before working in finance and racking up a ton of credit card debt.
Getting out from under that was painful.
But as they say..
"If you're going through hell, keep going."
— Winston Churchill
A few more quotes worth pondering..
Y’all forgot the turtle won the race. Stay Consistent. Stay Focused.
— 🥷🏿 (@_bobbyw) October 29, 2024
"People think making money is about luck. It's not. It's about becoming the kind of person that makes money." — Naval Ravikant
The bottom line
Figuring out money and investing is a journey of self improvement.
A journey of mastering:
- Impatience.
- Distractions.
- Judgement.
- Emotions.
- Discipline.
A journey I thought would look like this:
But looked more like this:
A slow and steady grind the first few years, followed by..
"My god I've messed this up."
Followed by..
"Ok, almost back on track."
Followed by..
"Thank god I didn't give up."
Your journey will surely look different.
If you're in the slow and steady grind phase.
Or maybe the "My god I've messed this up.." phase.
I've been there too my friend.
Keep goin'..
That's all for today.
See you next Saturday.
