inancial advisors are always trying to quantify what makes some people successful and others not.

The following is a list of some of the common mistakes investors see. I hope that it will trigger some questions as you investigate and plan your future financial requirements.

1. Trying to get rich quick. It just doesnt work.Accumulating wealth takes a lot of time and patience. In their effort to make a fortune overnight, people often lose sight of the fact that there is a risk to every investment. The stock market, for example, goes down more quickly than it goes up ... but people always seem to forget this during a bull market. Slow and steady wins the race. Thoughtful and conservative investments made on a regular basis over the years can produce a fortune.

2. Having unrealistically high expectations. People often think a single type of investment, like deposit accounts or real estate, will take care of all their investment needs. What they are forgetting is that even the most conservative investments can sometimes lose money. People who realize that there must be a balance between various assets which are diversified into different types of investments, are more financially successful and sleep peacefully at night!

3. Failing to establish goals. As baseball's Yogi Berra said, "If you dont know where youre going, youre probably going somewhere else." People spend more time planning their vacations than they do in establishing their financial goals, saving for retirement or accumulating money for their childrens university education. One reason that people dont plan ahead is that long term goals can be terribly hard to grasp. Concentrate on doubling your investment portfolio every six to eight years. That is attainable.

4. Failing to diversify. Most people concentrate their assets in one area (i.e. their own business, into the company they work for, real estate, etc). To preserve wealth and protect capital from a downturn, they should attempt to liquidate some of their assets and invest them in other areas. By hedging their bets, they can ride out the inevitable ups and downs in various sectors of the economy.

5. Buying or holding investments for emotional reasons. Too many people are often enamoured by the sure thing investments they hear about at cocktail parties or read about in some foreign newspaper. TRAP - once such investments become common knowledge, they've become overvalued and it is time to steer clear of them.

6. Procrastinating. Procrastination ranks high on the list of reasons why people do not achieve the financial independence they want. What escapes these people is that their procrastination should be viewed as a decision by default. It's a decision not to decide. Whether through perceived lack of information on specific goals or afraid of making a wrong decision, procrastination costs money. Every year of delay dramatically reduces the size of the ultimate accumulation goal which makes it increasingly difficult to achieve.

If any of these mistakes characterizes your investment situation, remember the past does not have to equal the future, the key is to take action today, to get your investment strategy back on track.

Darcy Carr, an Investment Consultant, is General Manager of Investments International, 3 Queens Park West, Port of Spain, Trinidad. (809) 623- 5633 Fax: (809) 623- 7766.