There are two types of men in this world. Men that are good at using their backyard grill, and men that aren’t.  Many times men start off as a meat masochist, but then improve overtime to become a driveway gourmand.   What separates the masochist from the gourmand?  Usually the difference is patience. 

A rookie griller thinks that they are more skilled than they actually are.  They open the lid constantly and prolong the cooking time. They also are constantly turning the food too early; thus making the food stick to the grill. When they get finished the food is usually charred on the outside and raw on the inside.

The expert griller knows the right temperature and cooking time.  They leave the lid closed unless they are turning the meat.  They turn the meat once and usually end up with beautiful grill marks and perfectly cooked meat.

The difference between a bad investor and a good investor is….patience.  If you know  how well done you like your meat (your risk tolerance) and you know how long to cook your food (time horizon) then you will end up with good results.  What does the impatient investor do?  Well for starters they check the markets daily performance as if it will truly affect their account that they don’t intend using for 20 years.  They get home from work and before they hug their kids they turn to CNBC to see what the Dow did.  Oh my gosh, the market was down big today, I better move around my investments.  Good thing I got out of that stock it is at a 52 week low.  Whew, I’m glad I just bought high and sold lo……..crap, I did it again.  Impatience.

Disclaimer * This is not specific investment advice, although if it was, it would be good.