But the investor who has walked away can only watch on the sidelines as the mutual fund he or she couldn't wait to unload quickly moves up 5 or even 10 percent. Most of us have second and third opportunities, of course. But they are worthless unless we seize them when they are offered. Once the market has chased an investor out of the playing arena, it's unlikely that investor will rush in again. No longer so willing to trust their own judgment, they may flee from one advisor to another, hoping the change will bring relief that is permanent, not just fleeting.
Disappointed investors can escape from investments that went sour.
They can escape from a stockbroker, a fund manager or an advisor whose choices didn't live up to expectations. But investors cannot escape from themselves. And they can't escape from their own emotions. Defeat is what happens when you don't get up after you get knocked down. Somehow, perhaps because of the 1990s bull market in U.S. stocks, too many people have come to believe that successful investing is easy and painless.