Once you have the tools, you need to take time to put them to use. That means sitting down and reading the annual report cover to cover, checking out industry competitors, and going through past financial statements. This can be tough to do, especially if you’re pressed for time, but taking the time to thoroughly investigate a company will help you

The key to investing is not assessing how much an industry is going to affect society, or how much it will grow, but rather determining the competitive advantage of any given company and, above all, the durability of that advantage.

Create a Checklist. When you face a tough decision, you want to be able to think clearly about what you might inadvertently overlook. That’s where a decision checklist can be beneficial.

Whatever investment you do, you should know in what kind of underlying business you invest and understand that some companies won’t yield the kind of investments you hope for overnight. You can start something new, like a Capitec, develop it while you can take pride in a high price/earnings ratio (PE) of 25, or how much you’re willing to pay for th

A LEVERAGE CHECKLIST

(All investors should study Morgan Housel’s Motley Fool article titled “The Agony of High Returns.”)