The first enemy is fear.

Everyone needs a certain amount of fear in order to function effectively in the world. If you were totally without fear then you may be prone to taking crazy risks. However once fear gets beyond the healthy amount it can be devastating for the investor.

Fear of making a mistake has kept many a would be investor from entering into a sound opportunity. You can't win the game if you never enter the game.

Fear of taking a loss has caused many investors to stay in an investment long after wisdom would have told them to cut their losses and move on. This often leads to huge losses.

The best cure for this type of exaggerated fear is to embrace risk management. Study all you can about risk management and make risk assessment and risk management planning two habits so well practiced that they become part of your nature.

The second enemy is ignorance.

It always amazes me how many people are so keen to collect investment profit that they don't take the time to learn the skills of the game. If you don't know what you are doing then the market will soon chew you up and spit you out broke.

As an investor you need to develop a passion for learning everything you can about your field of investment and you need to develop the skills of tracking down and networking with others who know what you don't know.

The first skill to learn is how to know when you know and when you don't. If you think being aware of what you know and what you don't know is easy and obvious then look at almost any teenager. They know virtually nothing about life, yet they are so totally unaware of this simple fact, that they come to the conclusion that they know everything. Don't be a teenager when it comes to investing.

The third enemy is greed.

If you addressed a seminar room full of people and told them that you could put them into an investment that would give them a guaranteed return of 10% on their money each and every month and all they had to do was invest $100,000 then you would find a large number of those people running to the bank to mortgage their house so they could get you the $100,000.

Why are so many people so gullible? Why are conmen stealing people's money every day? Because of greed!

Greed drives people to look at the possible profit without assessing the probable risks.

Most investors have a degree of greed and it is a constant battle to keep this greed in check.

Professional stock market traders control greed by developing a set of trading rules and then also developing the self discipline to stick to them.

If you are a serious investor then it would be wise to step outside yourself and take a solid, realistic assessment of where you currently stand in relation to fear, ignorance and greed.