Now do a personality test: are you comfortable with risk? Stocks go up and down. If you buy a stock and the next day bad news is out and it's down 10%, how will you react? That's like investing $1000 and the next day having it worth $900. Is your first reaction to sell and run away? That's only human, if it is. But an investor will look at why the stock went down and determine if this is a buying opportunity or whether the company is truly damaged. If it's the former, then an investor will look to buy more stock. If it's the latter, the investor will sell. But for good reasons, not from an emotional reaction.