The early bird gets the worm... The sooner you put your money to work the greater the effects of compounding interest. The earlier you start the sooner and greater will be your results. You still exercise careful judgment but you act decisively. For example if you invest $2,000 a year in your 401(k) plan starting at 25, you could have $559,562 by age 65, assuming an 8 percent annual return, compounded annually, tax-deferred.

Compound Interest uses the same principle as when you build a snowman; you start with a little snow and keep adding to the total as you roll it into size ball you want.

The tortoise will beat the hare
Long-term, regular investments will even out the ups and downs of investment returns and risks.

Dollar Cost Averaging, as this investment principle is known, employs regularly time contributions over an extended period.

Don’t lament your losses
The simple fact of life is not all investments give great and equal returns. It is important that you focus on the successes and resolve to exercise the same sound judgment when assessing and selecting your investments.

The Get-Over-It-And-Move-On investment principle allows you to release a bad investment experience so it can be truly offset by your many good investment experiences.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket
This is so easily said. When you get super returns from a particular investment there is an almost irresistible temptation to pour the bulk of your assets into that investment. Well, resist that temptation, spread your risk. The hallways of Wall Street are littered with stories of investors who put all of their eggs in that one basket, only to have them all broken.

All-Your-Eggs-In-One-Basket is a most important no-no investment principle.

Chalk it up to experience
Take all of your investment experiences, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and place them in a big salad bowl called experience. Study them, learn from them and you will become a happier seasoned investor.