I got my first investment wakeup call on Black Monday,  October 19, 1987.

The stock market crashed 22%.

I was a typical company employee back then, managing Corporate IT for the second largest retail department store in the United States, and heavily invested in my company’s stock — and not much else.

I watched helplessly as my stock portfolio dwindled before my eyes

I watched helplessly as my stock portfolio, consisting of just one stock, dwindled in front of my eyes.  Does this story have a familiar sound to you?  I was, perhaps, an investor just like you.

Fortunately, the market recovered, with some mutual funds actually getting back to even by the end of the year.  And I breathed a sigh of relief.

You might think I made some big changes after that scare.  But I didn’t.  I changed nothing about my investing portfolio—that is to say, my one and only stock.

Looking back, the list of investing mistakes I was making was rather lengthy.  Like having all my eggs in one basket, no plan to minimize losses, poor research, on and on, little things like that.

And although the solutions are obvious today, I wouldn’t have known much what to do back then, even if I’d tried.