What’s the Biggest Mistake First-Time Investors Make?

The most common mistake I see new investors make is assuming that the future will look like the past. To be more specific, new investors draw all sorts of faulty conclusions by assuming that the results of one particular period will look like the results of some other particular period. New investors choose mutual funds based on past performance figures, despite the evidence showing that past performance is not a good method for predicting future top performers.