SMART INVESTOR: 'Fancy Equipment Doesn't Guarantee Success'

Investopedia Vice President Shauna Carther recently made some fascinating links between the strategy that goes into professional golfing and the everyday ups and downs of investing.

Here's our favorite:

Fancy Equipment Doesn't Guarantee Success

Just because you decide to splurge on a custom set of clubs does not mean you'll be winning tournaments and rubbing shoulders with the pros at the Masters.

Nor does it increase your likelihood of landing a hole-in-one.

In the same vein, purchasing expensive trading software does not mean you will find winning investments every time. There really is no foolproof way to pick investments.

Fundamental and technical analysis might glean the probability of where an investment is headed (just as that custom driver might give you a longer drive), but in essence, price movements are largely unpredictable – especially for equities.