In our experience, successful investors generally share these traits:

All take a long-term view of their objectives and the markets. They form strong views and never blindly follow the herd.

They are all disciplined planners and hard workers. They don't get emotionally attached to companies or investment ideas. When it's time to act, they act decisively.

They neither shun nor embrace risk but spend a lot of time understanding and managing it.

In other words, they are voracious and creative users of information. They are in the business of turning information into insight, and investing money in those insights.

At Barron's, we too are in the investment information/insight business. Each week, we look back over the last week and forward to the weeks ahead, always trying to cut through the fog and the fads and place events in a perspective that will be useful to our readers.