7 Biggest Wealth Killers in the Stock Market, According To Jaspreet Singh
Written by
Ashley Donohoe
Edited by
Levi Leidy
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A 2025 Empower survey found that 86% of Americans have invested money for specific goals, such as retirement, financial independence and generational wealth. Unfortunately, many people make mistakes that hurt their chances of building wealth, like misjudging returns or making fear-driven investing decisions.
In a recent YouTube video, personal finance expert and licensed attorney Jaspreet Singh discussed seven investing mistakes that can kill your wealth. Find out what he recommends doing instead.
Investing Based on Dividends
When comparing two stocks, you might think the one with the higher dividend is the better deal. But if you look further, the stock’s value may have continually decreased over time, making your new investment look much less promising for profits.
That’s why Singh said it’s a big mistake to choose stocks based on dividends alone. Instead, look at trends in the stock’s price, including reasons for the ups and downs, and learn more about the company, its executives and its valuation.
Following What’s Hot
It’s easy to get caught up reading about a hot new stock in the news or on social media and find yourself investing based on the belief you’ve found a great way to profit. But following the crowd can be a mistake.
“The reality is, by the time that news is already broke, the real money has already been made,” explained Singh. “And the smart investors and the savvy investors, what they’re doing is they want to invest before it hits the headlines.”
He encouraged a proactive approach for investors who want to see good returns. Look at research and data so you can make informed investment decisions early on.
Investing Before You’re Ready
According to a 2025 YouGov report, 64% of respondents said they’d likely invest money within a year. While investing is smart, some people start before they’re financially ready, like when they still have high-interest debt.
Singh used an example with a 25% credit card interest rate, which is more than double the 10% average annual stock return. In this situation, paying off the credit card would be the wiser first move since it provides a much higher (and guaranteed) return than investments typically do.
So, consider your debt’s current interest rates and potential investment returns to avoid this common wealth-killing mistake.
Investing More Than You’re Willing To Lose
If you put the money you need for short-term expenses into the stock market, you may panic and make poor decisions when the market goes down. This can cost you big bucks.
Singh said the better approach is to have a long-term mindset and consider your invested money to be “gone,” with the hope it will ultimately grow. So, rather than putting your bill money into stocks, use excess funds you could stand losing and avoid selling out of panic.
Buying High and Selling Low
Singh discussed how people often make the mistake of buying stocks when they’re popular and expensive and selling them at a low price when there’s a market downturn and panic. He used the financial crises of 2008, 2020 and 2022 as examples.
“The people that lost a lot of money were either the people that had too much debt, or they got scared, or they didn’t know what was going on,” explained Singh. “The people that made a lot of money were people that had cash reserves and were able to come in at the bottom.”
Remembering the long term and taking advantage of opportunities when the markets are down is a better wealth-building approach. Also, consider historical examples to stay calmer; for example, NYU Stern data showed that the S&P 500 went up 21.97% in 2023 following the 23.01% decline in 2022.
Having a Short-Term Mindset
This wealth-killing mistake relates to making investment decisions without thinking about the long-term impact. For example, rather than riding out the ups and downs of the market, you might suddenly sell a stock since its recent volatility scares you.
Singh reiterated that a long-term mindset is important for investors and suggested focusing on an investment’s actual value rather than the short-term fluctuations. Your stock’s volatility might not look so bad once you look at the performance over several years, and selling would only finalize any loss.
Ignoring Fees
Investing often involves some costs, such as an expense ratio for funds or management fees for financial advisory services. Ignoring these compounding costs can be a costly mistake.
Singh illustrated how different fees would impact your wealth if you were to invest $1,000 monthly for 40 years at a 10% return. Without any fees, you’d end up with around $5.8 million. That amount goes down to $5.5 million with a 0.2% fee and $3.8 million with a 1.5% fee.
Singh added, “Now, when you’re thinking about how you invest your money, you can also think about fees because a small adjustment in fees can result in hundreds of thousands of dollars or millions of dollars in more gains for you.”
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