How to be a successful contrarian investor

Sometimes the way to get ahead is to do what other people don't do. Though that is easier said than done, it's a key to successful investing, as Paul Merriman describes in this article.

I spend a good amount of my time teaching investors not to behave like other investors, not to follow the crowd. You might call this being a contrarian.

There are two primary reasons for this. First, so many investors make so many fundamental mistakes that contrarian behavior can’t be entirely bad. Second and perhaps more important, the nature of investing itself calls for doing what others don’t do.

http://www.fundadvice.com/articles/investing-basics/how-to-be-a-successful-contrarian-investor.html