I started blogging about dividend growth stocks in January 2008; right around the time the market started its slide. Fast forward 8 - 9 years and we have seen it all: from companies which were once deemed too big to fail and which were later acquired for pennies on the dollar to the blowups of several prominent pyramid schemes and hedge funds. Back in early 2008 most investors were not fully aware of the dangers that the real estate implosion would have on the overall economy. Some aggressive investors lost much more than S&P 500 in 2008 due to their heavy concentration in certain sectors built at the highs of the market, use of excessive leverage and chasing "broken companies" which offered suspiciously high yields, which proved unsustainable.
In order for investors to become better at allocating capital, it is important to learn from ones mistakes. I have identified several mistakes, which could have saved investors billions had they known about them in the first place: