Investment decision journal template

Use this template whenever you make or consider a decision, so the reasoning stays visible after the outcome is known.

• Before buying, adding, holding, trimming, exiting, or choosing not to act.
• When price movement is making the decision feel urgent.
• When you want a short timestamped record of reasoning.

Copy this template

1. Decision

• Decision type: buy, hold, add, trim, exit, watch, or pass.
• Ticker and date...
• Position size or intended action...

2. Reasoning

• The main reason for this decision is...
• The support I am relying on is...
• The risk I may be underweighting is...

3. Review trigger

• This decision should be reviewed if...
• Next review date...
• What would make me reverse or update this action...

Filled example

Fictional sample only: Pass decision on Harbor Robotics. This is not investment advice.

Decision

Pass for now; keep on watchlist until customer concentration improves.

Reasoning

Growth is attractive, but two customers still represent too much revenue risk for the current valuation.

Review trigger

Revisit after the next annual filing if top-two customer share falls below 30%.

Risk to note

The business could improve before the metric is obvious, so track new contract announcements.

How to keep the template useful.

• Read the decision before judging the outcome.
• Record whether the original reason still holds.
• Keep pass and watch decisions, because they reveal process quality too.