Tammy Marshall, known in financial circles as the “Fibonacci Princess,” recently shared insights on how she evaluates investment strategies during an appearance on the “Making Money” program. Marshall’s approach focuses on distinguishing between winning and losing investment tactics through systematic analysis.
Marshall has built a reputation in the investment community by applying mathematical principles to market analysis, particularly using Fibonacci sequences to identify potential market movements and trading opportunities. Her nickname stems from her consistent application of these mathematical patterns to financial markets.
Strategy Evaluation Framework
During her segment, Marshall explained that successful investing requires a clear methodology for assessing which strategies are working and which are failing. Her evaluation process involves tracking performance metrics against predetermined benchmarks and making adjustments based on data rather than emotion.
“I don’t make decisions based on gut feelings,” Marshall stated during the program. “Every investment strategy needs concrete performance indicators that tell you whether to continue or pivot.”
Marshall emphasized that even experienced investors often struggle with abandoning losing strategies due to psychological biases like the sunk cost fallacy. She recommends establishing clear exit criteria before entering any position.
Mathematical Approach to Markets
The core of Marshall’s methodology involves applying mathematical sequences and ratios to identify potential market turning points. The Fibonacci sequence, where each number is the sum of the two preceding ones (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13…), creates ratios that Marshall believes often appear in market movements.
Marshall explained that these mathematical patterns can help investors identify:
- Potential support and resistance levels
- Price targets for both upward and downward movements
- Timing for market entries and exits
- Risk management parameters
“Markets reflect human behavior, which often follows predictable patterns,” Marshall noted. “These mathematical relationships appear repeatedly across different asset classes and time frames.”
Risk Management Fundamentals
A significant portion of Marshall’s strategy assessment involves risk management. She stressed that protecting capital is equally important as seeking returns, if not more so.
“The difference between amateur and professional investors isn’t just about picking winners,” Marshall explained. “It’s about how you handle the inevitable losers.”
Her risk management approach includes position sizing based on potential loss rather than potential gain, diversification across uncorrelated assets, and strict adherence to stop-loss orders. Marshall views these practices as essential components of any winning investment strategy.
“You can be right only 40% of the time and still be highly profitable if your winners are significantly larger than your losers,” Marshall said.
Marshall also discussed the importance of regular strategy reviews, suggesting that investors should evaluate their approaches quarterly at minimum. This process should include both quantitative measures like returns relative to benchmarks and qualitative assessments of whether market conditions still support the strategy’s underlying thesis.
For investors looking to improve their own assessment methods, Marshall recommended starting with clear documentation of investment decisions, including the rationale behind each move and expected outcomes. This practice creates an objective record that can be reviewed later to identify patterns in both successful and unsuccessful trades.
As markets continue to evolve with changing economic conditions, Marshall’s systematic approach to strategy assessment offers investors a framework for maintaining discipline and objectivity. Her methods demonstrate that successful investing requires not just identifying opportunities but also rigorously evaluating which approaches are truly effective.
