Try Skydiving, Not Investing
For excitement, try skydiving… not investing.
Investing is not meant to be exciting, nor should it be. Investing is a method of providing financial security and cash flow timed to be available when needed.
Investing is not a game, sport or fodder for locker room bragging. Investing should be impassive, impersonal, devoid of emotion, boring and goal driven. The problem with many people is that they think they could make a killing, like to jump on the latest stock of the month and believe they could outperform the market. The “market” meaning everyone else that thinks the same thing.
Also not considered in stock-picking or trend-jumping are costs, benefits of diversification, asset allocation, location formulas and the use of “news” that everyone else has instantaneous access to.
It is a very large longshot to become another Warren Buffett, but even he made some major misjudgments and took some losses. He was able to withstand them because of his highly diversified portfolio, discipline and steadfast investment philosophy, backed by the unbelievable amount of research he did. Also, because of his cash hoard and board control, he has been able to take advantage of situations where quick decisions were necessary, often demanding and receiving returns not available to the average investor.
The purpose of investing, for the nonprofessional investor, is to secure your future; not to make a killing. For many, investing needs to be goal-driven and boring – not exciting!
How Can We Help?
