For the past little while there has been a determined group of folks who believe they are the next Woodward & Bernstein (read All the President’s Men to understand the reference) and if they can find something on Google or even Bing, it must be the gospel truth and thus they can base their entire lives on the basis of these findings.
Specifically the naive folks who believe that Vaccines are simply a scheme by large multinationals to make a fortune and poison our children, thus leading to the new outbreaks of Measles, and other interesting diseases (that were mostly gone from most of the world). I will simply comment that any individual wishes to argue with me that having my son Vaccinated caused him to be on the Autism spectrum, Bring it On, you are wrong.
However, this is not what I am writing about today (I could write far too much about the previous paragraph), I am writing about folks that feel that with a little bit of research they can become experts about investing. Yes, you should do plenty of research on whatever investing scheme you wish, however, this does not make you an expert. Just because I can watch a Youtube video on how to fix the rotors and brakes on my car, that does not make me a mechanic!
The people I know that have become good investors, took a while to figure out how to do it, and some folks (like me) ended up deciding that maybe we should use the simplest methods for investing and not try to “beat the market” (every time I have tried to beat the market, I ended up being the ball (not the Louisville slugger)).
Sometimes You Are the Louisville Slugger but Sometimes You are the Ball
An interesting experiment, do a Google search and figure out Warren Buffett’s investing philosophy is for Berkshire Hathaway ? Now you’ve looked it up (I would suggest if you can find anything on Blomberg you might have a good bit of detail) do you understand it? Think you can implement it? Should you?
Next question, if you can buy a “How to make a million on the market” system, what stops 100,000 other people from using that same system? Food for thought.
Great post Big C8j!
I’d recommend anyone starting out and interested in learning more about why they should use the simplest methods of investing read “The Millionaire Teacher” by Andrew Hallam. If they still believe they can beat the market after that they’re a lost cause.
I’m one of those, I’ll admit it. I set a target benchmark and work to beat it. I have been investing since mid 90’s, more seriously in early 2000’s and now am an at home dad who self directs all investments (short and long-term) and plays (aka interprets) the markets directional swings. My background is in numbers and analysis, so the infinite daily changes or micro/macro trends is what I love to try and understand. All that said, I’m still learning, and expect to be learning throughout my life. Do I do awesome every year, nope. I have and do I continue to take my licks, you bet… But over time I have become better at what I do and found my groove to do comfortably. So to your point, I definitively have not learned overnight how to do what I do, and yes my education and work experience certainly has helped me to understand the risks of where I seek to play. In the end my mid to upper right quadrant trending return line is what drives me. I’d say the biggest lesson I’ve learned from are the market crashes that Bet refers to above, I’ve learned to be ready for them as they come rather frequently, and attempt to capitalize on them. There are good companies out there, even during bad times… And when everyone else starts to worry, and sometimes panic, I get that ugly grin on my face, as it becomes playtime – Cheers.
So you are part of the 1%, or maybe you are the one that makes money off all the other folks who are “attempting to be the bat, but failing and becoming the ball” ?
I know I can’t spend enough time to figure this stuff out, so I’ll go with an easier solution (for me).
Based on my “Google” searching, we do not fit the 1%… Yes we… I mean I am more aggressive than most and like the thrill of change and the day to day up and downs, but by no means do we live lavishly or drive fancy cars… Do we live comfortably, you bet. What drives me is the fact I’m an unemployed at home dad, and I could chose to go back to work, but if I can make a few bucks investing, and stay at home and run the household, I think it is a better life for my family. In the end, you are right though, I think many can’t spend the time to figure it out. Fortunately we had been blessed with having had a good run with 2 decent jobs with decent incomes for a few years. me being off now, I have be granted the ability to have the time (at present, anyways) to focus on making a serious go of what I have had the chance to learn, and fortunately whether through what I have learned or positive markets, I have remained positive, in more ways than one ;). In the end opportunities can present themselves, or for those willing, opportunities can be created with the right education, and time. – Cheers, and I like you sense of humour, great blog.
Sure Google can make you an expert investor: AdSense keeps posting great ads on websites for making $100000/d through Binary Options. You can make $100s during your smoke break! $1000s during your lunch hour!! and lose it all by suppertime!!! It must be good: after all, it’s being used by Doctors on *their* smoke breaks…..
Personally, I invest to try to not lose as much during a downturn. I have no interest in trying to beat the market on its highs, but I would prefer to lessen the fall on the lows. But then I also put a lot of money in GICs so I already knew I wasn’t going to win any awards for highest ROI. (OTOH during 3 major market crashes we’ve slept well unlike some of our colleagues.)