Cash Flow versus Net Worth

Let's have a bit of fun as the year comes to a close. 

Cash flow versus net worth, which is better?

Well...


Gold digger

If I am a gold digger, I'll definitely go for net worth - especially if he got a 40 million dollar landed property. 

Look, it's much easier and natural to whisper to him during "pillow talk" to have my name added to the title deed. 

Now try doing that with a partner who is asset light (rents a penthouse condo) but have a 5 million dollars annual salary... 

"Dear, can you include my name in your bank account?"

Now that's a little too obvious, isn't it?   


Wages, salary, and remuneration

Would you prefer to have a 10 baggers in 10 years with no yields; or no capital gains but you get 15% yield annually for the next 10 years?


Let's put this question in another light.

Those of you who are working in the corporate world, you know you have it good when you can negotiate your remuneration in annual terms. Now who wants to be paid in weekly or daily terms?

I am paid in hourly rates for my weekend job :(

(Consultants and lawyers who charge by the hour don't you pretend to cry crocodile tears... You know you will jump at every opportunity to sign a retainer agreement whenever possible!)

Those who have applied for Alibaba IPO may know of Joseph Tsai from Taiwan. He gave up his US million dollars annual salary to join Alibaba in its infancy 15 years ago in exchange for the equivalent of SGD100 per month salary - and of course a share of Alibaba.

Now, if you just have graduated and have 2 job offers - one from a brand name MNC that pays $10,000 per month; the other from a unknown startup that pays $1000 per month but with stock options - which would you choose?

One has good, better, best cash flow from the get go. 

The other sucks in cash flow but offers the opportunity if you are lucky, you could be an instant millionaire if the start up survives and thrives with an IPO 10-15 years later.


So how?

马云谈创业 沒钱沒技术沒计划是成功的三大原因

Sorry! I just can't help myself.

No. I won't be doing an English translation.

Why?

No point.

If you are already too deep into western way of thinking - think like ang moh, talk like ang moh - you won't accept it anyway. Too much vested interests. Letting go is hard.


If you still have some "cheenaness" in you, how? 

What do you think of what Jack Ma has said? 

It's how I React that matters

"No one reacts to things as they are but to one's own mental images; Keep me aware that it is not what happens to me in life that matters, but how i react to what happens."
 
Amen.

By an anonymous Christian.


This post is a dedication to temperament who has tirelessly spread the above saying in quite a few blogs and forum already.


Buddhist friends can easily identify with the above saying - it's about Awareness isn't it?

If we are not in the here and now, how do we see things as they are? And not misled into thinking it's the wind moving or the flag flapping in the wind; it's our hearts moving...


This is the time of year where many will start planning new goals and new year resolutions for 2015. That's the easy part. 

Why easy? 

Everyone and anyone and do goal settings and planning. And if everyone and anyone can do it, it's a low level skill. No? Think about it for a moment. 

Now review 2014 - are there any instances you wished you had responded or reacted better to what had happened to you? You didn't plan that, did you?

See the difference?


LOL! Don't think too hard!





P.S.  I'll be working this Christmas and New Year to contribute my part to servicing the general public during the holidays - I guess that's why they call it the service industry - someone has to do it.

I sincerely hope we can spread the holiday cheers to all co-workers and professionals working during the holidays.

A Merry Christmas to our Bus Captains, a Happy Holidays greeting to the salesperson or waiter serving you, a hug to our angelic nurses and doctors on duty, and if you are shy, a simple Smile will do just fine. We appreciate it.

And do be a little patient, a little bit more understanding if we fail to live up to your expectations - more customers and reduced manpower are not exactly helping.

Happy Holidays everyone! 

Trading and Zen

Don't worry. I am not a bleeding heart so no proselytising from me!


For newer readers, I am agnostic.

However, I do use Zen as my spiritual and philosophical anchor. It's the closest metaphysics I can find that's has the least conflict with Science.

I'm into verification that sort of thing...


This post is not about sharing how to apply Zen into your trading. For that, you can easily search under Google and many others (bloggers/traders) who have already done so.

I shall instead share how trading has helped me in my understanding of Zen, and in turn, myself.


Do we want too see the truth?

For some of us trading for some years, we can see this phenomenon quite often: 

Entering a good trade yet lost money; and winning money with a bad trade.

Yet there are traders who will never admit to it or are puzzled how can it be?

Seeing and admitting the truth takes courage.   

With trading, the feedback is a lot quicker since we practice mark-to-market every closing. 

In real life, we do have an "inkling" how the world works, where we fit into this pecking order, and how we are all different from one another. Yet we tell little lies and make up fantasies not only to ourselves, we tell them to our children and share it with other people!?

We do this as it feels comfortable when more people believe the same shit we do. 

That's why we have people eager to share with others how easy it is to make money without realising they were already a "victim" of a financial scam.... Or to recruit you into MLM, or cell group, or political party. 

By applying the trading process of constant reviews, re-evaluations, and reflections - it helps me see the world as it is; not what I wished it to be.  


How do we know we know?

In school, we do it through tests and exams. 

That was easy!


How do we know we can do it?

Professionals do it via articleships or housemanships and acceptance by professional bodies. You don't call yourself a practicing lawyer or registered accountant just by having a relevant degree do we?

There are quite a few engineers in our financial blogosphere. Many have engineering degrees, but how many are certified professional engineers? 


Outward manifestation of Zen

Mindfulness, living in the here and now, no mind - all wonderful concepts to show off and pretend I know.

But when I started trading... Shit! 

Knowing and doing are not the same!!!

That's where I go, "Jared, you are such a fraud!"

I don't make money with knowledge (unless I teach); I make money with execution.

In trading, it's all about execution - entries and exits. 


If I can't tell whether I've made a good trade or bad trade (what has profit or loss got to do with it?) what's the point with Zen again?

A Good Year, A Great Trading Year

Last year, I mentioned to coconut in the comments that I doubled my futures trading account for 2013.

This year 2014, I tripled it.


Yup, for those good in math, you will immediately realise I've got a 6 bagger in 2 years.

A small speculative trading account has turned into a respectable size. (I only wished my investment account had the same performance!)


Did I planned for it? Was it the result of my goal setting?

If you are asking these questions, you may want to pause and reflect got logic or not?


I can think of 2 possible explanations:

1.  Luck.

There are losing streaks, and there are winning streaks. I could just happen to be in a winning streak now. Better enjoy it while it last!


2.  Sharpening the saw

My secondary 2 Geography teacher Mdm Foo motivated us "slower" students by saying:

"Others study 10 minutes they understand, you need 7 hours to understand - so be it! Once you understand, there's no difference."

I never doubled or tripled my trading account when I had a day job. I guess I am not as brilliant as those who just spend 10 minutes a day can make money trading part-time already...

Maybe spending more time in improving my trading craftsmanshiip - the hands on kind as in improving my entries and exits - finally paid off? 


You "hao lian" show-off lah!

Maybe. Mouth in your face, you can say whatever you want.

For the past 3 years, when strangers ask what I do, I would say I am taking a sabbatical from full time work. 

From today onwards, I'll say I am a Trader.


I trade to achieve; I invest in order not to lose.



 

To see a friend get Rich

“There is nothing so disturbing to one’s well-being and judgment as to see a friend get rich”

Economic historian Charles P. Kindleberger (1910-2003) wrote in Manias, Panics and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises (1978 and subsequent editions):




Don't pretend!

Very true right?



That's why you see people who many years have swore property investing is not their cup of tea "capitulates" just in time to get themselves an investment property right at the top of the property cycle...

It's hard to stick with your convictions when all you see are colleagues and relatives who have made hundreds of thousands in just a few years.


Same for those who wished they had left their money in CPF or fixed deposit accounts and not invested in REITs or other income stocks. 

The 8% yield on income stocks may look a lot sexier than 2.5%, but if you are nursing a 20% plus capital loss... All of sudden, purchasing power erosion by inflation is a lot less scarier than "your own worst enemy".



External financial missteps are painful, but they don't destroy the soul.  

The more insidious ones are those of envy and jealousy.

We don't need to look far.

We just have to look at the person in the mirror.


 

城市少女 - 年輕不要留白 (1987)

I went for my National Service from Dec 1985 to Dec 1987.

It was one of the more memorable periods of my life - looking back.
 

These 2 years of NS were my "Mandarin music" phase. 

Prior to this period, I was more into Western songs and bands like ABBA, Bee Gees, Boney M, etc.

My switch to Mandarin pop was thanks to this top 10 Chinese MTV show every Saturday afternoons that  got me hooked.

I remember I had a lighter sized pocket radio that I would listen to in bed every night, and especially during my duty storeman shifts alone at the guardhouse.


After reading some of the young financial bloggers out there, a question popped into my mind - why didn't I take up a part-time course to better prepare myself for future employment or work part-time to earn money to build up my opportunity fund?

Did I let my youth go to waste?

 
On second thought... Nah!

There's a season and time for everything. 

Even if you had explained to me on the importance of planning for my future, I don't think I would have listened or understood.

I had my music, and that's what I was interested then.


Things didn't turned out too badly I think - 傻人有傻福.


 

It's dark in here

A woman takes a lover during the day, while her husband is at work.

One day, her 9-year-old son hides in the closet during one of her romps. Her husband comes home unexpectedly, so she hides the lover in the closet.

The little boy says, “it’s dark in here.”

The man whispers, “yes, it is.”

“I have a baseball,” the boy responds.
 
“That’s nice.”

“Want to buy it?”

“No, thanks.”

“My dad’s outside.”

“Okay, how much?”

“$250.”

 
In the next few weeks, it happens again that the boy and the mom’s lover end up in the closet together.

“It’s dark in here,” the boy begins.
 
“Yes, it is.”
 
“I have a baseball glove.”
 
The man thinks about the last time they were in the closet together, and decided to cut to the chase — “How much?”
 
“$750.”
 
“Fine.”

 
A few days later, the father says to the boy, “grab your ball and glove. Let’s go outside and play some catch!”
 
“I can’t. I sold them.”
 
“How much did you sell them for?”
 
“$1,000,” the boy replies, smilingly widely.
 
His father responds, “it’s terrible to overcharge your friends like that. That’s way more than those two things cost. I’m going to take you to church to confess.”

 
The two go to church, and the boy’s father escorts him to the confession booth. Once inside, the boy states, “it’s dark in here.”
 
The priest replies, “don’t start that crap again!”

LEGO letter to parents in the 1970s

Verbs, Adjectives, and Nouns

The joy of blogging for me is the scintillating engagement with readers.

It's a two way street.


It's the adjective silly! Never the noun.


When I wrote the above post, I was feeling  quite smug until a girl with the cutest dimples put me in my place at another post months later:

"Without the verb, how do you get the adjective?"

Her comment showed she had a deeper understanding than me.

She is right. Without the action to verify, how do we make an assessment to derive the adjective?


When someone says "Stop speculation", it's a loaded statement based on bias. Which rendered it quite meaningless for its not advice but accusation...

As if investing is always the right thing to do? For all people? In all circumstances? Just ask those people we know who lost money "investing".


Again it's the adjective that matters - whether you are good at or lousy at what you do.

And that adjective comes from your past actions and track record.


If you are wondering should you continue what you are currently doing, who else better to remove the bell round your neck than the same person who tied it there in the first place?


 

The Wolf and the Goat

A wolf, who was out searching for a meal, saw a goat feeding on grass on top of a high cliff. Wishing to get the goat to climb down from the rock and into his grasp, he called out to her.
 
"Excuse me, dear Goat," he said in a friendly voice, "It is very dangerous for you to be at such a height. Do come down before you injure yourself. Besides, the grass is much greener and thicker down here. Take my advice, and please come down from that high cliff."
 
But the goat knew too well of the wolf's intent.
 
"You don't care if I injure myself or not. You don't care if I eat good grass or bad. What you care about is eating me."

 

Another tale from Aesop's fables.

Many of us have known the bitter price of "advice" from acquaintances, ex-classmates, distant relatives, ex-NS mates, colleagues, etc.

Then it dawned on me!

Can I recognise a wolf when I see one?

 

To make a woman happy

Live to Achieve; Live to Escape

Between Ying and Yang, between Good and Bad, and between Right and Wrong, there's a thin line that divides the 2 halves.

The trouble is finding it to know where you are standing....



Live to Escape

The usual tell is after having an experience, we don't want to experience it again.

A childhood of lack.

A broken family. 

A failed relationship.

Career going no where.

Disgruntled with how much you are earning.

And so on.


The journey to escape involves acquiring more.

More is needed to fill the hole in your heart.



Live to Achieve

The usual tell is after having an experience, we want to experience more of it again!

Being there when your child spoke his first word, took his first step.

Family dinners.

Holding her hand for the first time.

Enjoying the greater responsibility at work.

Having the means to help a stranger in need.

You fill in the rest.


The journey to achieve surprisingly may involve "letting go"...

Putting your own career on hold to be a stay-at-home dad to support your wife's dream.

Getting a big pay-cut to do something you love so you can whistle to work everyday.

Forgoing that promotion so you can have more time for family dinners.

Taking on pro bono work or volunteering your time for a cause you believe in.

Less is needed when you are feeling good.

Finance Trained Equals Financially Literate?

Let's have a fun exercise!

Especially if you have studied Finance at tertiary level - Poly or University; or working in Finance in the corporate world.

If you are not Financially trained, you may want to play this exercise with your Financially trained friends, colleagues, or neighbours.

Warning:  Must choose your playmate carefully OK? Wait they punch you I not responsible hor!


Exercise 1
 
In you day job, you make analysis like whether it's better to buy or lease an equipment.

When you bought your car, did you do the same analysis?

You know, whether it's better to rent/lease your car over buying?


Exercise 2

As a newly minted accountant, you scored brownie points by proposing to your Board of Directors and CEO that it's good, better, best to sell the building your company owns to a REIT, and lease it back for 20 years. This way, you can monetise the capital gains in this asset sale (pump up the EPS - shareholders happy; CEO happy) and re-deploy the cash into projects with higher Internal Rate of Return.

(Your CFO is sweating bullets soon you may usurp his job!)

Now back home, your dad asks you whether it makes sense to sell the remainder of his HDB lease to HDB so he can monetise the asset value to pay for his retirement, what would you the accountant do?






Proof of the pudding is in the eating

The answers are not important. Everyone is entitled to their opinions.

Notice I italic the words do? 

I didn't use the word say.

What I am after is whether these financially trained individuals practice what they have been trained or taught?

Did they do an analysis first (like in their day job), or did they straight away acted/say out their bias?


Q1. Why do you think we act one way in corporate life and do the complete opposite in our private lives?


Q2. If the same people who have spent 3-4 years getting their Finance diplomas or degrees behave like that, do you still think Financial Literacy can be taught?

(Please don't be so serious; its just a rhetorical question. And it's Friday!)

Life is about Balance

Thinking about it is not enough

If you have 1 hour to spare, you may want to take a look at this excellent TV interview with Steve Jobs:


Steve Jobs. The Lost Interview

1) Life is a series of chance encounters. 

Where would Steve Jobs be if he had not met Steve Wozniak? 

Can you name a person who made a difference in your life? If it was planned, then you are very Machiavelli... Remember to remind me to keep a distance from you.


2) Opportunity by stumbling along

How did Steve Jobs discover the potential of assembled Apple 1?

There's no Vision, Mission Statement, Goals, Business Plans right?

It was pretty much like: Crash got sound.

When you were travelling overseas, have you ever thought this new product or shop you discovered will do well in Singapore?

It's just a thought, and you soon forget it when you get back. Months later, you discover this same product or shop being introduced in Singapore by another Singaporean!!! What were your thoughts there and then? 

Thinking about it is not enough right? 


3) Business is not rocket science

OK, those of you with vested interests (spent years studying at business schools) may disagree.

If entrepreneurs have to know "business" before they start their enterprises, who will start anything? 

Perhaps its precisely entrepreneurs have no concept of what cannot be done?

You can never have too many theories and parrots telling you how it could not be done without a proper business plan (and these are the same people who worked for others). Wink. 


4)  Marketing/Sales People versus Product People 

You figure this one out yourself. I'm doing navel gazing now. 

And I'm not complaining!


5) Process versus Content

Am I more process or content?

Back to navel gazing. See? I have to struggle with the real me and what I want others to see in me too!


6) Your work is shit!

I think by now you understand why I like to banter with and poke at readers. 

When we grind rocks together, we get beautiful polished stones!

Be aware if all you get are compliments and "I so agree with you" comments, you are either being surrounded by sycophants, or you are one big bully and everyone is terrified to disagree with you! 


7) Many other gems

I've been talking too much already! 

What interesting titbits or learning lessons have your drawn from this interview?

It's better to teach than to trade

When I came back to Singapore 3 years ago, I attended this big forex conference where many of the foreign and local bucket shops spot forex brokers were gathered in a love fest to attract new cannon fodder to the community. 

I quite like the format. 

There are mini-tents with seating where you can just walk-in and listen to the snake oil sales pitches by the different brokers. And there's a main auditorium where invited speakers would spin their "A better tomorrow" dream to willing converts.


One local trainer caught my eye. 

He spoke well. Dressed in a "different" attire to make himself stand out. He's only 28. A natural salesman.

The "free" training was not much different from what you could have gotten from reading Trading for Dummies on your own. But you should see the faces on some of the audiences - they looked enthralled as if this young man was talking about the "Holy Truth"!?  

Towards the end during the Q&A session, this young trainer got too excited and let the cat out of the bag (he is a newbie in this training industry after all) - not that most of the audiences noticed:

1.  He told the floor that his forex training academy is one year old.

2.  Before setting up this academy, he started trading and took forex courses for 2 years. 

3.  He is very pleased as he made his 1st million through this training academy.


Can you see what I see? Hear what I hear?

I walked away smiling. 

Was happy for this young trainer. You took forex courses he took forex courses. He now earned his first million and you still struggling to be consistently profitable in forex trading? 

This young man got the "answer" real quick!

Funny thing though. I can't find his training courses in the local papers anymore. Maybe he has moved on to greener pastures? Or gotten so good it's pure word of mouth now. Who knows?


I would like to introduce you to a new trading blogger in our community with an interesting insight to this matter too:

Talk is cheap


I'll leave it to you to verify whether this new blogger is indeed an insider or making everything up. (You never know....)

If you can't verify, it may reveal something about yourself. Just like if you can't tell a fake Prada bag from the real thing, you are not much of a fashion connoisseur....

For those of you below R21, please don't visit his blog. (This is pure marketing - tell someone not to do it, lagi the more they want to!)


P.S.  I've never understood this R21 rating. At 18 for men, we are trusted with a rifle to blow the brains out of our enemies, but NOOOOOOO.... We can't be trusted to handle a bit of violence and nudity until we are 21!?

Got logic meh?

Can Financial Literacy Be Taught? Yes and No

Thanks for the comments and your feedback to my previous post:  

Can Financial Literacy Be Taught?


You know what? This exercise is already an answer by itself. Sort of.

How many of you who commented had attended a "proper" Financial Literacy class?

I'll bet none.

But that didn't stop you from knowing what you know now. Wink.


Preaching to the choir boys or pagans?

There are some frustrated "investors" who wished schools had prepared them better, thinking their lives may be better if they had gone through a "proper" Financial Literacy class...

Anyone done Civic Classes in school? How about Home Economics? Technical workshops?

Are we practicing what we have been "taught"? You don't return trays at fast food outlets and hawker centres, do you?

Me? I worked for IKEA and got do technical workshops during my junior secondary school days; yet when it comes to assembly of furniture, I'll gladly pay someone to do it for me!

The only technical thing I can do is to change a light bulb. And if the sink is choked, I'll scream: "Ma! The sink is overflowing. Call the plumber!"


Saving more

Everything we need to know about basic Financial Literacy is already taught during the first 10 years of our school life.

You got learn about simple and compound interests during math class right? Can count right?

The virtue of savings and waste not. You never read fairy tales or attend Sunday spiritual classes?

At best, a basic Financial Literacy class is simply an aggregation and amalgamation of things we already know into one nice cookie-cutter "recommended" textbook. 

You know, for those too lazy to do mental exercises on their own. Have to be told what to do, where to go. Some need to be herded; yet at the same time complain big daddy interfering too much into their lives!?

So yes,  the low level skills of Financial Literacy can be "taught". Especially if its under the category of "Saving more".

But it's effectiveness is probably as good as Morality classes...


Earning more

When most people speak about Financial Literacy, what they are really after is: "How do I make more money?" 

And that is up to the individual whether these higher level skills can be taught - depending whether you are faith based or evidence based in your reasoning skills.

This is right up the same alley as:

Are entrepreneurs born or made?

Are super salespersons the result of nature or nurture?

Can everyone make good investors?

I mean there's really no harm to attend a fiery seminar and get all fired up with "If you think you can, you can!" kind of preaching. Pocket a little lighter that's all.

But after the adrenalin rush is over and come Friday afternoon, I'll bet you would have forgotten your new goals and resolutions made during the weekends...

Do read the comments in my previous post by readers. It seems most are of the opinion you have to be your own cheerleader.

Interesting.

Can Financial Literacy Be Taught?

My spontaneous view is that teaching "Financial Literacy" makes as much sense as teaching "Entrepreneurship".

Of course there are certain aspects that can be taught - those housekeeping stuffs. But that's already "taught" in our schools or in our homes as part of growing up.

The secret desire that most people seek when they use the term "Financial Literacy" as a cover, that I don't think it can be taught - its something we have to discover or learn on our own.


Before I go on and put my foot in my mouth, I would like to hear your opinions and views on this topic. 

What do you think?


Convince me whether I am completely bonkers, or you have similar ideas like me. 

Evening with Pamela Chng from Bettr Barista

It's with 50 other persons at Young NTUC, Crossroads last night lah!

And I never say no to free dinner if you are wondering why.

2 takeaways from last night's talk I would like to share with you:


Learning again

From working in the corporate world (SPH) to co-founding her own boutique web consultancy, and to starting Bettr Barista, it has been a journey of small transformational changes and personal growth each step of the way.

There was no one single momentous mind flip moment or epiphany.

For those of you who have left school more than 5 years ago, have you learned anything new since leaving school?

Not learning a new word or discovering a new cafe has popped up in your neighbourhood kind. But something to add to your personal growth? 

How about those who have been trading/investing for more than 5 years now?

Yes. You know what I am after,

She looks better in real life

Mastery of a craft and self esteem

To transform underprivileged women and youth-a-risk into skilled baristas, the 12 weeks course would break the trainees physically and emotionally down before rebuilding their confidence and self-esteem back through mastery of this barista skill. (I personally would prefer the word craft)

Men who went through Basic Military Training would understand. They break us down as individuals and rebuild us up as a unit. Going in we swore and cursed. But at passing out parade, there's a bit of pride that we made it through, didn't we?

What I'm impressed with is Pamela shared 80% of the trainees pass this course. 

If something anyone and everyone can do, what's the point again?

It shows the training at Bettr Barista's Coffee Academy is vigorous.

For those who are not motivated with your day job, you may blame the pay, your boss, your back stabbing colleagues, big daddy, and god knows what!?

Do take a step back and reflect. 

Maybe all the unhappiness is due to lack of self-esteem or confidence?

Can it be due to the lack of mastery in your craft?

I noticed some readers are trapped by words. Can't seem to read beyond words. Mention the word craft they will have mental picture of workshops, yellow hard hats, etc. 

What lawyers and doctors do is also a "craft".
 
If we see what we do do as a craft, only then can we appreciate "Kaizen" - continuous improvement.

And the inner peace and happiness that comes from mastery of what we do.

Now you know why I say some invest/trade to escape; some invest/trade to achieve.

Goal setting on things you can't control?

The old days

I remember getting poked when I submitted my first business goals and plans to my Steering Group many years back. 

During my tour of duty in Shanghai, when I became part of the Steering Group during my final years there, I had fun returning the favour back to the team leaders so eager to please and impress us - them with their bombastic goals together with shock and awe business plans...

It's so interesting to see the progress and adjustments (or none) these team leaders made during our quarterly reviews. 

Some "get it" very quickly. Some take more time. Some will never "get it". 

And that's how some names get into the "High Potentials" file, some into the "Potentials" files, and if your name is not in any file, it means you are "condemned"....


Losing weight

If you want to lose weight, there's basically 3 ways you can do it:

Eat right - diet to reduce calorie intake way.

Exercise - burn more calories way.

Eat right and exercise - why choose when you can do both?

A goal to lose 5 kg in 12 months with a corresponding plan using any one of the 3 processes is believable. 

Why?

It's because it's controllable by us. To diet or to exercise is what we can control.

The discipline to follow through with our plans is not influenced by the weather, geopolitics, or anything external with the exception of illness or accident.


Questionable goal settings

Now pause and think about the X amount in Y years financial goal settings you may have done up. Especially when they involve investing or trading in the markets.

Do you see the fly in the ointment here?

If you get it, don't have to read further. You very the good! One tiny pin poke and you see blood immediately!


Holding your hand

For those that need more time, let me ask you some verification questions like what we used to do in the Steering Group:

Can you control the markets?

Is your position so large that when you sell or buy, you can influence the market prices?

If both your answers are "No" - you can neither control nor influence the markets - pray tell how you will achieve your goals then?

Depending on pure dumb luck? 

Or is your goal setting purely an exercise in randomness?


People smarter than you

If you want to be more successful in your investing and trading journey, isn't it better to focus on what we can control?

Like in our weight loss example?

Improve your buying process - a merchandise well bought is a merchandise well sold. 

Improve your selling process - no selling means you are a "stamp collector".

Improve both your buying and selling processes - duh?


LP the butterfly guy is the only one I've read that talk about the buying and selling processes in his blog posts. I guess his engineering background helps!

If in your day job you are constantly talking about systems and processes, and you never apply it to your own investing/trading journey.... 

See that wall over there?

Yes, you can go bang your head against it.

LOL!