10,000 hours versus 10,000 trades

I've just completed 9 months at my part-time retail sales job during the weekends (Sat & Sun)!

9 months may seem like a long time. But if we convert it to the hours my full-time colleagues are working 6 days a week, my 9 months is "only" 3 months from full-time perspective.

Would there be a change in expectations of my competence if you are a customer or my boss now?

When I conduct recruitment interviews, I always try to find out if the candidate with 10 years working experience in a company is really 1st year experience times 10 (holding the same job for 10 years!!!???) or has the candidate been rotated across a few departments with varied job responsibilities or roles during that 10 years in the same company.

Does it make a difference? You tell me.



The secret to making money in the markets is to buy low and sell high (when shorting it's the reverse) - that everyone knows. It doesn't matter whether you call it investing or trading.

(Of course there are other variations like buy high sell higher. That's for advanced demi-gods)

I sincerely hope you didn't have to pay for a course or seminar to find this out. If yes, you may want to take a step back and ask yourself should feeble-brained people be allowed in the markets... (Yes! The more the merrier if you are the carnivore taking the opposite side of their positions)
 
Those who subscribed to Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours rule in his book the Outliers may nod your heads in agreement that your current corporate or academic success is due to practice, practice, practice.  

If you have 10 years or more experience in your investing or trading journey, now ask yourself: Did you put in the same amount of hours like in your day job or studies?

Let's do the math:

10,000 hours divide by 10 years = 1,000 hours per year

1,000 hours divide by 52 weeks = 19.2 hours per week

19.2 hours divide by 7 days = 2.7 hours per day

Did you put in average 19 hours per week or 3 hours per day to your "passion" in investing or trading? I thought so too.

Hence most prefer to "outsource" their decision making (paid subscription services) or rely on tips from brokers or anonymous strangers in forums. 

(Alert readers will know I am being nice by using 10 years. If your current investing/trading journey is less than 5 years... Unless of course if you are genius or President Scholar material. Your 1 year is equivalent to other people's 10 years)



Would you agree that buy low sell high is all about entries and exits?

If a long term investor makes a buy decision once a year and a sell decision once in a decade, how would this same investor stand against a trader who has made 10,000 trades (round trip entry and exit) ?

Just make a wild guess who is more likely to buy low, sell high?


Not convinced? 

Girls, if you put on make-up only on special occasions, can you out-doll those gals who put on make-up everyday?

Men, if you are a occasional drinker, can you out-drink those drunkards who drink every freaking night?