General discussion, page-5586

To add to the wonderful investment learnings shared here below are my 2 cents.

There are a lot of things when it comes to investing. One cannot master all but knowing that we don’t know everything but we should slowly build the knowledge and skills. I will share a few of my thoughts but let it not overwhelm you. Hope it doesn’t put you to sleep

In investing the biggest enemy is “I”. Keep ego out of investing. Thinking “I know” something leads to your downfall.

Know that there are no absolutes.

The psychological aspects of investing (the gut and the rational brain) is more important than the ability to pick winners.

Investing is like Tennis- unforced errors (your errors) ruin you more than the economy/ market/ the company you have invested in.

Learning is infinite but the fundamentals are simple but not easy. You need to be a Jack of various aspects and master some at least to a reasonable degree.

Striking a winning stock (which goes up a few % up quickly or multi-bagger) can make you think you are smart. Don’t confuse luck for skill.

Listen to everyone, read everything you find but take your own time, think and make your own decisions.

No one knows what you want out of investing, when and how better than you. So investing is a process of self-discovery and sharpening the axe repeatedly (like Stephen Covey says in the 7 habits of highly successful people).

You may find you prefer Fundamental Analysis (FA), Technical Analysis (TA), or a combination or something else. Keep learning and re-shaping your approach to suit you.

Do you like to trade frequently or invest and hold long term?

Are you able think and act calmly or not any action at all when the market behaves irrationally, or impulsive, influenced by the market or posters on this forum?

Do you want to pick your own stocks or invest in ETFs? Even selecting the ETFs may require skill.

Picking stocks is not easy. The road is riddled with mistakes. Remember the saying. The only mistake is the one we don’t learn from.

The business side of investing:

Do you understand economic moats, basics of financial statements, management incentives and ability judge good vs bad management?

Do you have the ability to understand the industry, political direction, competition, how revenues, profits and margins can be impacted?

Find your Guru’s and learn from them.

Some resources:

Books (too many but a few here):

One up on Wall Street

Value Migration

Phil Town’s Rule#1 investing

The Star principle

100 Baggers- Christopher Mayer

Competitive strategy- Michael Porter

The Investment checklist (I am yet to read this)

YouTube:

You can see my playlist here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDSEf4xv14rox0oNKDvPfDvlPAjn0D4fs

Follow channels such as:

The Swedish Investor - this guy extracts 5 key ideas from hundreds of investment books and shares them in simple language and animation

Phil Town’s Rule#1 investing

Moneyweek- explains basics of investing terminology and how to read financial statements, and calculate some numbers

All the very best.