one thousand shares, page-7

I agree that age is not as relevant as experience but having said that, life experience also contributes to a person's decisions.

The decisions I would have made at 24 would have been more impetuous, less considered and would have contained a greater reliance on luck.

The reason was that I had more time ahead of me to rectify mistakes, no one else to be responsible for and I also had a sense of knowing everything.

The years wear that all away. As you learn more you become more aware of how tiny a percentage of the sum total of knowledge you actually hold, you grow more humble. When you have kids you become warier of making costly mistakes because it is their future you hold in your hands even more than you hold your own. You also know that you have less time to fix your mistakes.

So whilst I think people should give more respect to you for your research and how much you are doing at your age I think you also need to be aware that life experience gives some of these old farts an understanding of the inter-connectedes of everything, a holistic decision process rather than a narrow one.

I have learned (at massive expense) that company directors sometimes lie so I don't take for granted what is alluded to or suggested by them, I look to independent analysis before raising my comfort level.