So much to learn

[viciam]

Hello everyone.

I've been investing for the past 2 years and more importantly I've been trying to educate myself to become a better investor. I try and study different aspects which would come handy for an investor...economy, micro/macro economics, philosophy, psychology, valuations, reading financial statements, ratio calculations etc...

There's just soo much to learn and I just want to be the best investor. It's overwhelming. Sometimes I don't even go home at night, I'll just sit in my small office that I rent for my day job and just read, think about investing. It's gone as far as effecting my relationship with family (I'm not married, but my bro and mumelf ) I just want to excel as an investor and I think I'll have to sacrifice what ever the "normal" way of living is...going out, socialising etc...I don't care about any of that any more...

Some aspects are soo hard to get my head around like inflation. But I just don't want to know what inflation is. I want to know why, what, how, when, its history and anything else I can learn about it...To be able to say finally yes I fully understand inflation...This is just one example. There's so much more. Another is ratios. I mean yes I can grab the numbers from the annual report and use the basic formula found all over the internet to calculate the ratios...But I'm sure thats not what top investors like Buffett do. They must adjust those numbers found in those annual reports and then use the adjusted numbers in the calculations to arrive at more accurate and meaningful numbers. But I don't have a clue and it's so frustrating...

Sorry for the complaints I'm just frustrated I just wish I had the worlds knowledge of investing inside my head

 

[Trembling Hand]

Seems like the wrong approach. You will end up knowing a little about most things yet still not know how to make money. Pick a theme, approach or method and concentrate on being an expert in that. You will waste years sitting in your office reading gumph while the world walks by..... and your partner!

 

[VSntchr]

Seems like the wrong approach. You will end up knowing a little about most things yet still not know how to make money. Pick a theme, approach or method and concentrate on being an expert in that. You will waste years sitting in your office reading gumph while the world walks by..... and your partner!

I agree with that big time.
Learn one thing really well, so well that you can actually get a lot of enjoyment out of doing it. Once your at that stage, you will realise that your slowly picking up all the other stuff as you go - without as much stress.

 

[viciam]

I do enjoy it, I love it in fact. I just feel that for me to be a really competent investor, I would need to put in the hard work and gain knowledge? I have developed investment principles that I try and stick to but I just feel I can add more to my repertoire and refine my principles as I learn more.

I thought to be really good at something one would have to be totally committed to it?

 

[Trembling Hand]

I thought to be really good at something one would have to be totally committed to it?

That is a very vague wishy washy statement that have led many people to waste years of their life trying to perfect the un-perfectible.

 

[burglar]

I do enjoy it, I love it in fact. I just feel that for me to be a really competent investor, I would need to put in the hard work and gain knowledge? ...

So much to learn ... so little time!

You have touched on a Deep and Meaningful (D&M) subject.

 

[ROE]

Hello everyone.

I've been investing for the past 2 years and more importantly I've been trying to educate myself to become a better investor. I try and study different aspects which would come handy for an investor...economy, micro/macro economics, philosophy, psychology, valuations, reading financial statements, ratio calculations etc...

You don't end most of that stuff to be a good investor .. You just need
1. Common sense
2. Patient
3. Be your own man, make your own decision and have the courage to stick to your reasoning.
4. Buy good reliable cash cow business cheap by keeping an eye on them and their development, once you know enough about a business you will know when it is cheap to buy.

All that require very little work or time consuming...most stuff I buy I go with common sense and general business model, I don't need to get to nitty gritty stuff down to cents and correct valuation...you don't need these when you are in the right business...

 

[viciam]

Truth is I no longer see investment as a part time or a full time job/hobby. I've begun to see it as a way of life. I want it to be who I am, for it to define me.

Life before I came across investing was empty and meaningless. With investing I have found the meaning of discipline and a commitment. It's as if I've found a true life calling, a purpose for living. And it's not to do with the money, it's just everything else it teaches you in other aspects of life. To know myself, to understand my emotions and feelings, my own psychological build and other things about myself that I couldn't know from anywhere else. Apart from cricket, cricket taught me a lot about life too but I no longer play much...the surroundings, how the world really works and reality. I feel happy and at peace when I am researching companies or learning new areas of investing. When I stay away from it for a week or two, I feel depressed and empty and can't wait to be back at it againBut it does get overwhelimng, especially when I hear Aswat Damodaran or Charlie Munger. The knowledge and perceptions they have of business, life and common sense are just so admirable. I want to be like them. And the only way I can think of getting there is by becoming a recluse for a while and just doing what I love to do. Is this wrong and weird? I guess to most people it would seem so...but to be honest I don't think it bothers me. I'm generally very quite as a person and dont discuss my desire for investing with my family so they take my silence wrongly and think I am not giving them the attention they deserve, but I can't help it. Investing is my everything

 

[burglar]

When rock climbing, remember the rope!

 

[springhill]

I'm generally very quite as a person and dont discuss my desire for investing with my family so they take my silence wrongly and think I am not giving them the attention they deserve, but I can't help it.

It may be that you can't see the woods for the trees, viciam.

Try taking that exact sentence, instead of typing it out to thousands of anonymous people on ASF - try saying it to those in the same living space.

What do you have to lose by doing it? You may be surprised....

Investing is my everything

This statement concerns me a little.

You need a release from a bad day's investing.

You admit that you internalise issues, if investing does not turn out to be a profitable venture for you, it could turn into an explosive or confrontational situation.


Hopefully you will not consider this a lecture. Intensity is good, obsession is not.

I say this without knowing you or your partner/children, but I really think you need to sit down and talk this over with your family.

 

[viciam]

When rock climbing, remember the rope!

Not sure what you mean

 

[burglar]

Not sure what you mean

Remember what is important/relevant ... and what is not!

While you are learning about carburetors, someone will invent fuel injectors.
And you don't need to know about either, in order to drive an electric car.

 

[ROE]

obsession is addiction any addiction is bad even if
It is investing or making you money..

With obsession you lose focus what is important surrounding you
It may impact people around you not just you...

Investing is just a way for me to generate money so I can do other thing in life
Like not have to worry about money, go on family holiday where ever we want, more time off
With the kids, Buy the toys and gadgets I desire so I can take better photos, drive in a more comfortable car etc...

Investing without all that is useless to me, it be a bunch of number
In the banks...

 

[Wysiwyg]

One could subscribe to a company that does know.

 

[burglar]

Not sure what you mean

 

[Trembling Hand]

I've begun to see it as a way of life. I want it to be who I am, for it to define me.
Life before I came across investing was empty and meaningless.
a purpose for living.
When I stay away from it for a week or two, I feel depressed and empty
I want to be like them.
And the only way I can think of getting there is by becoming a recluse
Investing is my everything

WOW. Mate you have got it seriously ar$e about. And dangerously so. Mostly investing/trading is boring as bat sh!te and when its not boring its frustrating, unrewarding and at times depressing.

Its funny how the market has a way of picking ones weak spot as a promise to something better and big while setting you up for greater fails.

You really need to change your out look on what the market can and will provide.

 

[pavilion103]

Hahaha surely this guy is taking the piss?

 

[CanOz]

You really need to change your out look on what the market can and will provide.

I think everyone goes through a little period where you obsess about learning something new. As far as the market goes, it'll sort ya out....sooner or later.

 

[Julia]

Viciam, by permitting this obsession to completely dominate your life, you are shutting out other, more constructive opportunities and likely damaging what minimal relationships you do have, i.e those with your immediate family.

Yes, it's good to learn new stuff, but across a range of topics, not just one.
Out of all the millions who have felt a compulsion similar to that which is overtaking you, only a very few have been really successful. Far more have fallen in a heap.
By so limiting the application of your interest and intelligence you are setting yourself up for a huge fall.

Maybe get out and involved in your community, meet some real people.

 

[Faramir]

Hi viciam and everyone else.
My old previous default method of learning was going thru an obsession of something that I am interested in. Strangely, this time I am trying to quietly and slowly accumulate knowledge of investing. It will force me to learn patience. I already paid my price for having obsessions in the past. This time I don't have the means to drop 'everything' just because I want to be obsessed with one thing. I regretted not doing others activities and enjoying variety in other things because of my previous obsessions. Twenty years ago I could be singled minded. Now I have too many things pulling at me.

I laughed so much at this thread (sorry) because I thought I wrote it about my other 'activities' in the past. I thought this was me!

Viciam, I noticed you mentioned Buffett. Most long time investors mentioned Buffett. Meaning that you want to be a long term investor like me. My question is if anyone has the opposite problem to you and they could not manage to find time to study, research, etc... What should they learn first? Is there a priority list of what to learn first, then second, etc. Hopefully I didn't' open up a can of worms of opinions.

Plus one to Julia: do something for your health, for your family, for your social circle and for something cultural or musical