Investing for Yourself

Read. Think. Don't do what the Herd is doing.

You will at times lose money in your investing career, and this is your educational fee, your tuition for the school of asset management. It is the consequence of direct practice and executing real decisions, with stakes on the table. There is no way around this process for building maturity and character for yourself. Nobody can tell you how to do it, how to pick winners and avoid losers, or how to discipline your actions and emotions in this field. It is a lone journey where the masses will steer you wrong, fear and greed will get the better of you, and the real seasoned veterans in the art of asset acquisition, growth, and protection, will have little to say. Beware those who have great opinions and systems to espouse, as those will be biased and based on luck, at best. The real challenges to overcome have always been taxes, inflation, and the internal battle of emotional investing.

Equities. Real Estate. Companies. Mortgages. Crypto Assets. Royalties. Commodities. Startups. Currencies. Futures.

To beat the market you must first beat your own limitations and vulnerabilities.

I used to be ignorant and impulsive and I learned to overcome that.

Today, you can learn to invest wisely and prudently with the many global opportunities available, regardless of the current size of your assets. It begins with small and consistent steps, preferably as early as possible.

ASSET CLASSES

We advise you to apply emotional resilience to an objective and balanced investing approach.

Ownership. Understand that you are taking ownership of a business, fractionally, but have just as much stake in that business as though it were your own. You need to think outside the box and traditional borders to make a business work for you. Where are few others capitalizing?

Knowledge. If you don’t know or are not willing to learn about what you are getting into, then what are you doing except guessing based on the opinions of others? The only way not to second-guess yourself and get caught in knee-jerk reactions later, is to build on your own foundation.

Decisions. Be clear about where they are being made: in your heart, in your head, or in somebody else’s. Knowing when and how to balance and complement these is essential. Buy lower and sell higher, and look for revenue and cash-flow metrics, not flash-in-the-pan fads and making investment and divestment decisions based on fear.

Opportunity and Realized Gains. The best investment story is actionable, not a pet that you took on, emotionally vested in riding it to a future too good to be true. If you happen to see suitable annual return rates occurring within 1 month, for example, on a reasonably tradeable asset, there’s a big green flag to make it real and profit. It may not last forever, and nobody wants to hear about theoretical past gains that were not seized.

Humility and Expectations. Don’t expect the world or judge yourself too harshly either. Be realistic in knowing that insight, capital, and risk are required for any potential growth. It will take time to consistently grow a durable portfolio of investments, diversified and resilient against changes in the market and in yourself. There will be ups and downs.

When to STOP. If you feel endorphins, adrenaline, or dopamine in your veins, or feel the urge to make trades during mealtimes or sleep, then check yourself. IF you suspect that you might have addictive traits, learn to heal yourself and recover from the detriments this WILL cause in your financial and personal life. Get help.

Risk. If you feel like there is none, you need to take a step back. If there wasn’t, then everybody would do it for free and profit, and the world doesn’t work like that, clearly. There are part gainers and part losers in every transaction. Capitalism was not built on the backs of underpaid labor, but the sacrifice and opportunities traded among visionary, willing, and capable people who banded together.

Time Horizon. If you are young, know that you need to put in your whole life to ride this journey, and you will likely have to start over at least once, if you put in just the right amount of risk and willingness to act on opportunity. This is not a bad thing, and is part of the self-education process of being in ANY kind of business. It is the investment in yourself, and it is a time-based function. The time-value of money.

Loss. Don’t let it bring everybody down. Look at me, I’m happy. You too need to practice mourning your regrets and learning to make excellent business decisions in the future. These gains and successes should and will be built upon the hard times. Oh, and don’t ever brag either.

Chris Batt

INVESTOR FROM CANADA

Certified mortgage agent

I am a regular person who agreed to take on the responsibility of making money and ideas work for me and my future, rather than spending it all with consumption. That’s the first decision. I experimented, tried different ways, won some battles and lost some. Sold shares of Apple for $5K before they went to $1Million, yada yada. Anyways. Today I enjoy a mentally healthy view of investing in diverse ways in the world, and a balance of time not even needing to think about it, because I am not obsessed with markets and forces and macro-economics anymore. I got certified as a mortgage agent to empower myself. I align my financial activities with what I consider to be my ‘business’, my realm of influence in the world, and what service I can render there with the resources and energy I can apply in that space. I hope and plan around being rewarded in kind, and networking with others that I can learn amongst in this journey of acquisition, growth, and protection. And I am enjoying my personal growth in the process.

It’s not about numbers on a scorecard, but a process of improvement.

3.845X

20 Year Return on DIA - SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust

4.172X

20 Year Return on SPY - SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust

100X

100X - 20 Year Return on myself - Learning to overcome obstacles to future fundamental financial and emotional performance in life.

So What Now?

It doesn’t matter what you choose to invest in. Who am I to tell you? But be warned that YOU will be there, calling the shots. The market, the industry, the players, all those will pale in comparison to the influence you will bring to bear on your success or your failure in the space. Whether or not you combine traditional asset classes and diversify, or buy a little tea house in the Himalayas, or start a remote online business to enable you to roam different spaces while building your commercial footprint, you will need to read. A lot. Content creators will not give you a comprehensive view of where to invest your hard-earned assets. You will need to source and ingest relevant and timely information, data, and insights, if you have a chance of succeeding proactively in any business.

Am I suitable for business investing?

If you suspect that you do not manage businesses well, but you have the ideas, insights, and capital available to contribute to the business world in your own way, then you should fit in where it is the best fit! Not everyone is a manager, entrepreneur, founder, CEO, or a great accountant. Some of us simply don’t want the stress or commitment of shouldering everything a business entails, but this does not exclude us from the benefits and experiences that being involved in business can add to our lives. Beware whose advice you listen to, and be judicious dispensing it too, but most of all, have fun and learn how to navigate this exciting landscape in a responsible and rewarding way. Learn, grow, collaborate, and profit! Most of all, never stop asking the right questions of the right people. Learn from your own mistakes and the mistakes of others, and you will fare well in your journey of self-actualization.