Thousands of thoughts are swirling inside me that need to get out before it’s too late. The goal is to go through the rules of thumb in the investment world and the pitfalls of thinking in general. Many rules of thumb are sometimes vague and contradictory, and they don’t work all the time. However, it’s worth learning the rules forwards and backwards, after which you can start breaking them if necessary. If you want to achieve better than average results, you need to master things thoroughly, and rote learning is not enough for that.
I will first outline a table of contents in the opening post, after which I will begin to dissect, ponder, assemble, or destroy all kinds of truths. All of this will take time, and patience will be required, both from the writer and the reader. I reserve the right to edit texts afterwards and even change my mind. The reader should therefore browse the text again even after long periods. Repetition is the mother of studies, as my late religion teacher enlightened me.
I don’t particularly crave actual discussion or dissenters, because my biggest critic and fan lives inside my head. Comments are, of course, welcome. This will probably become such a long thread that readability will inevitably suffer, but for now, this format will suffice. After all, no one reads books anymore.
Questions about general investment truths are worth throwing out right from the start. The table of contents can evolve as new things to ponder emerge.
I do not use references in the text, as a large part of the material has been refined in my own head over the years. Material has been collected from here and there, so the origin is impossible to trace. In addition, a large part of the thoughts originated completely outside the financial world. It is up to the reader to weigh whether the thoughts have weight or use in their own toolkit.
Markets
Information
News
Long vs. short perspective
Cyclicality
Continuous (eternal) growth
The market is always right/efficient
The stock market anticipates x months/years
Market timing
Fundamentals/sentiment
Indices
Interest rates
Inflation
Portfolio management
Key figures
Growth
Value
Dividend
Penny stocks
Buy what you know
Price vs. value
Diversification
Portfolio rebalancing, percentage limits
Selling limits
Investment psychology
Fear
Greed, insatiability
Satisfaction
Falling in love with a stock
Repeating the same thing expecting a different outcome. Stupidity or digging open a dam?
Technical analysis
Do you want to be a millionaire (or even a professional)?
I apologize in advance for the slow progress of the writing, following which is like listening to paint dry. However, I think it’s better to write little by little in front of a live audience than to write hundreds of pages of text in silence for three years and upload it all at once.
Here, however, you get to see individual brushstrokes, even the erroneous ones.
