More humble questions for you fools... (come laugh at and/or with me)
March 12, 2010
– Comments (19) |
RELATED TICKERS: AED
, TSTRQ.PK
, CONN
What were the biggest mistakes you made as a baby fool?
Soon it will be my first CAPS birthday. And as with most areas in my life, failure has become an important ingredient to my current success.
Sure it's foolish, but I've found that losing is one of the only sure-fire ways for me to learn how to win. When a person fails, one of two things will happen:
Fight or flight.
People with weak stomachs and giant egos will become so sickened and distraught over failure that they will flee. The frustration of failure will defeat them... and therefore negate any chance of future success.
But those who are humble, patient, and have a high tolerance for pain... those are the fighters. And they are the ones who will be the winners in the end.
In my first year as an investor, I would say my biggest mistake was pursuing ideas based off emotion rather than fact. I had absolutely ZERO investing knowledge or background... and I didn't know anyone who did. Yet I would get so excited about a stock idea, that I would act before putting in the proper work and research. Here is probably the funniest example:
When I was first coming up with ideas of what companies I wanted to invest in... I mostly considered companies I was familiar with. Companies I liked. One such company was Dunkin Donuts. Because donuts are awesome. "And who doesn't love D&D coffee?" I thought.
Later that night I haphazardly did some research on the internet. I found a discussion board on Yahoo which informed me AED was the D&D ticker. 5 minutes later, I sunk money into AED.
One week later, I realized that AED is actually an insurance company. And that Dunkin Donuts isn't even a publicly traded company! Man did I feel like an idiot. A complete and total idiot.
For a moment, a feeling of panic washed over me and I wondered if I was really meant to be an invester. But soon I got over myself. I laughed it off. I learned my lesson. I plodded on.
Over a year later, here I am. I've still got a lot to learn... but I'm getting much better at this.
And although I'm certain I will eventually fall off this horse again... I also know that I can get back on and keep riding with the best of 'em.
So what about you? What mistakes did you make in your first few years as an investor? What failures did you overcome?
To hear about it would certainly be of help to a fool such as I.
Thank you for reading, and have a ridiculous weekend.
~djshagggyd
RSS Headlines
Fool UK