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OrientedDis.. Disoriented. |
Thursday, September 04, 2003 "Book Smarts" Is what everyone calls me. My sister. My friends. My family. I can act pretty stupid regarding things people like to call 'street smarts,' but I think people often misinterpret my questions as 'stupid' just because they don't understand what I'm trying to get at by asking a question to something that has a seemingly-obvious-answer.. or they think I don't understand something when I'm 'confused' because I'm considering other things outside of what they're considering. *shrug* but. I dunno. Anyway. I get bored when 'errands' really aren't done yet, but I still don't want to go home. So I go to the library and just pick a random book to read. I simply walk into a random section and pick the first book I see which seems to have an interesting title (even if only a very remote interest) that I see. It's kind of funny though.. the book usually ends up being something ideal and brilliant to what I needed to read for that point in time of my life. I don't do this 'drop-in at the library' all of the time, but once in a while. The last book I read (a couple months ago now :P .. since I did this a lot when I 'worked') was about Relationships. Wish I could remember the title. But it was really great and insightful. This time-around ... about investing..... and I wrote an extremely quick e-mail to myself immediately following everything I had learned from this book in an hour of attentive speed reading (haha.. uuuh..yeah)... .. just the main things I felt were the main points to remember (that would jog my memory for the future to remember the other things I read) ....... Take what you want from it (regarding investment), but it's mainly for me....... so perhaps there are a lot of incomplete thoughts here that I felt comfortable with because they're completed in my mind ... blahhh.. haha. here. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Subj: Investing Date: 9/2/2003 6:56:35 PM Pacific Daylight Time From: 'lin' To: 'lin' Sent from the Internet (Details) I read this book today in the library. Interesting points to consider (overall) : To make any serious profit on investing, must be dedicated to it (in good and bad times), willing to make risks, and give it TIME. Question to consider : "Is our economy truly efficient?" (meaning the rate at information is relayed - does the market accurately reflect this? The book suggests it does, but that it's still a good point to argue that it may not.) Analyze level to which you are willing to invest. Defensively (moderate in-between) to Active/Severe (ambitiously).. haha.. can't think of word. Use 1st : "Stomach Acid Test" (will you be able to sleep with this?) Liquidity Test - to what extent can you risk without putting yourself in danger for future problems/needs. Re-allocation is a must for long-term (make sure if have a financial advisor that they are doing this for you - also - who is your financial advisor working for? Who are their principals? Do they work for someone else's interests? The only sure-way to be positive that you have a good financial advisor is if they have a fee tied to their services. Remember that cheap advice is not necessarily good for making investment/risk decisions. Also a point - to what extent is a financial advisor really necessary?) Remember that you should never buy a portfolio based on trends or other advice (advisors, t.v., magazines) The best way to invest short-term is to go with sure-index companies (title correct for that?) - and that would be acting conservatively. If you want to take a more Aggressive (word that I was looking for above) approach in investing - think long-term.. be willing to stick it out through good and bad (stomach acid test - "to what extent do you want to eat well versus sleep well?"), and Always have a broad portfolio for balance (dis... word.. ) - both sure-indexes (corporations that have proven to have return over years) and small companies who do not have a record but may be bought for less and still have a higher return on investments. If you want to be an aggressive investor, you take higher risk for higher returns (obviously) - investing in small-companies that can be bought for less and still have a reasonably consistent/high return. This surprisingly balances out to be better (investing in small-established-growing-companies) versus investing in "value stocks" which definitely takes the risk lower, but in-return have lower returns. Bottom-line : To what extent are you willing to risk? ---------- So that may seem pretty 'basic' .. but I've never really known ANYTHING about "investing" as my parents are completely against something like the stock markey. But I'm interested, and don't think it's an 'absolute evil' ........ interesting point I just remembered was made very clear in the book that I forgot... individual investments .. picking stocks on your own 'thought'.. based upon suspected trend/opinion...... is the worst way to invest.. and likely to lose by this .. I guess I did kind of make a note of that.. but important for me to remember.. because this is how I thought it was done. . . . babbled Lin |
