After almost 15 years or being fascinated by all things related to investing, I’m bored (which I imagine is how most people feel when they are forced to think about investing). There seems to be more quality content available today then ever before (brilliant authors, insights from fintwit, and so many high quality podcasts), yet I’m bored. Maybe being bored is a sign of growth, maybe it’s not, I honestly don’t know. Maybe the “waiting” for your returns to appear is the boring part, as Morgan Housel puts it:
After all, I’ve invested 15 years reading and developing strategies that are right for me. I have strong (yet not set in stone) investing and personal finance beliefs, like:
Ben Graham’s teaching and investing style is more meaningful than Warren Buffett’s teachings and investing style (can’t wait for the criticism in this one)
Money can be spent wisely to increase happiness, but money isn’t the key to happiness
Luck plays a significant role in most things, including investing
Reading about human behavior is at least as important to investing success as reading about investing
Automate savings (pay yourself first)
Save more than you spend
Investing success has very little to do with intelligence
“Safe investments” are often riskier than “risky investments” over long time periods (look at purchasing power of t-bills vs. equities over a 40 year period)
Understanding mean revision is powerful
Jack Bogle is an investing hero who did an incredible amount of good for America’s “average” retiree
You should diversify your investments
Leverage is bad
Debt is (usually) bad
Simple investing strategies are usually better than complex ones
Buying undervalued assets and having patience will produce good results long-term
Minimize fees
Focus of returns after taxes
A quantitive approach can minimize behavior errors
Many agree that boredom is critical to the creative process. Is my next key insight just around the corner? I don’t know. Do the great investors of our time get bored? I imagine so.
Regardless, despite my boredom I found the following of interest in the last few months (which probably means they are of interest to you).