Refocus

I have been going through a transition lately. I quit my job in February to move and do something I love. I am passionate about investing but the way finance industry works doesn't confirm with my principles. It was an obvious decision for me, but perhaps the most illogical one for my friends and colleagues. I was on my way to successfully become an Equities Research Analyst, except that I didn't want to. During this transition I thought about the things that matter and trying to refocus my time into that.

Through this blog, I plan to share my journey as I build my investment and retirement portfolio, in hope that it can help you in some way. I will remain honest and transparent as much as I can, without disclosing my true identity, as that is irrelevant to the purpose of this blog. Identity is just a distraction to what I'm trying to achieve with this and I fear revealing my identity would make me conscious and wary of how much I disclose. So, it is rather an advantage to write under an alias. Perhaps when it is needed, I'll share who I am.

Having some first hand exposure to how the Research Analysts (the guys who make 'buy'/'sell' calls and come on TV once in a while) work, I am convinced that Peter Lynch was correct in saying that the little guys like us have an advantage when it comes to picking stocks. I have met so many analysts who would go and have a high conviction call on a stock. They will tell the fabricated stories around the stocks to the mutual funds and hedge fund managers. They will do the same on TV. They need to appear confident and come across as an expert. I have lived with them closely and most of them wouldn't even put money on their own calls. It is just a marketing job for some, and the revenue pressures ensure that you keep coming up with some story to encourage clients to make a trade. You have to be right sometimes, but can get away with not being right half of the time.

The biggest advantage for you is that you don't have to impress anybody. You don't have to pretend that you know. You can remain calm and humble and shut out the noise to truly invest how it was meant to be. My blog is going to be about creating a portfolio for the long term. I am not interested in doing short term trades, though I do get tempted with them. There could be some 'trading' around core positions like we'll discuss later. I have spent some time in the trading floor as an fx and rates trader as well. Those guys don't know much either! There is only one way to win this game. To be in it for the long term and always align your actions to your long term goal.