19 Lessons After 19 Years Of Investing Experience
2024 is my nineteenth year as a professional investor.
My journey started with a simple question: how can I turn my hobby into my job?
It’s been an incredible run.
Some years were easy. Most were a grind.
During the Great Financial Crisis, I worked at one of the best hedge funds in the world.
Despite knowing what was coming, I still lost tens of millions of dollars.
Losses are a great teacher.
Along the way, I managed a Portfolio for Institutional investors.
I started my investment fund.
Here are 19 lessons I wish I had known when I started:
Know Thyself.
Go slow to go fast.
Know what you own.
Valuation only matters at extremes.
Complexity is the enemy of execution.
When you are wrong, cut losses immediately.
The system is rigged in favor of the patient investor.
Big money is made by buying right and sitting tight.
By the time all clear signs are out, the risk is the highest.
The Pessimists get the headlines, but the Optimists get rich.
When others are shortening their investing horizon, lengthen yours.
Once you lose trust in a management team, sell and never look back.
Do not chase the hottest stock in the hottest sector. The result is pain.
Spreadsheet intelligence is overrated. Emotional intelligence is underrated.
There are times to play big and times to play small. If it is unclear, play small.
The market will go higher than most believe. Get comfortable riding the trend.
Before buying a stock, make sure it’s a good business. Bad companies can be good stocks, but it is hard to hold on to bad Companies.
Markets are unpredictable. Once you start believing you can predict, a big loss is coming.
A combination of a great business run by a great manager is rare. Selling in this case is usually a mistake.
Thanks for reading!