EDIT: At the time this blog entry was posted I had a Youtube video here. That has been removed but I want the rest of my content to be remain. Nothing hidden no past mistakes ignored. All out in the open.
This is an overlooked aspect of retail investing and trading. People enjoy sitting back and watching videos or skimming through a blog especially watching a progression blog like mine where you follow along the progress being made. I enjoy them too. However in watching what someone is doing its easy to miss out on why.
Shadowing is another problem. A big one that deserves another mention today. Way too many people buy what someone else bought blindly and Warren Buffett is the most shadowed. He started self made and grew into the biggest and best investor of our time so why not do what he does you are starting off too right? That's what he used to do but what is he doing now? He bought company X so I will too. But he bought 2-3 months ago and he bought preferred shares of stock yielding 7% that he negotiated a special price directly from the company. You just bought the common stock off the open market at maybe 50% higher price then his equivalent. In the end you aren't even buying the same thing that he is.
Recently I have been reading The Reformed Broker. I find Josh to be funny, entertaining, and insightful. Yes he has a book to sell that he brings up, who wouldn't on their blog. He does offer some ideas on process.
Passive observation is useful but active communication is even better.
Disclaimer: The investments and trades in my videos and blog entries are not recommendations for others. I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant, or tax adviser. The financial actions I talk about are for my own portfolio and money and only suited for my own risk tolerance, strategy, and ideas. Copying another person's financial moves can lead to large losses. Each person needs to do their due diligence in researching and planning their own actions in the financial markets.
I find following other to be a very valuable tool. Often it is quite interesting and educating to see other people make investment decisions. I usually try to put myself in their feet and ask myself what goal did he/she want to achieve with this investment? Would I agree with this choice or rather find something else if I was in his/her place?
ReplyDeleteI find networking very helpful to me too. Without it I would never visit this site and discover great companies like TCAP. Although I don't follow many blogs, I do see what others say on websites like seeking alpha etc to see what people say about certain investments.....
ReplyDeleteI still have the 'take it with a grain of salt' approach because like you mention in your video here, you just never know if someone has a secret agenda.