The main investment principles of successful investors are similar

Table of Contents

People complicate simple things

One of the most successful investors in the history, Buffett once lamented that “There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult.” I personally think that this is also the biggest investment defect committed by most investors (especially younger investors or newbie). I wrote at the beginning of 1-1 in my book “The Rules of Super Growth Stocks Investing”, “It’s strange to say that most people do not adopt the ones that have been made public or have already been actually proved feasible.

A simple and proven investment truth; on the contrary, it does everything in its power to find complicated, unproven ways of failure that countless people have experienced, and invest desperately, even if it fails.”

Just as I have always advocated “Most investors should invest ETFs tracking broader market“, this is the easiest and most reliable way to accumulate wealth in the stock market. But some people will question me that your own investment portfolio is made up of individual stocks, and you can have such a good annualized rate of return by actively selecting stocks; but you want most people to choose lower-paying and tracking broader market’s ETFs.

I believe this is a reasonable question from many readers, but I am talking about “most people”, not “all people”; if the investor’s “personal conditions” are suitable, investors can of course adopt the method of active stock selection. Investing, or even using your own inventions, investment masters do not recommend investment methods that most people use. After all, investing is a very subjective behavior, and the stock market is far more complicated than you and I imagine.

Investment seniority are helpful to investment

Investment is not much different from the major events of life, seniority and experience is helpful. A Chinese proverb often says, “The old man has eaten more salt than you have eaten; the bridges they have crossed are more than the roads you have traveled.” Most people will sneer at such words, thinking that they are relying on their seniority to speak, but this is the problem–that is, not believing in evil.

When we are getting older and the precious long-term compounding time is running out, we come to regret it. You only need to ask any investor who has been investing in the stock market all his life, regardless of whether he is successful or not; in the end, they give you very similar sayings (for example, long-term investment, no short-term speculation, no borrowing to invest, no shorting , choose blue chip stocks with good performance, etc.). Please note that they may not act like they themselves persuaded you, but what they will give you when they are old is a the words from their buttom of heart.

How do you know?

I myself wrote a paragraph in the penultimate paragraph of the preface of my book “The Rules of Super Growth Stocks Investing”, “When you find that what is described in a successful investment master book, and your own main investment principles or the direction is the same as what they said; or when you repeatedly see that the truth expressed in the successful investment masters’ legend book is so consistent with your own beliefs, then I want to congratulate you, which means that you are on the right and successful investment track.”

Why principles of successful investors are similar

Once I discussed investment views with a reader of my book, he questioned me in a more euphemistic way, “In fact, some of your book content is similiar to many value investment books, or legend books he has read. The main idea is almost the same.” I think the real question he should ask me is: “Why? Some of the content of your book and many value investment books, or some of the legend books he has read is almost the same?”

As the reader said, I certainly do not deny that many of the ideas in my own book are consistent with some of the ideas in many legend investment books. I even disclose it in every section of my book. At the beginning, I will quote the saying from well-known celebrities that fits the content of the section. My intention could not be simpler.

The principle and concept of making money by investing has never changed since the beginning of mankind. I believe it will not change in the future. The famous sayings I quoted, these people have the wisdom of a lifetime (30% of the quotes in my book are from Buffett, and 60% of the famous quotes I quoted in my blog are from Buffett), they use very simple wording, telling the experience of a lifetime investment, or investment-related truth, this could not be measurable by money.

This is why Jessie, the greatest Wall Street trading master in history. Why did Jesse Livermore said: “There is nothing new in Wall Street. Whatever happens in the stock market today has happened before and will happen again.” The main reason for these words .

From my experience

A reader once asked why my book did not provide a formula for successful investment? He instinct thinks that I am hiding my secrets and I am unwilling to disclose my secret sauces. Some readers will clearly say that after reading the entire book, they did not see any formulas or numbers that can be simply brought in, easily apply to judge whether a stock should be bought, and can be applied to all individual stocks.

This is really disappointing them because of the authors on the Taiwan stock investing book market, most of them, there will always be such things in the books–they are telling the truth; it is not in my books, and I don’t think there will be such things.

For readers who have such views or perceptions, I have nothing to say. However, people have read Buffett’s annual letter to Berkshire (ticker:s: BRK.A and BRK.B) shareholders, and have anyone seen Buffett teaches investors to judge whether or not individual stocks should be bought or sold, and can put a universal formula or definite judgment numers? At least I have read Buffett’s annual letter to Berkshire shareholders several times, and I haven’t found such a formula so far.

People contempt simple truth

Just like the short story in the last paragraph of my self-preface in my book “The Rules of Super Growth Stocks Investing”. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon (ticker: AMZN) once called the former richest man in the world, Buffett, and asked Buffett: “Why are your investment principles so simple and easy to understand, but few people in the world are willing to follow and get rich?” Buffett told Bezos: “Because most people are unwilling to get rich slowly.”

People not only tend to complicate simple things, they also tend to contempt simple truths. This is why many expensive luxury goods on the market sell particularly expensive ─ ─ one of the reason is most people believe that cheap goods are not good.

But the problem is with regard to investment, “Investment is simple, but not easy.” This sentence from Buffett’s is the most reasonable.

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