{"id":23947,"date":"2025-06-06T23:56:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T15:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/?p=23947"},"modified":"2025-06-13T09:43:26","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T01:43:26","slug":"seeking-facts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/06\/seeking-facts\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeking facts is the first step in investment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_83 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #ffffff;color:#ffffff\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #ffffff;color:#ffffff\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/06\/seeking-facts\/#Facts_do_help_investment\" >Facts do help investment<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/06\/seeking-facts\/#What_is_useful\" >What is useful?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/06\/seeking-facts\/#Where_can_I_get_the_facts\" >Where can I get the facts?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/06\/seeking-facts\/#What_are_the_facts_used_for\" >What are the facts used for?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/06\/seeking-facts\/#Conclusion\" >Conclusion<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/06\/seeking-facts\/#Related_articles\" >Related articles<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Facts_do_help_investment\"><\/span>Facts do help investment<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Thomas Peterff, the founder of Interactive Brokers Group (ticker: IBKR), said: &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/johnhyatt\/2023\/12\/22\/this-self-made-wall-street-billionaire-has-never-read-a-single-investment-book\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">I&nbsp;<em>basically think<\/em>&nbsp;there are&nbsp;<em>no important secrets<\/em>&nbsp;in how to&nbsp;<em>invest<\/em>, and there is not a lot&nbsp;<em>you can learn<\/em>&nbsp;from&nbsp;<em>others<\/em>. <em>It&#8217;s<\/em>&nbsp;all logical. The&nbsp;<em>better you know<\/em>&nbsp;the&nbsp;<em>facts<\/em>, and the&nbsp;<em>more facts you know<\/em>, the&nbsp;<em>better you do<\/em>&nbsp;as an&nbsp;<em>investor<\/em>. What&nbsp;<em>I<\/em>&nbsp;have learned through the industry is that the work that I need to do personally is irreplaceable. <\/a>&#8220;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you invest in research or do your homework yourself? The criteria for judging are actually easy. You must read, check the information, and make independent thinking based on the facts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Investment guru John Maynard Keynes said: &#8220;When the facts change, I&nbsp;change my mind. What do&nbsp;you&nbsp;do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_useful\"><\/span>What is useful?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In my previous post &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2022\/11\/16\/important-and-knowable-info\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Information investors need should be important and knowable<\/a>&#8220;: &#8220;Of course, there are no &#8216;facts&#8217; regarding most future events, just &#8216;opinions&#8217;,&#8221; and so-called &#8220;Experts \u2014 especially people who are paid to be experts \u2014 often couch their statements as facts, but that doesn&#8217;t mean they&#8217;re sure to come true.&#8221; In short, it&#8217;s not important and knowable!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Where_can_I_get_the_facts\"><\/span>Where can I get the facts?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I mentioned in the post of &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/11\/25\/why-people-with-high-iq-prone-invest-failed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Why people with high IQ prone invest failed<\/a>&#8220;: It is easy to refute all the opinions in this world, but the question is what is your own opinion? What is your factual basis?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And how to get the facts? Just as I described in the previous post &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/08\/10\/reading-is-irreplaceable\/\">Reading is irreplaceable and necessity of for investors<\/a>&#8220;: It is usually necessary to be obtained by reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the question is what I advocated in the post &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/08\/14\/stop-worshiping-celebrities\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Investors should stop worshiping celebrities<\/a>&#8220;:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The factual verification is the basic moral standards that the media must obey. If the starting point is not based on facts, and the comments and opinions generated are not valuable.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Just as I have repeatedly reminded the investors in my blog and the context in my books that all investment research must be based on the facts, there is no fact or intentionally ignore the fact that the inferences obtained, such kind of investment judging is very dangerous.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_are_the_facts_used_for\"><\/span>What are the facts used for?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I mentioned in the posts three years ago &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/05\/25\/necessary-conditions-for-successful-investment-trilogy-do-investing-homework-by-yourself\/\">Do investing homework by yourself: Necessary conditions for successful investment trilogy<\/a>&#8220;: three -step must be: collect related information and facts as much as possible, inference according to the facts, and finally make a decision whether to invest or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In my previous post &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/10\/02\/investment-uncertainty\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The uncertainty in investment<\/a>&#8220;: Buffett said that when conducting investment research and making reasonable inferences based on various facts, what we have to grasp is &#8220;something is certain to happen, but we can&#8217;t be sure when it will happen.&#8221; In vernacular, it means; what investors should do. The homework is based on various facts, just infer that the stock price is lower than the intrinsic value. Sooner or later, the stock price will reflect the expected price level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Conclusion\"><\/span>Conclusion<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, what I mentioned in &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/10\/20\/thinking-outsourced\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Thinking cannot be outsourced<\/a>&#8220;: As an investot, how to &#8220;think independently&#8221;\u2014 to develop the habit of reading, analyze and judge according to the facts, do not pay attention to various predictions or investment reports. Shut down your TV, and then spend time to do your investment homework every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"119\" height=\"112\" src=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/fact-1600x1200-1.jpg\" alt=\"fact\" class=\"wp-image-23948\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">credit: iStock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Related_articles\"><\/span>Related articles<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/06\/seeking-facts\/\">Seeking facts is the first step in investment<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/12\/ignorance\/\">Ignorance is the commonality of mediocre investors<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/05\/25\/investors-hope-as-they-wish\/\">Investors hope everything will develop as they wish<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/10\/20\/thinking-outsourced\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Thinking cannot be outsourced<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2024\/06\/10\/game-of-chance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Investing is a game of chance<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2022\/11\/16\/important-and-knowable-info\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Information investors need should be important and knowable<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/11\/25\/why-people-with-high-iq-prone-invest-failed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Why people with high IQ prone invest failed<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/08\/10\/reading-is-irreplaceable\/\">Reading is irreplaceable and necessity of for investors<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/05\/25\/necessary-conditions-for-successful-investment-trilogy-do-investing-homework-by-yourself\/\">Do investing homework by yourself: Necessary conditions for successful investment trilogy<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/10\/02\/investment-uncertainty\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The uncertainty in investment<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/10\/20\/thinking-outsourced\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Thinking cannot be outsourced<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2023\/04\/01\/focus-company-performance\/\">Focus on company performance rather than market<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2023\/04\/05\/should-not-trust-forecasts\/\">Investors should not trust forecasts<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/09\/06\/chance-of-making-mistakes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Invest success depends on less chance of making mistakes<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2022\/03\/mistakes-of-omission-and-mistakes-of-commission\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mistakes of omission and mistakes of commission<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2022\/07\/27\/survivorship-bias\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">People believe successful investors are survivorship bias cannot succeed<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/07\/10\/sustained-investor\/\">A investor can be sustained or not? how to verify?<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/12\/19\/investing-has-no-formula\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Investing has no formulas, but there are ways to invest successfully<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2024\/02\/28\/factor-luck\/\">How big a factor does luck play in investment success?<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2022\/04\/19\/successful-investors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The main investment principles of successful investors are similar<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Disclaimer<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>The content of this site is the author\u2019s personal opinions and is for reference only. I am not responsible for the correctness, opinions, and immediacy of the content and information of the article. Readers must make their own judgments.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>I shall not be liable for any damages or other legal liabilities for the direct or indirect losses caused by the readers&#8217; direct or indirect reliance on and reference to the information on this site, or all the responsibilities arising therefrom, as a result of any investment behavior.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0better you know\u00a0the\u00a0facts, and the\u00a0more facts you know, the\u00a0better you do\u00a0as an\u00a0investor. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23948,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[203,205,383,68,42,71,540,539],"tags":[144],"class_list":["post-23947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investor-homework","category-fundamental-analysis","category-howard-marks","category-insight-second-level-thinking","category-john-maynard-keynes","category-out-of-the-ordinary","category-reading","category-thinking","tag-ibkr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23947"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37015,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23947\/revisions\/37015"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}