um, Apollo's much smarter than me, but I just wanted to offer a minor dissent from his advice. I agree that you need to find the approach that works for you, but I disagree that you must wait to invest until you've found it. What he may have failed to take into account, I think, is just how differently people can go about finding the approach that's right for them.
Wise Apollonian types like our doctor friend may indeed be able to get there by staying on the sidelines and doing lots of reading, but thicker or less mature types may need to get their fingers burned a bit in the process. I, for example, have found it difficult to learn lasting lessons without having a dog in the fight, without feeling in my viscera the greed, the fear, etc. It took me two separate brushes with margin calls to drill home the fact that everything can go down really really far, really really fast. It took me most of a year to accept what rel just pointed out--that at least some minimal diversification is wise because there is no way to predict just which of your super-high-quality picks will do well over any stretch of time. And even after lots of lessons, I'm still trying to internalize this stupid rule about having a disciplined exit strategy for options plays.
Sooooo...what? Well, everything Apollo said to read and think about is worth reading and thinking about, but if you're the type that needs to smell the napalm in the morning, then you might not want to stay out of the game until you've read and thought about it.
tekboy/Ares@experienceisanexpensiveschool,butsomewilllearninnoother.com |
