Good Investing is a Solitary Practice, Three
The solitary investor keeps his ideas to himself. Experience has taught him that if he shares his ideas with others they will impose their own ego-laden ideas upon his own thinking, creating doubt and confusion within his own mind. He knows this could cloud his thought process and the intuition he has developed over his time in the markets. He in turn has learned to never knock the ideas of other people but to keep his own council knowing that all his investing needs are to be found within himself and the sources of information he has developed over time.
The solitary investor has learned to view the stock market as a multi-faceted phenomenon that encompasses various investing and even contradictory approaches. He does not see ‘value’ as being necessarily separate from ‘growth’ as an investment philosophy. He has learned that rather than trying to predict what the market will do tomorrow or next week, he is better off paying attention to what the market is doing at the moment and where it might be in its cyclic process. In a bull market (higher highs) it might pay him to examine the new 52 week high list and see what stocks are leading the charge. Conversely in a bear market or correction (lower lows) he has learned to peruse the new 52 week low list to see if the market has put any good stocks up on sale due to forced selling. He will consider his own psychological mindset as an investor when considering these approaches.
Finally he will know that he will not always be successful and that the market will test his resolve and nerve. It may be best at times like these to get away from the market and focus on his other interests knowing that the market is not going anywhere and will patiently await his return. And when he does return he will be both refreshed and renewed while at the same time, being armed with a different and healthier perspective.
And above all he will know that everything comes to the person who has learned how to wait.
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