Have an Investment Philosophy
Prefer to listen rather than read? Pair this post with Deliberate Money Moves Podcast: Have an Investment Philosophy.
Here’s how most people invest:
- Act on impulse
- React to things they see in the news
- Do what their friends are doing
- Do their own research and convince themselves they can see what the future holds
- Bet their life savings on tips and hunches.
Don’t be like most investors!
What’s missing is an Investment Philosophy. This is something we expect to be true in all markets and in all economic times. It’s something that drives a logical investment strategy even when it seems all logic has fallen out of the markets.
My Investment Philosophy:
Humans are designed to connect with each other. Since the beginning of time, we have sought out each other and we share our resources, our thoughts, our work and our dreams. We are driven to share ourselves with other human beings.
Companies exist to encourage and enable these connections. Companies take the labor and efforts of one group of people and turn them into goods and services that are purchased by another group of people.
That first group, the employees, get paid wages and benefits in exchange for their labor. The second, the customers, get the goods or services in exchange for their money.
And here’s the magic. The company, itself, gets to earn a profit. However, it doesn’t always work that way. Some companies don’t make it or at least they don’t make it forever.
Since we don’t know which companies will do well and which won’t, we’ll simply own them all.
If our philosophy holds true, that people will always want to connect and companies will always be there to help in exchange for a profit, then we can confidently tie our savings to all the companies we can, knowing our profits will grow faster than inflation.
That’s my Investment Philosophy and you are welcome to use it as your own.
But even if you don’t agree with mine, be sure to develop your own so that when the markets move against you, you’ll have a rock-solid philosophy to lean on in order to get you through.