When it comes to investing, we don’t know it all and never will. There is an infinite amount to learn about our world and the more we learn, the more we realise just how little we actually know! One of life’s many paradoxes.
Investing is not a science; it is an art and it is a manifestation of how you view the world. As such, you cannot be close-minded; to close yourself off to new ideas, innovations and so on. Because to do this would mean that you may miss out on opportunities that literally have the power to change the world. The opportunities are vast and expansive so why limit yourself?
The universe also has a funny way of showing us we were wrong when we were fixated on just how right we were – or at least thought we were! Events come to teach us that even the most certain things can, in the blink of an eye, turn out to be less-than-certain. The only thing certain is uncertainty itself. We are constantly evolving, forever moving. Change is the only constant.
Exponential change is already happening. Make sure you don’t let it pass you by
Just look at how fast tech is evolving. A couple years back blockchain and the metaverse were mere fabrics of our imagination (though perhaps the latter still is!) or obscure, and not-very-much-adopted pieces of intricate tech. Now, you can’t get through a tech article without these buzzwords that are forever buzzing.
This should act as a reminder of just how quickly things change. Nothing remains the same forever. To some, that is a scary thought; to others it is empowering and exciting. Yet we tend to get a lil’ too cushy in our status quo that we fall right back into our comfortable set of assumptions, whatever those may be.
Take covid: a real shake-up to the system but then we fell right back to our slumber and started to take things for granted (like our rising tech stocks, for instance). We had almost forgotten just how much uncertainty filled the air back in March 2020 and how much hung in the balance.
But then the universe shows us, yet again, how all can change in the blink of an eye. Look how much has changed since then! Interest rates are being pulled off the ground, pretty quickly if you ask me, thanks to inflation that’s being ever so stubborn. Like that stain on your favourite jumper that won’t budge no matter how many times you’ve washed it!
“Don’t fight it; don’t fight it, just feel it!”
Change is here and it’s happening. Ain’t nothing gonna stop it. The rate at which technologies are moving are mind-boggling but if we remain stuck in the past, clinging onto our old assumptions for dear life that had previously held us in good stead then we’ll be in for a shock. History may rhyme, but it never repeats itself. Sure, there’ll be patterns along the way and we may notice similarities but the future is not the past. Let that sink in.
People who lost it all on the stock market, I guarantee wouldn’t touch it even if you paid them to. A close family friend of ours told us how his dad had planned on retiring around 2010. He had loads of his savings (more like most) stashed in the stock market and enjoyed the returns they provided. Until ’08 came. Within a few weeks, he saw his pension crumble from before his eyes.
His son won’t touch the stock market and I suspect nor will his kids since the vision they have of the market is that it will get you in the end and ruin all what you have. As a result of this awful experience, they have a lot of scar tissue left behind. The scar tissue is their fear of investing, their fear of losing it all. And even if the most compelling case were made for investing (which there is!!) it wouldn’t do anything to shift their view. And I don’t blame them.
The same was true for those who lose their money in any other crash. And this crash kicked out some investors – read here why 21% of millennials and Gen Zers have closed their brokerage accounts. But what we’re seeing now in tech (and its stratospheric rise) is that many within the investment community think it’s no different from the dotcom bubble – and bust.
But then are those within the community who explain how the seismic technological shifts, changes and innovations we’re seeing now is vastly different to that of ’99. Sure, there are a load of lessons we ought to learn from that time but there are also things we need to discard. Sometimes long-held beliefs need to be let go when they don’t serve us anymore.
De-clutter your brain!
Our brains need to make space for new things! Think of it as a living room that’s been gathering stuff over the years. The furniture is old and there are dozens of coverless books and whatnot. At some point, you’d wanna replace all that and give your room a much-needed spruce. Our brains are no different. It’s time to get rid of all that old stuff lying around (like your past, bad experiences) so that you can have a more optimistic, well-rounded and open-minded view of the future to help you make better investment decisions.
Our past experiences (however good or bad) shape our perceptions of future events and how we think they’ll play out. When we make investment decisions, whether we realise it or not, we tend to refer back to our most recent example and when this just so happens to be something as nasty as the dotcom bust then how can we expect ourselves to move past from that? By being open-minded! By accepting that the past is the past and the future is different.
Investing is a compounding miracle but if you’re walking around with your scar tissue and all that old furniture in your mind (your old ideas, old thoughts and old way of doing things) then you’ll never be able to embrace new ideas and the next gen of super businesses.
Being an open-minded, open-to-new-ideas kinda person will get you (and your investments) far. It means you’ll be investing in new things right in their infancy, or at least before the rest of the investment world has cottoned on.
Don’t live in a vacuum; speak to different generations, people from all sorts of backgrounds and places. Expand your mind, and your ideas.
Oh, and don’t forget to enjoy the journey! That’s where the fun lies.
Disclaimer: This blog is not investment or financial advice. It is my opinion only. This blog is not a personal recommendation to buy/sell any security, or to adopt any such investment strategy. Always do your own research before you commit to any investment.
Knead Your Dough 