“The Investor’s mindset” applied for life in general can be very rewarding

I had been working on and advocating application of a certain type of modus operandi for years now. I was operating in a vacuum and had no idea of the financial markets. Apart from Mutual Funds, I had never looked into the workings of stock markets. I didn’t even know much about Mutual Funds more than what my broker told me.

Then few years ago epiphany happened. I read 8–10 books and tons of blogs and tweets to understand the stock market and realize what I have been missing on. I am distilling down my learnings and how it can be applied to all walks of life:

1. Research properly before investing: This principle is equally applicable to small stuff like subscriptions to a blog or podcast to big life events like joining a company to even marriage. Let’s assume that you have got a job in a big company where you are getting a decent and acceptable salary. Most youngsters I have seen get extremely overwhelmed by the job and do not try to find out more about the company and the job profile etc. These days it is not difficult to know but what matters is not a company’s general reputation but the specific job you will be doing and the specific department you will be in. Same principle applies in one’s marriage where proper research is extremely important as it can completely change your life.
2. Be Calm / Equanimity is important: As in stock market so in life. All good companies can go through a rough patch. Anything else can go wrong. While you may have researched well, you can still get shocks in your life. You have fight them out with calm and equanimity. Also, it will be possible if you meet with such less incidents so that you can devote our energies and resources effectively. For this purpose, step one of researching is extremely important.
3. Learn, Learn, Learn : Learning is extremely important in stock market and in life. In any case, there is information overload these days. While you may not need to become an expert, learning is important and is a constant in life well lived.

Nobody is perfect in the world — Whether it is your doctor, your investment advisor or your career counsellor or your relationship expert. First of all good and reliable experts are few in number and expensive in general. Not everyone has the luxury to have access to them. On the contrary, there are enough quacks in all the fields who can do you more harm than good. It is imperative that you do your basic research and learning about the topics which are of importance for you.

I am not saying that experts are not important, it is just that finding the right one requires time, effort and patience. You have to validate them with your own hard earned knowledge. Till the time that happens, you should develop “The Investor’s mindset” and take your life decisions accordingly.