Happy New Year to all reading this blog!
Here is a quick thought on the year ahead.
At Safal Niveshak, 2014 will be a year of inversion of the traditional dictum – “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger”.
Instead, this year, the motto will be – “What doesn’t make you stronger will kill you”.
I dedicate this year to Charlie Munger and his thought – “All I want to know is where I’m going to die so I’ll never go there.”
This implies that in 2014, we will discuss ideas –
- Less of how to earn great returns, and more on how to avoid permanent capital loss;
- Less on how to pick the great stocks, and more on how to avoid the dangerous ones;
- Less on things to do for investing success, and more on things to avoid for investing failure.
I believe we are living in times where our weaknesses are going to be costlier than our usual mistakes.
Also, as Munger would say, learning only from your own weaknesses is a sure-shot way to misery. Thus, we will try and learn a lot from others’ weaknesses/mistakes so that we can (try to) reduce some misery from our own lives.
The opportunity cost of being complacent today is finding yourself in a disastrous financial condition a few years down the line.
The 2014 dictum at Safal Niveshak, therefore, is about using the power of inversion to make you stronger, for at times like these, thinking and acting like you’ve done in the past can cause you a lot of weakness, and weaknesses have a habit of multiplying ad infinitum!
So, apart from wishing you a miserable life, I wish that in 2014, you avoid all things that can’t make you stronger.
Happy “Inverted” 2014! 🙂
Hi Vishal..,
Happy new year.., wishing u a wonderful year ahead.,
May each day of the new year 2014 bring you little joys and simple surprises that will fill up each day with fun and happiness.
Happy investing..,
Thanks for your kind words Phani! Wish you the same. Regards.
A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO VISHAL JI AND ALL MY FELLOW TRIBESMEN.
Happy investing.
Regards,
Kishor.
Thanks Kishor! Wish you the same. Regards.
A critical lesson for me… For a novice who will start out, this year…. what not to do seems to be a good way to start… Vicarious Learning 😀
All the best Sudipta! 🙂
Better post to wish Munger a very happy birthday… Enjoying Poor Charlie’s almanack presently..
Thanks Sunil!
Very well put “What does not make you stronger will kill you.”
So the threat of such a thing/ thought/ event is that serious. Would agree, it is a very good way to look at life on a day to day basis.
Indeed Sudhir. Happy new Year to you! Regards.
happy new year vishal
there are two ways of living one of worrying about our weakness like I am not as good as xyz in cricket or investing , another is knowing you strength and building on them . investing is no different . everyone has different style . Ben style developed during depression and long period of stagnation 25 year of no growth is quite different from warren / munger who developed his style in best years of US growth . one should adopt any style blindly without understanding context and individual competence
That’s true, Shailesh. Thanks for your thoughts!