How To Be A Satisfied Investor Or Trader

Two months of the new year are already gone and sitting around on a day where I was not really inclined to do anything much in the market, I decided to take stock of what happened in the last two months. The market made great strides. Some stocks went up substantially while there were some that declined too. There was profit potential everywhere but how much of it was captured? Most of us did OK I would think but we are all left with that inadequate feeling that we all could have done more. Why, oh why, did I get out of that stock X so soon or why did I delay getting out of stock Y so late? Why did I do just X quantity in stock A which was a humdinger but loaded up on stock B which sucked wind most of the month? Thoughts like these fly thru us whenever we take stock of what we have done.

This brings us to a question of what gives us satisfaction when playing the markets. Is it a truckload of profits? For, that’s what we are all after! Thinking about that I wondered whether having 20x of my profits would make me happy? Or should it be 50x? What is that elusive figure? Then I thought that the only way that figure of X multiple can be resolved is to think of where money doesn’t matter any more. Like say the politicians, perhaps. For them, I am sure, it is no longer about money. Its about the power and the sense of importance and such like. I mean beyond the first XX crores, it all starts to become meaningless, right?

Thinking further down that line, I found that it is not really about the money even for us common folk. After all, winning KBC is not going to really make you ‘ secure’ does it? I would wager that most people may agree that working and creating a nice nest egg induces a lot more sense of security in an individual! So much for Lottery winnings then! This sense of ‘ security’ really goes beyond money, therefore. It seems to be, according to me, related to other elements of your life. Now here comes the crux. When it comes to Life, there are just so many things that you can control. Most of the stuff that happens to you are really beyond your control. Think about it.

So what I concluded was that real security- and consequently, real satisfaction will come from being in as much control as possible. Since that is an impossibility, we have to go for the next best thing. And that is, being able to handle whatever comes your way and emerge from it alive and kicking. This is a purpose to work towards in life. I believe that those who develop the sense of confidence that they can handle anything that Life throws at them and still emerge out of that unhurt are the truly free ones and hence the ones most contented.

Where does this fit into the markets? I think if we reach a point of learning and skill development where we are able to handle whatever the market does and we still emerge with our skin and bones intact (meaning profits accruing and losses not slaying us), then we can truly be satisfied with what we do in the market. If we are not at that point of confidence, then we shall forever be afraid of what the market can do to us, what it can take away from us etc and thus can never ever be free or contended. Unfortunately there are too many people in that category and only those that think and apply themselves will be able to elevate themselves to the other category. True deliverance in the market therefore is confidence rather than profits. If the former is in place, the latter is just an eventuality.