Zen- Vesting: The Road to Graham-and-Doddsville (4)

“That which we manifest is before us; we are the creators of our own destiny. Be it through intention or ignorance, our successes and our failures have been brought on by none other than ourselves.” (Garth Stein)

In all our undertakings, might they be entrepreneurial or in stock market investing, we must first examine our own strength and weakness. Next, scrutinize the enterprise. And finally, the persons with whom we are dealing with.

It is my opinion that the first point is the most important when it comes to stock market investing. It is so crucial to know oneself because human beings are prone to overconfidence and to overvalue themselves and their skills. Human beings tend to reckon that they know and can do more than really is the case.

Especially in stock market investing should the investor never forget that all market participants are, to a certain extent, slaves to Mr. Market’s wheel of fortune. Some market participants, the “Value Investors”, are only in loose and golden chains. The majority, the speculators, in strait ones.

Even the people on Wall Street that bind most of the market participants are slaves themselves. Some to power, others to wealth. Some to offices, and others to contempt. Some to their superiors and institutions, others to themselves.

Even worse, is not life itself servitude? If it may so let us make the best out of it! Let us mend our fortunes in stock market investing with our philosophy to investing, knowledge about ourselves and fellow investors and virtuous behavior according to that knowledge

Let us not desire anything out of our reach, but rather content us with things we know and hopefully have at hand. Let us do so without envying the advantages and greatness of other investors. Because history has shown repeatedly that greatness often stands upon a shaky precipice.

Thus, let us never forget that it is less spectacular living upon a level, i.e. following the framework to investing outlined by Graham and Dodd and investing only within our circle of competence, but nevertheless much safer and quieter.

Reference:

Frances and Henry Hazlitt; The Wisdom of the Stoics; University Press of America 1984