We have all played computer games during our free time, every single one of us. The end objective is always the same with gaming - to clear stages and win as an individual/team. I would like to draw an analogy on how investing can be similar to playing a game. No disrespect to the market here but its more for an illustration purpose.
When we embark on a new game, normally your game character/avatar (or whatever you call it) will be just stark naked and without any real "power"/"skill". The same can be said for investing whereby as a novice, you often feel "lost" and lacking in technical/fundamental analysis (that's a skill).
As the game progresses, you will gain experience and level up to boost points to your character's stats. Games now are also MMORPG with players from across the globe and all games have their own "landscape". In the investing world, the "game" is played regardless of language, race, gender, religion or nationality. Your "landscape" is limitless where you can trade in any markets across the globe that has an exchange. As you gain more experience in your investing journey, you'll feel more accomplished and often add new set of skills to your "arsenal".
Games have clans - last I goggled, it means "a group of people with strong common interest". Clans are often powerful as they rule by the law of numbers. If your clan has a "good reputation", you will gain items that are deemed as rare/unique and your clan is your family in the gaming world, often helping you clear objectives and protecting you from other clans.
The term we use for "clans" in the investing world can be your hedge funds, asset management firms, private equity firms - the larger/reputable the firm, the ease of information and more sophisticated tools are used to find good companies to invest in. Of course, the so called better "clans" are your Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley while good private equity firms would be your Blackstone Group, KKR and Carlyle Group. *Enough said about what they can do to global financial markets.
You can also choose which "class"/"type" of character you like to play the game with. Your "classes"/"type" will have different advantages/disadvantages in the game. With investing, we can choose different ways to do it - dividend investing, trading, value investing or growth investing. The different approaches taken by the investor will yield different results and not everyone will be interested in a specific approach. Some like to mix it up a little while others are purely following a strict strategy that yields them returns. Each and everyone of us possesses a different level of risk adversity and no matter what, as long as profits are made - everyone is happy.
All/Most games have an ending/last stage or whatnot whereby you're judged on how well you cleared the stage or how "decked out" your character is. People playing the same game as you will most likely be envious and respect you - some to the point of worshipping.
The difference in the investing world is that - you do not have an end game. We invest for as long as possible, to generate income passively/actively as much as possible. Every decision made will have an impact on how your returns/losses snowballs. There are no fixed rules to "play" this game and anyone can just walk out of it and never to return - (those who got badly scarred by the 2008 GFC).
However, more people are joining this "game" NOW. We are in a secular bull market for close to 6 years now and although this "game" does not state when it will "hang" due to server maintenance, we should be nimble and watch for signs of a change in trend/sentiment. Stay safe and remember to "save your game" (by taking profits)
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