Good Day from "try'in to be springtime in Michigan, still".
Grokking. Likely known by many other words, terms and philosophies.
From Robert A. Heinlein's book, "Stranger in a Strange Land":
"According to the book, drinking is a central focus on Mars, where water is scarce. Martians use the merging of their bodies with water as a simple example or symbol of how two entities can combine to create a new reality greater than the sum of its parts. The water becomes part of the drinker, and the drinker part of the water. Both grok each other. Things that once had separate realities become entangled in the same experiences, goals, history, and purpose." To GROK, per Robert A. Heinlein, 1961So, what in the world does, to grok or grokking; have to do with investing? I must borrow and adjust Mr. Heinlein's statement to: "The investor becomes part of the investment, and the investment part of the investor. Both grok each other. Things that once had separate realities become entangled in the same experiences, goals, history, and purpose."
There may be 1,000 basic directions with which to journey in a discussion about any such investing philosophy. The total is at least as many as those who post and/or visit MFO to read. For every 1,000 here at MFO who have a similar investing style; none of us will totally agree upon what an aggressive, moderate or conservative portfolio may consist.
To preface what follows; I must assume that there will be folks here who will: agree, somewhat agree, totally disagree; won't understand, presume that I have S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder) from the too long Michigan winter or lastly; that I have ordered and am testing the "baggy sampler" from the menu at a MaryJane store in Colorado. :)
The grokking thing. I have referred to this here before; but my replacement word has been,
intuition. As we upright walking creatures are similar; we are also different, due to our birth genetics and the "to-date" life experiences which shape our thinking processes. With this comes the vast variable of what one's intuition may be at any given time.
I can not dismiss intuition from any number of areas of one's life. I only know that one intuition that I feel most comfortable with, involves investing; more often than not, to the profitable side.
I can not pinpoint anything, in particular, from the first 20 years of my life that would draw my interest to investments. I only recall that in 1971, I discovered an awareness of the ability and possible methods with which to use my hard earned monies to gain further monetary rewards.
Ten thousand hours to a better understanding? This is the near equivalent to a full, 40 hour work week for a
5 year time frame. The theory being, that one may come close to and/or achieve a near mastery of an area of study, assuming near normal mental or physical attributes. 'Course, some areas may be scratched from the list, early on, for many of us. In spite of any given passions, I have never had the physical build to be a basketball, football or baseball player of any consequence. Long distance, endurance running suits my physical ability.
The
passion of it all. The passion, for whatever it is or may mean to anyone, is a most important aspect, at least for me; for this investing game. I do not attempt to explain passion to myself or dwell upon how this exists in we humans. I accept the feeling or desire, plain and simple, for what it brings forth.
Periodically, I wonder, with a smile upon my face; how did I arrive at this investing place today, in my life?
Passion, 10,000+ hours of study, and intuition/grokking. As noted previous, I don't recall a real starting point regarding investing or how it arrived. I may only consider today that a passion came forth regarding investing, which places me here today. Without this, I wouldn't know or care about the existence of MFO and related investing sites and information.
The important (to our house) things I/we feel we understand over the many years (3
5) regarding investing.
---A very early and never forgotten impression of the value of compounding one's monies over the many time periods going forward. This also goes hand and hand with captial preservation, regardless of age or current money earning power from employment or other sources. Obviously, one can not compound monies that are no longer in their investment basket.
---Patience, an area of emotions, may also be a most difficult personal area, with which most ,likely do battle. Our house manages this area to the healthy side of investing.
---We do not generally hold cash for investment opportunities. We attempt to guage investment opportunity money as requiring to move money from one sector/area to another, as a trend may indicate.
---Rebalancing the portfolio. We don't pick or have a magic date to rebalance our portfolio holdings. If an area of the portfolio continues to move in the wrong direction; than that portion of monies will travel elsewhere.
---Portfolio monitoring. Aside from viewing markets overall, we do monitor; at least weekly, how any of our holdings are performing.
---Knowing what we don't know or fully understand. We understand our limitations of learning; when we have hit a wall of full understanding. We are comfortable with this; as decent portfolios and profits may be had without an overly complicated investor theory or management style.
---Personal monitoring. :) Being or becoming overconfident with the knowledge and intuition, that could cause problems with investments.
Investing concerns for this house must be with the broad markets of all forms and sectors; where we place our monies. However, the final decisions always remain with us, for our monies. Hopefully, I/we will recognize if and when the passion, intuition and our other investing standards start to fade. This could be the beginning of a greater concern for portfolio construction and performance.
Short summary for the personal side: passion, then study, then the intuition.
Lastly, as our house can't predict the investment marketplace; we work hard to predict ourselves and our reactions to the marketplace.
My quick review of this finds a bit of wandering and what seems to be some disconnected writing. No time for a fix and I'll let this stand, as is.
Thanks for letting me steal some of your time to ramble these thoughts. Perhaps there was something worthy to "grok".
Take care of you and yours,
Catch
