It is essential to understand and more importantly appreciate the power of compounding to fully grasp the cost of something, whether it’s a service or software or a one off-cost. Christina from SMSF Investment Strategies left a comment on my Preparing your own Self Managed Super Fund (SMSF) Tax post that she thought you had to use software like BGL’s Simple Fund to prepare your accounts and tax. That reminded me why I choose not to use BGL or any other paid software for my SMSF accounts. The short answer …

Try not to let the consequences of being wrong be ruinous. Concentrate your investments as Bruce Berkowitz does. ECRI says a strong recovery is already underway. So as usual the market leads the way by is 6-9 months.

“Consciousness is said to be a field; a plot of land in which every kind of seed has been planted – seeds of suffering, happiness, joy, sorrow, fear, anger, and hope. The quality of our life depends on which of these seeds we water. The practice of mindfulness is to recognize each seed as it sprouts, and to water the most wholesome seeds whenever possible.” Thich Nhat Hanh

As a child I always wondered why my father and his friends were not running the country. I couldn’t understand why dad wasn’t the coach of the All Blacks or why all referees were vision impaired idiots who did not know the rules. I was puzzled why only imbeciles were elected to run the country. My dad and his friends clearly knew better than all the coaches and politicians, their eyesight and in-depth knowledge of the rules of most sports were better than any referee. My dad and his friends knew how to fix the country and right all the wrongs. Why would no-one listen to them?

To be a successful investor you must focus on money management, risk management and portfolio management. Buy to sell and look for singles not home runs.

Rambling thoughts on margin, market timing and investing secrets. All wrapped up in a transparent veneer of self indulgence.

I am a market timer. However, I am not stupid enough to think I can time it with any accuracy. I am not arrogant enough to think I can predict the bottom. So I buy. I buy most comfortably on the way down, I am getting slightly better at not buying too early, but only slightly as my WM and IMB buys attest to.

I know many investors believe morals should be kept seperate from investing, but I’ve never been able to do that. My morals aren’t like a hat that can I toss on the hallstand when I come inside out of the sun to invest. When I invest I believe I am buying part of a company and am providing my company with part of the funds they require to carry on their business.

It’s my birthday today. Hip hip horray. This post discusses Santelli’s rant, my buying low discussion with my kids and contentment. Anyone interested in the markets must have heard if not seen Rick Santelli’s rant on CNBC. At the time I thought it was disgraceful. I thought we should organise an alternative Boston Tea Party where we throw Santelli overboard along with his mates.

The key to trading is emotional discipline. Making money has nothing to do with intelligence. Think of all the bright people that choose careers on Wall St. If intelligence were the key, there would be a lot more people making money trading. p 265 
The New Market Wizards has a high quote to page ratio with great insights on most pages. Read everything by Jack Schwager, you won’t be disappointed. As Fusion Investors we believe in fusing intelligence with emotional discipline. I’m really enjoying re-reading the Market Wizards series .

Make Time to Think About Yourself. The first thing new investors should do is think about themselves and their personality.