Upon the mention of stock investing, one might imagine a person working in front of 4-6 monitors, reading many articles, and clicking buy and sell multiple times a day. This is only 1 aspect of the limitless world of the field of stocks.
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Last time, I was 19 years late buying the dvd of Top Gun 1. This time, I was only 5 days late buying the blu-ray of Top Gun 2. Quite the improvement.
You may have noticed that the U.S. stock market hasn’t performed well for the past 10 months since Omicron came out. In fact, we have officially entered into bear territory, when the stock indices dropped more than 20% from the highest point. Despite all the doom and gloom you’ve heard on the news or from other investors, I’m here to tell you to sit back, relax, see how low the rabbit hole goes, and hold on to your good companies. That honestly is the best thing you can do for your financial future. I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but that is because our minds like to play tricks with us.
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I scalded my forearm two weeks ago when cooking. As the wound started healing, I discovered how beef wellington was invented.
Whether it’s surviving in the outdoors, heading out to sea with your sailboat, or just hanging a clothesline at home, these 14 knots may make your life easier.
Color coding your closet makes it easier for you to choose your daily outfit.
Wednesday, September 15, 2021, 5pm:
Sorry, I’m cooped up playing Life Is Strange: True Colors. So my post will have to wait until next week.
Wed Sep 8 2021 5pm:
This week, I came up with a new saying on how to live with utmost happiness. It all boils down to 5 words. Do this correctly, and you’ll be happy beyond your wildest dreams. “Be good to good people.” It’s that simple really. Whenever you encounter hardships or even during the small decisions of daily life, be good to good people. Some may notice I haven’t mentioned how to tackle or deal with problematic people. It’s simple really. Based on the fact I haven’t mentioned problematic people in the 5-word sentence, means I don’t think about them. Because every minute I spend thinking about problematic people is a minute less I can spend with good people.
5:
As in the above statement, when concerning with financial peace-of-mind, it boils down to 6 words. You heard me say it a dozen times already. “Buy good companies at low prices.” And this phrase has held true for the past 3 years for me, as well as the past centuries for value investors. Anytime I’m not sure whether to buy a stock, I would ask myself am I buying this good company at a low price? If the answer is yes, I buy, even when all financial experts say sell. Anytime I’m not sure whether to hold a stock, I would ask myself did I previously buy this good company at a low price? If the answer is yes, I hold, even when all financial experts say sell.
P:
Today is the day that my parent and I become fully vaccinated from the regular version of Covid-19. Not an exceptional feat though, because of the Delta and Mu variants going rampant. But it does mean that we’ll have a barrier to lessen the health effects if we unluckily obtain the virus. And with another parent who can’t vaccinate because of pre-existing health issues, the spread of our weakened virus should be fought off by the immune system. By wearing masks, washing hands, and social distancing, I hope we won’t take the virus into our homes in the first place.
M:
In space, we can only see 15% of the matter in the universe, what is known as “regular” matter. These include stars, planets, moons, asteroids, dust, etc. The other 85% are not visible, but exists in the outer portions of large galaxies, including our own Milky Way. This “dark” matter is calculated to exist according to astrophysicists, it’s just that our present-day technology isn’t sophisticated enough to detect it. In my mind, this is similar to stock investing. We all know that buying good companies at low prices will deliver good returns over the long-term, just like we can see 15% of the regular matter in the universe. However, 85% or more of us choose not to buy good companies at low prices, probably due to laziness or impatience. Perhaps dark matter is lazily changing the universe behind-the-scenes, we’re just too impatient to realize it.
Wed Sep 1 2021 5pm:
5:
For as long as I’ve remembered, I’ve been super frugal. When I was a kid, I would save up all my allowance and money from Chinese New Year into the bank account. Even working in engineering, I would try to save every dollar. But recently, I’ve been trying to save every dime and that is starting to feel a little bit overboard. Just this Saturday, I didn’t go to a relative’s birthday party in order to save $65. I justified that decision for using the money to buy 2 extra shares in X, my first real stock purchase since April 2020. Yes, bgcalp (buying good companies at low prices) is important, but I’m sure I can give up 2 shares to go to a relative’s party. It’s been forever since I’ve seen them because of covid.
So I’ve made my decision. From now on, I won’t try to save every dime, I’ll splurge and only save every quarter instead.
P:
A while back, I borrowed 3 books from the library, my sanctuary for knowledge. (For some reason, I just feel at home with the books and back before covid, when I also read the Wall Street Journal there.) The 3 books were involved with each of the 3 sections of this post ($5M, Parents, Mars) as I’m constantly searching for efficient paths towards the goals.
This section’s book was probably the most under-rated one. More than a year ago, I found a book about caring for elderly parents, but I didn’t borrow it because it didn’t feel like the time. But honestly, when is the perfect time? My parents are over 70, even though they may look younger. However, I recently noticed one of them sleeping more than usual and walking shorter distances than usual. These are the things I have to cope with by myself. But what if the elderly parents book talks about all this and how experts themselves cope with it. Won’t it be much better than having not read the book? And I must say that after reading 40 pages, I’m glad I took it up. It helps so much. One of the more important points it mentions is that the elderly holding on to their daily routine is akin to their last dignity. This is different from us younger folks who always want to switch things up.
It’s been a few days since 2 of my family members and I have taken our 2nd shot of the covid vaccine. Thankfully, for me at least, the side effects were more tolerable than after the 1st shot. Only a mild fever lasting 3 hours.
M:
Going to Mars, it seems lately I’ve taken my knowledge of science for granted because of my engineering degree in Toronto. However, I’ve never studied astrophysics, which may be the talk of people going to Mars in the future. The last thing I’d want is for me to talk to other passengers about science, health and investing, and have them point out I’m clueless in astrophysics. So I’ve decided to start simple, I borrowed Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry”. I figured I can focus learning more about specific areas mentioned in his rather general book, topics like terraforming Mars, time dilation, and aliens.
Even though I’ll only be a paid customer on the eventual trip to Mars, I still need to cover the basics.
MANTA Piece 