The Investing Playbook

The world of financial markets is often unpredictable as the weather, yet among the seemingly random events that occur within it, the markets also tend to behave in a somewhat organized manner (I cannot use the term “predictable” as it would sound like an oxymoron, but then again, the markets are already a form of oxymoronic oxymoron). Calling it an organized chaos, or chaotic organization, would be an understatement. 

I had mentioned a few times in my posts that the markets and the economy in general are run by many moving parts, which in turn are guided by many factors and variables that we can think of (yes, the weather included). Over time, these things would settle onto some sort of pattern, which we can (more or less) guesstimate (I am avoiding the word “predicting” here) what is going to come next.

 

With these patterns, investors sort of came out with their own versions of the investing playbook, or something along that line. It may exist in physical in the form of a scribbled journal or a typed-out manuscript in a Word document on one’s computer, and intangible in the form of spoken words during a discussion or stored within the neurons of one’s brain. The common thing about the playbook is that it is constantly evolving with new inputs after lessons are learnt and feedback obtained from recent experiences.

 

When compared together, the contents of each investor’s playbook will differ with one another, and ranging from almost similar to complete opposite. What works for one may not work for the other, but somehow they still bring in the dough for the authors, some or most of the time.

 

It is good to know the trains of thoughts of other investors (and traders) so that we could learn for the betterment of our investing (and/or trading) selves. You may want to incorporate ideas and concepts that align with your philosophy and methodology, and for those which are against yours, you could either try to amalgamate to suit your needs, or abandon if it is too adverse. No matter the alignment of the others’ playbooks, their common aim is to serve the owner and the eventual readers (and listeners) in their investing/trading journeys.