Patience, Persistence and Faith


Life is a journey worth taking, even though none of us has been given the choice to take it or not. Now that we are here, in it, let’s explore together some aspects that would make this inevitable journey enjoyable, as well as rewarding.

Remember learning to ride your first bike, competing with your classmates, working hard to get your first paycheck? None of those, and million other things, you’ve achieved or endured, would have seen the light without the jewel of all virtues: Patience!

Yet, patience alone is not enough, especially if it was serving the wrong dream; something that would lead to agony instead of joy, to disappointment not satisfaction. But do we always pick and choose what to bear and what not? A sudden illness, the death of a loved one, natural disasters, the list is long, very long.

Here comes another weapon in the face of the unfortunate: Persistence. One could be patient, but that patience is short-lived, fleeting as soon as the squeeze of the situation gets firmer. I’m not talking hypothetically, but rather factually.

Persistence is staying the course, no matter what it takes. Tough? You bet! Nevertheless, and most of the time, behind that mountain of toughness there would be a meadow of peace.

Now you might ask: Where do I get the momentum, the positive energy to be patient and persistent? You need a purpose you believe in. And that is the third element: Faith.

Without unwavering faith in what you do, and where you’re going, it’s almost impossible to endure patience, let alone persistence. Faith gives you the capacity to ‘see’ what’s beyond that which seems ugly and impossible. It gives a feeling of assurance and an enriching sense of possibility, of reaching that which you’ve been striving to reach.

In the next story we will talk about tips that would enhance our ability to attain and maintain these three vital life endowments: Patience, Persistence and Faith.

Stay tuned!

TWM

 

P.S. This post has also been published on Medium.com under Yaman Saleh, Owner of TWM

View at Medium.com

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How to Weather Mr. Market’s Moods


By now, you probably have created a portfolio of carefully picked stocks. Each has a wide Margin Of Safety (MOS). We did talk about how to achieve that in a previous post. Simply put: Never pay the price tag. Not only that; but go to the extent of paying 50 cents for each dollar. You may wonder: But how? If I found a beautiful business, and fell in love with it, how could I wait till its price fell to those levels?

The answer is the following: Since Mr. Market is moody, its movements are not always logical. Often times it does punish a good, or even a great, business, and yank its share price way down. If you did your homework of investigating good businesses and placing them on your radar screen, you would capture that opportunity and buy as many shares as you could. This also requires having cash put aside for such instances.

So back to the title of this post, in order to withstand price fluctuations, especially in times of uncertainty, or even recessions, you need a portfolio that has been built based on the principles we’ve been talking about; that’s number one. Number two, you need the emotional stamina to stay put! Yes, do nothing till the storm passes. In the middle of the hurricane, you can remain stable, because you know your businesses are good, and you know you had bought them at attractive prices, so they will bounce back for sure.

Any action you take, you will most probably regret later when the sun rises the next morning! Sometimes inaction is the best of actions. It’s helpful here to have a longer view of your investment, part of your investment strategy (which I will talk about in a future post) is to decide a time span of your portfolio. This could be three, five, or even 10 years. Having that in mind, helps you ignore monthly fluctuations and weather the storm!

Till the next post, happy investing 🙂

The Wealth Maker

Value-based Investment: Mr. Market


Mr. Market

We’ve been using this term rather casually. Ben had used it in his book: “The Intelligent Investor” at several occasions.

I like to use metaphors. I find them easier to understand and to relate to, by so many people.

Imagine you are in the middle of the ocean, the Pacific for example. Your are the captain of a well-built ship. You’ve mastered the skill and the art of sailing such a vessel. You have a good deal of control over the ins and outs of that ship. However, do you control the weather? No one claims that, even the best of captains!

What you do, as an “Intelligent Captain”, is that you make sure that you understand the physics of the weather, and know the up-to-date weather forecast. Now you sail your ship, so that Mr. Weather is on your side; blowing your sails in the right direction, even during the harshest storms.

Got the idea? No one can control Mr. Market. It’s so moody, no one can even predict its next move for sure, ever. So, what can we do? We select our investments carefully, so that the ups and downs of Mr. Market’s moods do not affect us dramatically. We sometimes use those rather extreme variations to our benefit. We will see how, down the road.

For now, think of Mr. Market as the weather. Be prepared as much as you can. But don’t waste too much time trying to precisely predict its next move. Even worse, trying to time it.

When your investment strategy is based on solid principles, patience and discipline, Mr. Market’s current mood has little effect on the future of your portfolio.

Happy investing..

To be continued…