FAQs, normally these stand for “Frequently Asked Questions”,,, or for others, it could also be Frequently Avoided Questions. 🙂
Lorets, a friend from my choir days has been working as an IT professional in Singapore, and has realized recently that her working life is just keeping her family in the “rat race” and decided to attend seminars about wealth and financial freedom in the city-state. I guess we know what she’s talking about, spending so much of our lives at something that does not guarantee security is tough. When she thought of learning about stocks, my blog appeared in her view and we have been exchanging thoughts about our journey since.
She told me that she just attended another seminar, and asked me, “I get a clearer view even macro economics which I’m really not interested, why is it that I feel that its seems so simple & easy to invest? Is there any catch or blind spot that I need to learn?”
Excellent questions! I didn’t think of these when I started. 🙂 I guess being so excited about the possibilities (and tired from slaving in my job back then) I was in “shoot first, ask questions later mode” hehehe. Anyway, my answers :
Step Up
1) You are moving to a stage in life that opens you to this – you are “stepping up”, it’s a natural consequence of your growth
2) Marketing of the seminars and perhaps the content presented is simple and easy (if they say it’s hard who will go and do it?)
3) There are more and more opportunities to invest in “easily” because information is more accessible, and after that managing the investment can be done remotely — the way technology has enabled our lives is a big factor to this.
I said she should be proud of herself thinking about the question about blind spots. The important thing is to continue learning about particular investments you want, then limit your risks – that’s a good thing to learn before going in. You might think OK, you’ve done your homework and jumped into the opportunity, in reality, you will only know for sure how an investment would work when you’re already in it, I mean there will always be blind spots for anybody starting and even for experienced investor, a negative issue can always crop up (e.g. earthquake, change of policy). That’s why it is important to limit your risk so you can improve as necessary. Or stay alive to do another deal. (This is why position sizing is so important in trading). Having someone to hold your hand through the tough spots will also help greatly, benefit from their experience.
Like any “cook” can tell you, that any recipe can easily be learnt, but having the skills to do thingsright would take time and practice. So, no matter how things may look easy, know that you need to go slow while developing your skills.
Low and Slow at Mekong River, Laos -photo by AJ Mallari
I promised to get back to her about more about this, and will deliver on that promise on the next post. What about you, what questions have you got in mind? Would love to hear it! Please comment here or email me at charmel@highheeledtraders.com
