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Morgan Housel’s 9 Financial Rules

  
  Education
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1. Nine out of 10 people in finance don’t have your best interest at heart.
2. Don’t try to predict the future.
3. Saving can be more important than investing.
4. Tune out the majority of news.
5. Emotional intelligence is more important than classroom intelligence.
6. Talk about your money.
7. Most financial problems are caused by debt.
8. Forget about past performance.
9. The perfect investment doesn’t exist.

Trading with the Tao

  
  Education
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“The Tao” means different things to different people. It’s generally thought to have been introduced to the world sometime around 500 B.C. in China.  Since then, millions of interpretations have been contemplated. In modern times, everyone from the Dali Lama to Willie Nelson has offered their take on it.

What exactly is “The Tao?”

It’s usually translated directly as “the way” or “the path.”  But most who have studied it agree that it also refers to “the Source” behind everything.  The unseen force in the universe that essentially makes things happen.

A Christian theologian would probably see similarities between the Tao and the “Holy Spirit.”  Physicists likely see it represented as “energy.”  Self-help gurus often compare the Tao to “consciousness.”  Luke Skywalker called it “the Force.”  Had Michael Jordan delved into the world of metaphysics, he probably would have referred to the Tao as “the zone.”

The overriding message of the Tao is that you’re either flowing with it or against it.  You’re either in the zone or out of the zone, using the Force or blocking the Force. However you want to describe it, the point is that you feel good and peaceful when you’re flowing with the Tao and you feel bad and fearful when you’re trying to fight against it. (more…)

Niederhoffer on making errors

  
  Education
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As a squash player, I was gifted. I had all the right things going for me. I practiced. I was very good with the racket, and I had tremendous anticipation. But I tended to play an errorless game by hitting a slice on my backhand, which took a lot of power off the ball. That wasn’t a disaster, but it was definitely a weakness in my game. My opponents always used to say that on a good day they could beat me, because they could hit more spectacular shots than me. But they never did. I went for about 10 years without losing a game, except to [the great Pakistani squash player] Sharif Kahn. He made about six, seven errors a game—but he also made eight or nine winners. I would make about zero errors per game but only one or two winners. He had the edge on me about 10-4, and I regret that I was never willing to accept the risky shots and confrontations, never willing to play a more error-full game.

In my market career, I took too many risks. In my squash career, I didn’t take enough.

I wish I had applied my squash methods to my speculating. I’d be a very wealthy man if I had.

3 Trading Myths

  
  Education
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Risk/reward is set in concrete. Nothing in trading, with the exception of the process, is set in stone. I have seen that stone sink many peoples trading careers. Risk/reward is as much of a filtering process as it is risk management. We look at market in terms of volatility, it keeps us out of slow times but it can dry up quickly. If it does we get out before the “reward”. If we see it expanding and everything lines up we will get out after the “reward”. We are always adjusting to the situation.

Every market move is a reason to trade. There are so many opportunities that there is no reason to create one. Once again, this is where the selection process comes in play. Staying on the sidelines is a trade. Being able to separate what happened from how you felt is important and makes it easier. Missing a move is part of being a trader, you can get over it now or later.

Traders take big risks. Bad traders take big risks. The difference between a retail and a professional is the professional trades bigger taking the same risk as the retail trader. That is in part because a professional sees more of the market and is flexible. They understand what they are comfortable risking and never get beyond that point with very limited exceptions. You cannot run away from the risk, it always reverts to the mean. But what you did before and when it does revert is the difference between profitable and unprofitable traders.

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