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Truth and Trading

Recently I’ve been listening to The Teaching Company CD’s while I work out. I was particularly intrigued by a discussion of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, a Roman Emperor who had always wanted instead to be a philosopher. His philosophy could be summarized in this way: Get out of bed, do your duty, and appreciate things along the way. Not bad.

He believed in certain absolute values for living, and chose the values of Socrates which are truth, justice, courage, moderation, and wisdom.

Asking myself how these values impact trading I came up with some new insights. But first let’s look at how Marcus Aurelius defined these values. Professor J Rufus Fears, who teaches the course on “Books That Have Made History: Books That Can Change Your Life” explained it the following way:

1. Truth: Truth is an absolute value. Some things are true in all places and times. Resisting evil, for example, is always right.

2. Justice: Justice consists of treating others as one would wish to be treated. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” summarizes this concept of justice.

3. Courage: Courage means standing up for justice.

4. Moderation: Nothing should be carried to excess.

5. Wisdom: Wisdom enables a person to know what justice is, to recognize when courage is required, and to do what is right.

So how do these values play out in our trading? In this column, let’s explore truth as it applies to your trading. (more…)