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The 13 Virtues, from Dylan Distasio

I am sure you have seen and heard the story of Benjamin Franklin’s 13 moral virtues, but here they are as a good reminder for all of us:

TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.

SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.

ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.

RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.

FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing. (more…)

Give It Up

Sometimes, it’s the right thing to do. Traders must learn to honor stops and accept losses — that’s just part of the game.

Honor Your Stop

Why is it so hard to honor your stops? It is because we are taught not to quit in life. In trading, quitting is often the thing to do. If you are new to trading or lack discipline, you must place actual stops. You cannot say that you will exit the market if it goes against you by X amount and then sit there like a deer in the headlights as the market blows past that stop.

Placing actual stops makes your decision a passive one and not an active one. The market will make the decision for you if you are wrong.

Once you gain experience, confidence and discipline, you can use mental stops to help avoid being stopped out under certain specific conditions. However, when learning or having difficulties following your plan, you should place actual stops.

View A Potential Loss As A Cost

There is a cost to doing business in any field. You will have to pay for office supplies, computers, printers, and inventory if you are selling something tangible. When you run low on supplies or inventory, you accept the fact that you have to buy more. A loss in trading must be viewed the same way. It is simply the cost of doing business.

It Would be A Mistake To Think That The Bailout Is Actually A Bailout Of Greece

The ECB has talked more hawkish than the Federal Reserve but basically they are all money printers. Some are better at it, and faster and have more efficient machines the others are slower but basically central banks, they run a print and print.

And it would be a mistake to think that the bailout is actually a bailout of Greece. Greece is a write-off. You can`t have the kind of debt Greece has with Olive Oil income. They have no industries to speak of. They have shipping but the shipping industy does not pay taxes in Greece.

So basically the bailout is actually a bailout of the ECB itself because they already have a lot of paper of Spain, portugal and Greece in their portfolio and a bailout of the banks in Europe. They lent money to Greece, Spain and Portugal, so they are all in the same boat.