I Will Not Die I Will Not Die A leading blog about human growth, personal achievement and freedom. Articles
My View on a View About My Views on Warren Buffett
2007-08-23 05:13:00 I was on Technorati the other day and I noticed that Dennis Goedegebuure at the Moneydiet blog mentioned my blog in a post titled Investing like Warren Buffett . At first I have to admit that I was flattered to have received unanticipated attention. I have thanked him for taking the time to mention my work by adding a link to his blog in my blogroll (you can find the link about half way down on the sidebar). But then I read his post. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a searing indictment or anything, and he does after all seem to “feel good” about Warren Buffett like I do, but he doesn’t exactly cut me very much slack either. After writing a little about how rich people become rich and then about Warren Buffett’s early investment days, he says, “People like Warren Buffet don't come along that often, and the comparison that Dereck is trying to make on his blog and in his investment strategy is a risky one.” On the first point, I must totally agree. People like Warren B... More About: Views , View
How to Be Smug and Deserve It
2007-08-21 04:25:00 Have you ever noticed how it’s just not fun anymore to be smug? Suddenly, right when you were having fun, you’re a jerk. But what if it’s two smug people each eyeing the other before eyeing the object of their joke? Now it’s amusing again. Lesson: a non-smug thinks a smug a slug, but a smug thinks another smug a smug. And if any of that made any sense, we can now both be smug. You see, I recently wrote a guest blog on the Million Dollar Savings Club that involved stopping and thinking and well, it’s got me stopped and thinking. The charm that comes from stopping and thinking is that you forfeit the chance to be baptized by fire. Doesn’t sound so bad, eh? If you have a decision in front of you to make, like say, whether or not to pass the slow, obviously retarded driver in front of you, you can either say, “F-$%@-k it!” hit the gas and fly baby fly, or you can take a moment and think about whether or not it will really benefit you tangibly (besides the benefit of any... More About: Serve
How to Be Smug and Deserve It
2007-08-21 04:25:00 Have you ever noticed how it’s just not fun anymore to be smug? Suddenly, right when you were having fun, you’re a jerk. But what if it’s two smug people each eyeing the other before eyeing the object of their joke? Now it’s amusing again. Lesson: a non-smug thinks a smug a slug, but a smug thinks another smug a smug. And if any of that made any sense, we can now both be smug. You see, I More About: Serve
What My Chart Measures
2007-08-20 05:02:00 I decided I better write something about the chart at the top of my blog before some prudent reader of mine points out that the completed stock trades I’ve recently begun posting near the top don’t seem to correspond to the erratic line of that chart. I’ve been fortunate enough as of the time of this post to not have had to sell a stock at a loss. I am however, holding some that are hovering below a point of desired profitability. How all this is incorporated has become gruesomely complicated. Lots of ways to make a stock chart Making a chart that shows gains, under normal circumstances, is actually a really easy thing to do. But normal circumstances are limited in many respects; more complicated trading strategies cannot be summarized in the same ways. Let’s say you have $100 to invest. You buy one share of company XYZ for $100. The next day you notice that it’s trading for $105 so you can rightly say that you made 5%. Presumably, you could continue to track this ev... More About: Chart , Char
What My Chart Measures
2007-08-20 05:02:00 I decided I better write something about the chart at the top of my blog before some prudent reader of mine points out that the completed stock trades I’ve recently begun posting near the top don’t seem to correspond to the erratic line of that chart. I’ve been fortunate enough as of the time of this post to not have had to sell a stock at a loss. I am however, holding some that are hovering More About: Chart , Char
How to Diversify Your Way Out of Gains
2007-08-18 06:31:00 In times like these, one predominating mantra consistently being sung, hummed and I bet by someone even whistled, is the benefits from investment diversification. While most people stare hopelessly at their losses feeling the sinking sensation that they made a big mistake and wonder just how much pain they can withstand before sending their whole portfolio into the hands of eager buyers willing to pay a fraction of what it was bought for, they ask the question, “What could I have done to avoid this predicament?” The answers are abundant. All the finger shakers and I-told-you-so-ers suddenly speak up. Before you know it, they’re the ones asking all the questions: “What, you weren’t diversified?” and “You did plan for this, right?” ***** So this guy I knew (John) spent a typical day like as follows: he woke up in the morning, took a shower, slammed down some orange juice in between shirt button buttonings, then rassled with his young son while tying his shoes, grabb... More About: Sify , Dive
How to Diversify Your Way Out of Gains
2007-08-18 06:31:00 In times like these, one predominating mantra consistently being sung, hummed and I bet by someone even whistled, is the benefits from investment diversification. While most people stare hopelessly at their losses feeling the sinking sensation that they made a big mistake and wonder just how much pain they can withstand before sending their whole portfolio into the hands of eager buyers willing More About: Sify , Dive
Advantages of the Perspectival Mind – Part III
2007-08-13 00:41:00 Now, finally, we can beautify the ugly; here is the place where magnificent swans are born. Our “swan” is that which we, as investors, as thinkers, have in common. It is at the same time that which we can both scorn and affirm. It is the glory in death that the courageous soldier both fears and accepts at the same time. Investing in the stock market “truly”—in contrast to say investing in More About: Mind , Part , Advanta , Ages
Advantages of the Perspectival Mind – Part III
2007-08-13 00:41:00 Now, finally, we can beautify the ugly; here is the place where magnificent swans are born. Our “swan” is that which we, as investors, as thinkers, have in common. It is at the same time that which we can both scorn and affirm. It is the glory in death that the courageous soldier both fears and accepts at the same time. Investing in the stock market “truly”—in contrast to say investing in mutual funds or other baskets (i.e. those things which minimize risk to such a degree so as to guarantee the nothing-so-special kind of gains one can expect from such things), is itself a not so arbitrary act of the will that intends to direct our course closer to a destination at a faster pace than mere walking (or worse, crawling or even standing still). While you’re on that little sprint or jog glance to your left. You might see me. It is with that camaraderie that I’m glad to say, “Nice to meet you.” We rarely hear from those who already finished the race about the moment... More About: Mind , Part , Advanta , Ages
Advantages of the Perspectival Mind – Part II
2007-08-07 06:08:00 Can these men be our heroes? They can be if you read and fully understand this. Our previously crushed cocky man with a system (you remember, the one who could never do anything right) has done the one most incredible right of all the incredible rights. Now he has hope. His trackrecordless system is the novel written by a man who never wrote a book. And what of Mr. Ulcer? The contrast from which we drew such humor is ultimately absent in reality: that which we found so funny was that which we made entirely up. Men like that don’t really work at Ritter’s. The fire in that man never mingles with ice cream. That man’s hopes and dreams and will are focused on his job; his job is likely that one job which can give him focus. And what of our computer nerd? The moment we can understand his distance to reality is the moment when he is closest to it. He now yearns for a real triumph. Mouse clicks become stock ticks and now there’s no option to spawn. Winning is still w... More About: Mind , Part , Advanta , Ages
Advantages of the Perspectival Mind – Part II
2007-08-07 06:08:00 Can these men be our heroes? They can be if you read and fully understand this. Our previously crushed cocky man with a system (you remember, the one who could never do anything right) has done the one most incredible right of all the incredible rights. Now he has hope. His trackrecordless system is the novel written by a man who never wrote a book. And what of Mr. Ulcer? The contrast More About: Mind , Part , Advanta , Ages
Advantages of the Perspectival Mind – Part I
2007-08-03 06:16:00 I often find myself reinventing new reasons for exiting the stage so to speak and entering the audience. Often, here, might even be an understatement. Reasons, here, might be anything from curiosity to exercise to empathy to even self-insight. Or hell, it might even be them all. What might start off as a curious indulgence might lead to a mental exercise that produces a kind of empathy that More About: Mind , Part , Advanta , Ages
Advantages of the Perspectival Mind – Part I
2007-08-03 06:16:00 I often find myself reinventing new reasons for exiting the stage so to speak and entering the audience. Often, here, might even be an understatement. Reasons, here, might be anything from curiosity to exercise to empathy to even self-insight. Or hell, it might even be them all. What might start off as a curious indulgence might lead to a mental exercise that produces a kind of empathy that teaches one something about the self. You’ve seen them all before—either from films or from books or from your own mind’s eye. You see the stock traders, slightly overweight, overconfident, boasting of the “system” they have that annihilates traditional gains who express all sorts of frustrations because of all the stupid people out there who for some reason don’t believe them. Or there's the Tums-popping, red-faced, high blood pressure types whose very own animations precisely mirror whatever erratic behavior the markets’ charts are exhibiting. Then too there are the geeks who... More About: Mind , Part , Advanta , Ages
Being Honest About Warren Buffett
2007-07-28 03:23:00 Now let’s recount the reason we, or I if you don’t want to eat my words with me, have to try to analyze the man’s success under lesser lights. As mentioned before, by the lowest estimate, Buffett turned 610 thousand into 148 billion. My prior differentiation suggests that I don’t have $610,000 but at the same time, having my roots as they were, I don’t really need $148 billion either. So let’s More About: Warren Buffett , Warren , Honest , Fett
Being Honest About Warren Buffett
2007-07-28 03:23:00 Now let’s recount the reason we, or I if you don’t want to eat my words with me, have to try to analyze the man’s success under lesser lights. As mentioned before, by the lowest estimate, Buffett turned 610 thousand into 148 billion. My prior differentiation suggests that I don’t have $610,000 but at the same time, having my roots were they were, I don’t really need $148 billion either. So let’s pretend I’d be happy with a nice round million. If we take his yield as our yardstick (and I always will be from this point forward), but ignore his initial investment (which necessarily makes us ignore his ending amount), we can get that million with a mere $4.12:Of course, while I’m optimistic now because I can summon the initial investment, I’m terrified that I might be dead before I get there.So this demonstration brings to light the extremities involved with my little Buffett discussion: if given enough money to begin with, and after having solid returns for a very lon... More About: Warren Buffett , Warren , Honest , Fett
Enjoying Warren Buffett
2007-07-28 00:41:00 Let’s recount the reasons why we should like Warren Buffett . For starters his discipline illustrated in his investing is obviously unmatched. This discipline lends itself to his consistency. To exemplify the awesomeness of this consistency, let’s look at a specific example. When we turned his history into a math problem, we concluded that in order to achieve the kinds of gains he did, from More About: Fett
Enjoying Warren Buffett
2007-07-28 00:41:00 Let’s recount the reasons why we should like Warren Buffett . For starters his discipline illustrated in his investing is obviously unmatched. This discipline lends itself to his consistency. To exemplify the awesomeness of this consistency, let’s look at a specific example. When we turned his history into a math problem: we concluded that in order to achieve the kinds of gains he did, from beginning to end, he had to have yielded about 28% compounded per year for 51 years, which by doing so turned a little bland—sidestepped entirely in fact—the overall gain he made which was…are you ready?... 24,262,195%. That’s right: that’s millions of percentage points. He did that by being bland for 51 years without missing one. Of course in real life he no doubt had better years and worse years, but the net end is the same. That would be like picking fifty stocks in a row that went up a third in value, and never picking one that didn’t. That kind of track record would look l... More About: Fett
Warren Buffett
2007-07-27 03:19:00 Just like earlier, when I suggested the idea that any interpretations of my words regarding the movie pi which opined anything resembling dislike were not necessarily true, I must now too suggest the same about other words: those I said regarding Warren Buffett . And I will suggest it in the same way. About the movie pi I said that regardless of my disagreement with the specifics used to illustrate his means to try to understand the stock market, I still really liked it. A lot. I had much more with which to like about it than the one thing with which I disagreed about it; but realize that I picked it because it was something I knew well, and knew it well because I liked it so much. The same must be said of Warren Buffett. Much to like about, one thing to disagree about. And not even really something to disagree about, but rather something that puts me in a world that is incompatible in a major respect to the world he lived in way back in good old 1956. Let's revisit what we like ab... More About: Fett
Warren Buffett
2007-07-27 03:19:00 Just like earlier, when I suggested the idea that any interpretations of my words regarding the movie pi which opined anything resembling dislike were not necessarily true, I must now too suggest the same about other words: those I said regarding Warren Buffett . And I will suggest it in the same way. About the movie pi I said that regardless of my disagreement with the specifics used to More About: Fett
The Other Road
2007-07-26 04:12:00 How does one then, go about justifying one’s presumptuousness which was presented as the stock premise of “being the best” (i.e. most profitable) which came about as the entry into a dialogue between like-minded (hopefully) people—because sharing what’s one interesting thing about the world is at least as good as spending it—and not necessarily exclusively as an entry into some strange world More About: Road , The O
The Other Road
2007-07-26 04:12:00 How does one then, go about justifying one’s presumptuousness which was presented as the stock premise of “being the best” (i.e. most profitable) which came about as the entry into a dialogue between like-minded (hopefully) people—because sharing what’s one interesting thing about the world is at least as good as spending it—and not necessarily exclusively as an entry into some strange world flush with Lamborghini’s and routine vacations to sun-draped oceanic backdrops, after which one lays out up front the wrong ways of what connecting the dots can look like, which naturally leads to a defining generality that says, “watch your step!”, from which a good listener can start to notice things, things that can, once overcome, become alternate avenues which may lead to the same destination—as who? Well, it’s all good sport so let’s pick on Warren Buffett. How does one do all that? Well one starts with a blog, whether be it from boredom or loneliness of a sor... More About: Road , The O
What of All the Idols?
2007-07-21 21:47:00 As strange as it might sound, I’m going to honestly reveal the unpopular notion of mine that holding stocks for a long time has never seemed to be the smartest way to capitalize on their movement in price. But I should qualify “the smartest.” If one takes that to mean: the way in which one could soundly outperform even a high-yield savings account or CD while doing so by exposing oneself to the More About: Idols
What of All the Idols?
2007-07-21 21:47:00 As strange as it might sound, I’m going to honestly reveal the unpopular notion of mine that holding stocks for a long time has never seemed to be the smartest way to capitalize on their movement in price. But I should qualify “the smartest.” If one takes that to mean: the way in which one could soundly outperform even a high-yield savings account or CD while doing so by exposing oneself to the smallest known risks, then I will, time and again, be sorely beaten in any argument. What I mean, I suppose, is more simply: the way in which one could make the greatest possible gains, period; even more than the kinds of gains made by people who hold stocks long. In other words, echoing the closing words of my last post, those kinds of gains just weren’t good enough. Such a notion no doubt flies directly in the face of any close follower of Warren Buffett, that’s for sure. Why would anyone want to endorse a notion that was contrary in at least one major respect to the method ... More About: Idols
What Are the Things We Can Barely See?
2007-07-15 15:24:00 "All there is to thinking," he said, "is seeing something noticeable which makes you see something you weren't noticing which makes you see something that isn't even visible." Norman F. Maclean, A River Runs Through It (from the epigraph of Seth Benardete's Socrates' Second Sailing). This epigraph, besides being the fundamental set of instructions needed to illuminate Benardete's illumination More About: Things , Barely
What's My Point?
2007-07-14 02:22:00 So what's my point? If my point seems like an elaborate, protracted assault on the underlying principles behind a main recurring theme in the movie pi then you better deduct a few more points from my prudence. If however, there seems to be something more to it than that, then I better add some to yours. My point, more broadly, is that, were we to begin to make assumptions about the stock market More About: Point
Premises
2007-07-10 02:36:00 Now then let's get to work. If any of you have seen the movie pi then you are probably familiar with the "assumptions" that the character Max mentions several times: 1. Mathematics is the language of nature. 2. Everything around us can be represented and understood through numbers. 3. If you graph these numbers, patterns emerge. Therefore: There are patterns everywhere in nature. Now while I More About: Remi
In the Beginning
More articles from this author:2007-07-08 20:18:00 Welcome to the best stock trading in the world. Wait. Does that sound a bit presumptuous? It is, but for good reason. And this blog is intended to prove it. Shortly, I'll begin by chronicling this little adventure of mine, and by doing so publicly, it will become yours as well. I wrestled with the question of whether to actually create a blog about this or not for some time, and as is now More About: In the beginning 1, 2, 3, 4 |
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