Going Boring

We all love excitement and thrills. It is thrilling to win a long odd bet or watch something irrational suddenly come to pass, but boring is better. I am thinking about that this morning and a few pieces of my old investment strategy exist in the current one.

Now the current one isn’t against long odds asymmetric moves, but it is about looking for the more boring pieces. Not such high energy growth components, and really that isn’t even that bad. 2% of an entire portfolio in one growth stock isn’t nearly that much, but last week I decided this isn’t an investment it is a trade, and now that I am near the exit I am wondering why I am not taking it.

Yesterday I had a plan, and it is a fine plan, and one worth testing. The issue is I am not sure I should keep testing it in this position. The question isn’t always buy low and sell high. It is sometimes could this money be doing something better or serving a better purpose right now. It isn’t about getting back what was lost. Simply taking available money and moving it elsewhere.

However the real outsized return happens if I am right, and that means the money needs to stay where it is. Conviction is a hell of a thing, because the world will always try and rattle it, and nothing is better at rattling than the market. It is an irrational beast.

It is an interesting thing getting more interested in my own investment strategy, and the thing I am worst at is following my own convictions. I got in an online discussion with someone on Netflix and they asked where the future is for them and my answer was video games, and now they have some sort of announcement coming up with GTA 6.

It really isn’t that bad as both Take Two and Netflix are part of my mother’s portfolio. Yet I have mine set on a different course, and that is another thing people struggle with. Staying on course. It has been two months and the what-ifs are already haunting me.

The biggest lesson is my idea of how to fund my conviction was wrong. Somewhat. It was neither wrong or right. Simply mistimed. That happens and will happen again. The question isn’t always did you make money or lose money. It is often where is the money doing the most good.