Do We Need to Spend Few Thousand $$$ on Investment Courses ?

One of the reader email me and asking about the idea of attending an investment course which cost him a few thousand dollars. I am quite reluctant to give advice in this regards as I never attended any investment course before and not sure about the useful and effectiveness of such courses.

For me, investing is a long learning journey and one need to read extensively and learn from your own mistake not just sitting in the classroom for a few hours or days , listening to some “experts “advice or slides presentation on how to be a successful investor.

I don’t mind if you need to spend few hundreds dollar just to get your “Mind-

set “ right on Value Investing or some basic accounting or financial analysis skills in order for you to understand the figures behind the financial report of each company. But few thousand dollars for an investment course ….Ummm

Successful Investing: Nature? Or Nurture? ( click here )

This is an interesting article from Forbes questioning about the success of investing could it is “ Nature or Nurture “? Can investment skill be learned and taught?

According to some studies ..” Evidence Suggests A Little Of Both, But Mostly Nurture:

If you ask most extremely successful investors they will tell you that investing is a skill they developed and learned at some point along their journey.”

The KEY words here is .. skill the developed and learned ….along their journey.

And also, they have pointed out 3 traits most successful investors have :

Learn From Your Mistakes:

One common trait successful investors share is that they learn from their mistakes. Most successful investors became successful after making - and here's the key - learning, from all the classic beginner mistakes that nearly everyone makes

Be Patient:

Another successful trait successful investors share is that they know profits are a function of time and know the importance of being patient.

Respect Risk:

Another trait that successful investors share is that they respect to risk. I have yet to see a very successful investor achieve massive success for a sustained period of time without respecting risk.

Here, I repeat, Successful Investing is through extensive reading and learning from your own mistake in the different market cycle.  Be realistic on your “Risk and Return” expectation, a proper measurement of returns would be justifiable in the long run and not just an extraordinary return in a short period of time.

My Collection of Books and My Book List ( here ), if you want to know what am I reading to improve and sharpen my investment skills.

You may find that quite a number of books in my Book List were those in “ Behavioral Finance and Market Psychology “ as I always emphasize that the stocks market is a combination of “ Science of Valuation and Art of Market psychology “.

Further reading: My Investment Strategy : 3 Ts 3 Ms ( part 3)

Ben Carlson from A Wealth of Common Sense   is one of my favourites blog which I will read most of the time as his “Common Sense “ approach in highlighting some investment ideas is not common at all.

If you have no time to read all his blog post, here is the good summary of his thoughts on investment :

36 Obvious Investment Truths

Well, for the reader who asked me the question earlier , although I didn’t give you my direct answer of yes or no, I think from this blog post, you get to know what I mean ….

Cheers !!

Quote Of The Day :

“Successful investing is more about behaviour and temperament than IQ or education.” From Ben Carlson “ A Wealth Of Common Sense “

PS: How much will you be accumulating if you put the money (say $4888) into Index Fund which may give you a return of 8.8% p.a: compounding ( just an example ) in the next 25 years of the investment life cycle?

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Well, no prizes for guessing it right !!  $ 40,258