Spending $XxK on Investment Courses: What Makes a Great Investor? Nature vs. Nurture

Singapore-based 8i Holdings seems to lack investing nous it espouses (Link)

image credit to businesstimes.com

This news headline in The Business Time  dated 31^st Jul 2018 really caught my attention as I wonder if value investing is a result of “nature or nurture “. Can someone paying a few thousand dollars to attend the so-called “ Value Investing Courses “ be able to practice what they teach and beat the market by getting Alpha or be beaten by Beta eventually. ( Link: Alpha , Beta, Smart Beta )

This is an interesting topics and debatable whether one can really learn to be a great investor like other's skills ( e.g sports / driving / abacus etc ). If not, then why do we need to pay a few thousand dollars just to learn how to invest or become next “Warren Buffett “ ( link: Success in Investing: Skill or Luck )

My suggestion will be going to the library and pick up some good investment books ( link: My Book List ), learn from your own or other’s people mistake throughout different market cycles ( link: Market Cycles ). 

It also doesn’t require you to be very smart or have exceptionally high IQ to be a great investor as well (link: Your IQ vs ROI ), one just need to have some basic accounting and economic background to read the balance sheet / PL statement and also some fundamental of macro-economics which affect the market and economy.

For me, the more important factors will be the “psychology “ aspect of you and Mr Market ( link: Psychology in Investing ) as well as understand the importance of Time ( Link: Here ) and Timing (Link: Here)of the market.

We have patience in real-estate investment (buying the second house as an investment ) and would keep it up to 10-20 years to get good R.O.I or investing in our own business in years to reap the good result. We don’t ask how much our house or business value each and every day but when come to stock investing, our mind-set totally change. Why ? ( Link: Patience is Your Biggest Investment Asset )

In order to be a successful investor, one will need to have patience. When we make our calculations on any investment, we must prepare to wait to make sure our investment plan materialize in the long run. We must also plan to take advantage of any short term bear market or when the crisis hit, be ready with your war-chest and have strategy on how to deploy it effectively and systematically.
( Link: Stock Market Crisis and War-Chest)

"I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption they could close the market the next day and not re-open it for five years." -- Warren Buffett

Some good articles for further reading :

Does nature trump nurture when it comes to investing? ( from The Irish Times )

Academic research confirms that how our brains are wired can affect investment performance. In fact, a little bit of brain damage may be no harm. 

Great Investors = “functional psychopaths”

Nature vs. Nurture: What Makes a Great Investor? ( From US News.com)

Do We Need to Spend Few Thousand $$$ on Investment Courses? ( From STE Investment Blog)

Quote Of The Day :

Keep calm and carry on!

Over the period of time, a good investor creates wealth due to his patience. It is probably the finest quality to have. A good investor has faith in his plans. They usually do not feel bad about the 10% downtick; they would rather sit tight to celebrate the 100% uptick. They are persistent about sticking to the plans. They usually do not get into the buy and sell trends.