Monthly Archives: January 2018

From Park Mode to Flow

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Funds find their way …

… to where they want to be.

Thus, if you’re sitting on some surplus, let it sit.

Pressure will be there, to do something about the funds.

Park.

There’s a German saying.

Aus den Augen, aus dem Sinn.

Meaning, that what’s away from one’s eyes is also away from one’s mind, literally translated. However, you do get the drift.

Park your funds in such a manner, that you can’t immediately see them.

It can be something as simple as a savings account linked fixed deposit.

I prefer liquid funds, with my broker in between.

To call in the funds, I need to dial my broker. Then, a full working day needs to elapse before I have access to the funds in my savings account. I find this activation barrier slightly higher than logging in to net banking and nullifying a fixed deposit. That would give access in just two minutes. Too soon for me. I use my off-set day as a buffer, to perhaps contemplate about really going ahead with fund deployment or not. Access in two minutes would mean firing the gun without proper contemplation.

Yes, put an activation barrier between you and your funds. On purpose. Then they are truly parked. What do you do when you park your car? Handbrake on? Of course. So it is with parking of funds too. You put the handbrake on. Your activation barrier is the handbrake.

Now?

Now nothing.

Sit.

Do other stuff.

Lead a full life. Enjoy your life.

Time will pass.

Opportunities will come …

… and go.

Are they making you jump out of your seat?

No?

Right.

Keep park mode on.

Eventually, something will come along that will make you jump.

Homework gives a green signal.

You will want to be in. Every cell in your body will say so.

Kill park modus.

Let the funds flow to where they want to flow, into this opportunity that is making you jump.

Let it be has now turned into let it flow.

The Calm before the Storm

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Market forces …

… are a storm.

Minimum exposure or burnout…,

… that’s your choice.

To work in a market, you’ll need to be exposed to that market.

Sure.

However, the extent of that exposure is up to you.

I like to keep it minimal.

Why?

Firstly, what is minimal?

For me, it works out to about an hour a day. Four markets.

All activities in all four markets are accomplished inside of an hour, and then that’s it for the day. See you tomorrow. Nothing pending. Bis Morgen. À bientôt. Kal milenge. This includes any research pertaining to the trading market concerned.

Was this always so?

No.

Initially it used to take me up to three hours.

So how?

Streamlining.

Systems, systems, systems.

Practice.

Eventually, under one hour, with full justice done to each market.

So why minimal?

Market forces are poisonous. They shake up one’s entire nervous system. One’s after-market world-experience can then be tricky, and there can be explosions, misunderstandings, skirmishes, arguments etc.

With the minimal one hour, I still have to deal with milder versions of the above scenarios.

Milder is where I would like to draw a line. Non-market life makes the bulk of one’s existence. Why should one’s market-life be allowed to spoil one’s non-market life?

I have another secret weapon which I would like to share with you today.

It’s a powerful method to deal with market-forces.

Yes, I prepare myself thoroughly to deal with that one hour.

Calm.

I like to accumulate calm.

Till 1 pm I’m accumulating calm, doing other stuff, and no market stuff, but lots and lots (and lots) of other stuff.

1-2 pm. I do my four markets.

Calm – switch on – calm – do – calm – switch off – calm – forget till next day – calm.

That’s it.

This above line is my weapon. It’s very powerful. It won’t let market forces beat you. I share it with you. For free. Why? It gives me joy. I like to share. Sharing increases my happiness. It makes my life fuller.

I’m not going to tell you to start sharing stuff.

It suffices to narrate the effects of sharing.

Whether you want such effects in your life or not is up to you.

One way of getting them is to start sharing.

Resisting the Devil’s Lure

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The lure is tremendous. 

It’s flashy. 

It’s in the limelight. 

It’s happening. 

It wants to take you for a ride. 

It’s called Crypto.

There’s talk about “it’s the internet of the future”. There’s talk about how there’ll be no governments and how people will rule over their own currency. Enough to sweep one away. 

However, cryptos go against the grain of everything a steady long-term investor stands for. 

Origin is unknown. 

Banks won’t store. 

Governments rejecting.

Legit?

Do you know the answer?

Main exchange went bust in 2014. Got hacked. 

Terrorist and launderers have found in them a smooth haven. 

How is one to understand Blockchain?

X number of people agreeing that the sky is purple – does that make the sky purple?

What about all the cousins?

There are many cryptos. 

There’s one springing up every few weeks.

Which ones are going to be around in 10 or maybe 20 years?

Yes, long-term investors think …

… long-term. 

Cryptos are making people taste fast bucks. 

Fast bucks made in a few days can spell disaster…

…because this is a trajectory that makes one want to bet the farm at the peak. 

Crypto players are being set up for something big. 

The amount of ammunition prevailing is enough to bludgeon lots. 

Pigs will get slaughtered. Always happens. Very few people in the world know how to trade. Let alone knowing how to trade, very few can even define what a trade is. 

Cryptos are a trade. Period.

That too, if one wants to trade cryptos.

Why wouldn’t one want to trade cryptos?

For starters, very high beta. Not many traders are comfortable with high betas. 

Stepping into the crypto world means stepping out of one’s area of expertise initially. 

Why would one want to step out of one’s zone? Circle of competence means a lot to successful traders. 

Diversification?

Have crypto on your plate, and the sheer hullabaloo will disturb your other trading. The one you’ve taken so long to build up. Do you want that?

No. I don’t. I’m happy in my circle of competence.

I don’t want the disturbance. 

I don’t want the extremely high betas. 

I don’t want to get slaughtered. 

I want origin. 

I want legit. 

I don’t want bust exchanges. 

I don’t want to make my computer a target. 

I don’t want to be doing what terrorists and launderers are doing.

I don’t buy the mining story. 

If the sky is blue, I want to have the freedom to call it blue, even if a billion people are calling it purple.

My common sense says no. 

Therefore, my exposure to cryptos is nil. 

I resist the devil’s lure.