Last Mile Report

Hey.

Please don’t mistake this report for…

…a description of one’s last moments…

…or last-minute diaries…

…or wherever your imagination might take you.

Where exactly am I reporting from?

Imagine a surgeon. What’s his or her last mile?

The intricacy of a stitch.

A complicated, entangled tissue removal.

Oneness with patient vitals vis-à-vis current surgery on open body.

Coherence in instruction to surgical team, clarity about correct surgical instrument received, hand-eye coordination during surgical movement, whatever have you.

Businessman?

Anatomy of the deal.

Profit margin calculation.

Implementation of capital expenditure.

Rapport with staff in the field.

Liaison. Thought-process culmination. Long-term vision. Legacy.

Cut to self.

With a quasi-sealed long-term portfolio with not much activity in it happening or planned, it is trading that one takes to, for distraction.

Why distraction?

One doesn’t want to be thinking of one’s long-term portfolio…

…at all.

Instead, occupation at nitty-gritty level seems to be where the wind is blowing towards.

I must report, that I have arrived at my last mile.

We’re talking straddle tent-building to ensnare price next morning, and squaring off a trade within a few seconds with the objective of taking home a profit.

Observation of price action.

Identification of anomalies.

Setting up of multiple tents operating in tandem, forming an envelope around price.

Coming to terms with emotional overhang.

Digesting market forces as they intermingle with the nervous system.

Accepting monetary loss from time to time and trying to keep it small.

Controlling one’s emotions as profit develops, trying to let it amplify.

Dealing properly with…

…the effects of…

…isolation…

…during market hours…

…and their aftermath.

Regimen. Discipline. Challenge. Growth. Alertness. Staying sharp. In tune. Alive.

At the last mile, we stare what drives us, in the face.

Decoupling X.Y

We’ve…

…had many conversations…

…on the topic of decoupling.

So much so, that I’ve lost count.

The only difference, this time around…

…is the approach.

This time around, we’re handling from centre-point.

Meaning…

…that we are the ones…

…learning how to…

…decouple.

This time it’s not about economies decoupling from other economies…

…or markets decoupling from other markets.

We don’t even care anymore whether that is a myth or…

…whatever.

What economies do to or with each other is not our concern in this discussion.

Here, we are devising methodologies to reconfigure our nervous system, …

…actually, our very DNA, …

…so that we can decouple from market forces, at will, for however long we want to.

Without feeling pangs.

Two questions – How? Why?

Regarding the why, it’s imperative to allow our nerves rest.

Long-term survival. We’re not going to implode, or explode.

It’s about building patterns. This is the how we are addressing. Patterns. Many times. Patterns that take us away from markets, temporarily.

Slowly the pattern comes on auto. We devise a mental and a physical macro for the pattern.

An activity hiatus.

A terminal kill switch activation, with reactivation date.

Family.

Book.

Holiday.

Hobby.

Different…

…work.

Anything that’s not market related. At will, till wilful reactivation.

Again and again, whenever we feel the need, and / or whenever the situation demands.

Over many years, we now have an ingrained reflex. A muscle memory. Allowing us at will, to…

…decouple.

Welcome to Decoupling X.Y.

Define your X and Y. Incorporate into your system. And then…

…decouple at will.

Nath on Equity – make that a hundred

Long-term equity is 81). brought low.

The idea is to, if required, 82). sell it high.

Otherwise, 83). it is sold when you no longer believe in the stock concerned, for strong fundamental reasons. Or, it is sold when something more interesting comes along, and your magic number is capped. Then you sell the stock you’re least interested in and replace it with the new one.

84). Attitudes of managements can change with changing CEOs. Does a new management still hold your ideology-line?

Is the annual report flashy, wasteful, rhetorical and more of an eyewash? Or, 85). is it to the point with no BS? Same scrutiny is required for company website.

Your winners 86). try to entice you to sell them and book profits. Don’t sell them without an overwhelming reason.

Your mind will 87). try and play tricks on you to hold on to a now-turned-loser that is not giving you a single good reason to hold anymore.

If you’re not able to overcome your mind on 87)., 88). at least don’t average-down to add more of the loser to your folio.

89). High-rating bonds give negative returns in most countries, adjusted for inflation.

The same 90). goes for fixed deposits.

Take the parallel economy out of 91). real estate, and long-term returns are inferior to equity, adjusted for inflation.

92). Gold’s got storage and theft issues.

Apart from that, 93). it’s yielded 1% compounded since inception, adjusted for inflation.

Storage with equity is 94). electronic, time-tested-safe and hassle-free.

Equity’s something for you 95). with little paperwork, and, if you so wish it, no middlemen. In other words, there’s minimal nag-value.

Brokerage and taxes added together 96). make for a small and bearable procurement fees. Procurement is far more highly priced in other asset-classes.

One can delve into the nervous system of a publicly traded company. Equity is 97). transparent, with maximal company-data required to be online.

As a retail player in equity, 98). you are at a considerable advantage to institutions, who are not allowed to trade many, many stocks because of size discrepancies.

All you require to play equity is 99). an internet connection and a trinity account with a financial institution.

If you’re looking to create wealth, 100). there’s no avenue like long-term equity!

🙂