Stock market investing is all about risk and reward and sometimes you do have to stick your neck out.
There is no reward without risk.
It’s sort of like those who say that you will never understand happiness without having experienced sadness.
My preference, however, it to simply experience varying levels of happiness and to ignore anything that might detract anything from the lowest level of happiness.
I ignore lots of things, much to the consternation of those around me.
But I ignore that consternation.
The same thing isn’t really possible with investing as not only is happiness so often of a very temporary nature and fleeting, the only way to avoid risk right now is to look at bonds or your mattress and those carry lots of opportunity risk.
Also, there’s a big difference between the qualitative feel of personal happiness and the quantitative nature of investing.
In other words, instead of being a giraffe, you would have to be an ostrich, although the ostrich is actually doing something of value when their head is below ground.
So you do have to stick your neck out if your happiness is defined in the form of stock gains.
I wasn’t very happy in 2015, but am very happy with 2016, to date.
Much of that has to do with the fact that the very stocks that disappointed me in 2015 are the ones delighting in 2016, even as they still have lots to do to erase the stink of 2015.
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