Stories and conversations off the street: Experiential learning on investing and origination - Series 2

There are compelling anecdotes (and stories) that I have learnt and experienced in my professional life so far that has captivated my mind and also effectively captured a business situation. 


These anecdotes have provided a strong and sustainable foundation for an on the job experiential learning and its application for  high performance,  critical decision-making, problem solving, to communicate and mentor and build sustainable business and teams.

Investing and origination:

• Only invest or originate in what you understand and at the right price for right value and risk.

• Information and insight is money. There is too much information, insight and wisdom makes the difference. 

• Be opportunistic, focus on a sustainable income annuity and pinch pennies.

• Buy at the point of maximum pessimism; sell at the point of maximum optimism. Buy low, sell high. Buy the facts, sell rumour. 

• A bird in hand is worth more than a bird in a bush. Always be ready to cash out and harvest profits; remember everything has a price and is for sale!

• In order to profit discount the obvious, bet on the unexpected. Understand risk, mitigate or tag a price; flip side of risk is returns.

• Nothing is risk free and you cannot win all the time nor can you beat the markets!  Winning the market is difficult but walking with it not difficult! There is a risk in everything and risk premium for  everything risk.  

• It's a two way street; loosing is part of the game unless you run a brokerage business. Understanding and managing risks makes you loose less than your competitor.

• Most opportunities come in waves, always be prepared!

• Over time asset prices and profit margins revert to long-term mean.

• In order to make a mark, never piss in the rains.

• Don't let the miracle of long-term compounding of returns be overwhelmed by the dictatorship of long-term compounding of costs.

• When a company restructures  or initiates changes and injects management from outside, look for poison pills or antibodies before staying long or exiting. Poison destroys the organisation while antibodies destroys the specific cancer. 

• Invest, don't speculate. Big fortunes result from investing in a growing business and people; staying with it through thick and thin.

• Start small with an experiment, grow with improvisation and relationships. 

• A bankruptcy or solvency issue drags the team performance down over next 6 quarters. 

to be continued and expanded