Non-financial aspects of becoming a full-time investor

[weii]

Dear tmhy,
In my opinion, investors are a highly honourable profession and usually does not get rich from the follies of others in the market. It is like being a 'mini' fund manager. Skillfuture has taught us to value our skills and pursue our passions so I do not think it is any less highly regarded than any other professions.
In my humble opinion, essential skill sets for an investor:
1) Ability to understand business models and invest in the best management. I will encourage investors to attend AGMs regularly to interact with management.
2) Good business foresight to identify upcoming trends. A love for reading and a curious mind is helpful. Speed reading skills will be good.
3) Ability to interpret financial statements
4) Clear strategies to adopt in different market cycle

Quite often, investors are able to earn a profit of around 1.2 to 3 times their annual salaries in a good year. This will make up for any potential loss during bad years.
Mr Victor Chng wrote a good article on Fifth Person on 3 easy ways I find new investment ideas fast: http://fifthperson.com/3-easy-ways-i-fin...deas-fast/
It is probably not a good time to become full-time investor as we are probably closer to a major bear market. If you value social interactions, it may be better to consider being a remisier (you can trade shares with much lower commission and able to attend AGM as shares are held in CDP account and advise others on how to buy good companies' shares) or joining an investment firm as a trainer.

[BlueKelah]

ah yes I remember now, no wonder i get Deja Vu feeling...

@tmhy : you can refer to this thread started by funman168, he was asking for advice along similar lines. lots of VBs responded with advice, until the conversation deteriorated to driving Uber.

https://www.valuebuddies.com/thread-6288.html

[karlmarx]

It is not appropriate to show friends or colleagues your past investment records just to prove that you can do it and win their respect. I don't believe a person can win respect by showing off that he has achieved financial independence. It is the way he earns his money that determines whether he deserves the respect. An entrepreneur or engineer who creates products/services that improves the standard of living of others deserves respect. An investor who gets rich from the follies of others in the market deserves less respect because he just take advantage of the stupid but does not create much useful stuff in the process. No matter what, it is still an honest living.

You seem to be equating profession with social prestige, which in my opinion is more nuanced than you suggest. People are respected for their skills/success in any particular craft. If you tell the regular singaporean you are a director for channel 8 dramas, you'd probably get the, 'oh ok' kind of response. But if you were to introduce yourself as Anthony Chen who directed the Cannes award winning film 'ilo ilo 爸媽不在家', you'd probably get more positive responses. Same job, different social prestige. It is the same with investing and everything else.

In any case, welcome to the forum and I look forward to your sharing on undervalued companies. 

[opmi]

tmhy, one big challenge is how to pay for the bread and butter (bills) while waiting for investment returns to come in. Value investing returns are usually Long term and lumpy.

And the worst reason to be a full time investor is because you are miserable at your current job.
It is much worse facing uncertain future without security of monthly salary.

[MINX]

tmhy, one big challenge is how to pay for the bread and butter (bills)  while waiting for investment returns to come in. Value investing returns are usually Long term and lumpy.

And the worst reason to be a full time investor is because you are miserable at your current job.
It is much worse facing uncertain future without security of monthly salary.

Cold hard questions for would be full time investors to seriously ponder before making the jump 

[weijian]

ah yes I remember now, no wonder i get Deja Vu feeling...

@tmhy : you can refer to this thread started by funman168, he was asking for advice along similar lines. lots of VBs responded with advice, until the conversation deteriorated to driving Uber.

https://www.valuebuddies.com/thread-6288.html

Moderator is ok with such posts, regardless of intent of thread starter because it brings about healthy discussion and may help that silent reader in more ways than we can imagine. More importantly, as specuvestor observed, the dilemmas raised by TS are very practical and real. IMO, it is not easy to post such questions without deep thought. The current questions are more deeply constructed than that of funman168, iirc.

The spirit of VB is that we are sceptical in nature but generous in sharing useful info. That generosity in sharing overweighs the sceptic behavior in most parts. We could have reacted in vain if the intentions of the TS is not pure, but again, what is there to lose, but a few min of our thoughts, if we may actually spark a healthy train of thoughts to contribute to some other unknown's decision making? It has been demonstrated again and again that nonsense threads or those that degenerated, will die out by itself, consider that as the invisible hand on VB forum.

Nonetheless, would like to thank tmhy for starting the thread and bluekelah for simply being the blue friend of VB.
Looking forward to more sharing of company analysis by tmhy as pointed out.

[dzwm87]

Borrowing a concept from Jeff Bezos' "Regrets Minimization Framework": When you're 80, which outcome is likely to make you regret the most? Taking the more uncertain full-time role but being able to fulfill your greater passion than an engineer job or having the stability of a monthly salary and yet having enough time to feed your investing hobby.

[Bibi]

Borrowing a concept from Jeff Bezos' "Regrets Minimization Framework": When you're 80, which outcome is likely to make you regret the most? Taking the more uncertain full-time role but being able to fulfill your greater passion than an engineer job or having the stability of a monthly salary and yet having enough time to feed your investing hobby.

Sometimes I don't like management talk is because they talk only. The qn cannot be answered until I reach 80 and I know the results of the outcome. 

if I chose 1, and I perform not as well compared to having a full time job, then the outcome is I regret choosing 1.
If I chose 2 and end up more stress from juggling work and investments and end up dying early, then the outcome is I regret choosing 2.

[yeokiwi]

Borrowing a concept from Jeff Bezos' "Regrets Minimization Framework": When you're 80, which outcome is likely to make you regret the most? Taking the more uncertain full-time role but being able to fulfill your greater passion than an engineer job or having the stability of a monthly salary and yet having enough time to feed your investing hobby.

The concept reminds me of the speech by Willam Wallace(Mel Gibson) in the Braveheart Movie.

William Wallace: We all end up dead, it’s just a question of how and why. Every man dies, not every man really lives.I am William Wallace! And I see a whole army of my countrymen, here in defiance of tyranny. You’ve come to fight as free men… and free men you are. What will you do with that freedom? Will you fight?

Veteran: Fight? Against that? No! We will run. And we will live.

William Wallace: Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you’ll live… at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin’ to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they’ll never take… OUR FREEDOM!

So far, I only remembered fondly those times that I put in to get the project/system going despite numerous difficulties. I can't really remember those multiple baggers and the process of getting them. Neither do I find them very memorable.(even though they were financially very rewarding)

[namralk]

@tmhy, one aspect you may want to consider is whether you could return to your previous industry easily should you quit your job for, say, 2 years (enough time to see if lifestyle of a full time investor suits you). If yes, why not, we only live once! (especially so if you had already achieved a certain level of financial independence)

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."  -- Mark Twain.