At 33 I’ve just given up a six figure management consultancy salary to work out what I want to be when I grow up. A little late, you might think, but hell, better late than never. So, while spending my days naval gazing / weighing up about a possible charity stint vs. a career as a travel writer I had to think of a little sideline to pay the bills. I didn’t want to work for someone else but I wasn’t ready to start my second business. So I decided on trading the stock market.
Not being that great traditionally with numbers (my persistent maths teacher managed to get me up from a D to a B at GCSE) I thought I might find it a little challenging / boring. Not a second of it! It’s fascinating from start to finish – from finding the companies to buy, to researching them and putting them through their paces and then binning the ones that under-perform. I feel a bit like Alan Sugar, but without the beard.
And, strangely enough, I had a little insight. Trading the stock market is a lot like dating. You pick out one you like the look of most, do a bit of research and, if it adds up, buy it.
So, you see someone on TBW. You do a bit of research, perhaps by asking anyone else you know from the site or looking them up on Facebook (come on, we’ve all done it!) That is, of course, if you have their proper name – a friend of mine who has joined this site has recently been in an ‘intimate liason’ with a chap she met on here who had also contacted me in the dim and distant past. How surprised was she to find out that not only was the name he had given her entirely made up, but he wasn’t even in the career he said he was. Good girl, she merely laughed and pointed out that she wasn’t exactly after him for his integrity….
Anyway, I digress. So then said potential date gets tested against a number of criteria: whereas shares get tried against PE ratios, dividend amounts and Ex dates, potential dates have their own set of tests. Do they email back within a certain amount of time? Do they manage to string a sentence together in their first contact that clearly hasn’t been cut and pasted to all and sundry? Do they actually have the balls to ask you out on a date? Can you have an MSN conversation without them feeling the need to get down to the dirty stuff or ask if you ‘do cam’ within the first 20 seconds. Tick, tick, tick, tick? Then it’s a buy!! You can act on recommendation from other traders (ahem, I mean, TBW members) which can provide some VERY valuable insights into said share’s past performance.
The thing is with trading is that often companies look great on initial view but then with a bit more research you realise they are a complete dog (and that’s an official term, I’ll have you know!). You have to be very harsh and unemotional in your initial assessment. Sure, the interim statement says they are doing well in a challenging environment, but the black and white numbers on the balance sheet tells you they haven’t made any money in three years. LEAVE IT! It’s all about looking past the gloss to the cold hard facts.
It’s the same with dates. First of all, actions speak louder than words. Full stop. They’ve let you down at the last minute / turn up 30 mins late / don’t get in touch when they say they will? Ignore all the hot air / excuses that follow and sell, sell sell! Don’t be a ‘bottom picker’ (and yes, that’s another real term) for someone who stays with or invests in a stock even though it’s price is falling before your very eyes. Let it be someone else’s dog, not yours. Instead of money, it’s your positive emotional energy that can be put to better use to make much more positive emotional energy in a much better investment elsewhere. On the other hand, if you find a gem, it might be worth sticking with them and seeing how much further their price can rise, even if the increase is a little slower than you might like.
Who knew that playing with the stockmarket could offer dating insights? With my new hard-headed Alan approach I have now honed my approach to dating. Now I wonder if that beard would get me more winks….
By AnnaR
