Why Are You Investing?

This is a philosophical post, not for myself, but for you. This question was inspired by something I read on a blog where the author stated they hoped to get rich through investing. This quip isn't an isolated case, I've heard this from others as well, they invest to get rich, that's their goal.

If you want to get rich I have one piece of advice. Sell all your stocks, walk away from the market and go start a business. With the exception of Warren Buffett there are very few rich people who became rich through investing in publicly traded companies. But what about all those famous investors? Look closely and you'll find they're all rich from starting a business, an asset management businesses.

It's not unusual to hear of entrepreneurs growing companies at 20-50-200% a year or more. There is a startup blog I follow where they claim anyone not growing at 10% a month is failing. Madoff's investors thought they had found the holy grail of investing at 12% a year. It's not uncommon to hear of people starting successful service businesses from a few thousand dollars in initial capital and growing them into companies that generate hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Whereas it's unusual to hear of someone who starts with a $5,000 brokerage account and turns it unto something throwing off $150,000 a year in dividends within three to five years.

I believe investors with a purpose outperform investors without a purpose. It's like getting in a car to go drive somewhere without knowing the destination. I imagine drivers (investors) who want to get rich are trying to drive to "someplace better" without knowing where that is. Drivers who have a destination in mind can be focused on it, and their focus helps them from driving aimlessly.

My own goal is twofold. I'm first investing a portion of our savings for purchases far in the future. It sounds strange to say that the money we save now is for purchases in the future, but it is. I would rather spend the money I invest at some point rather than hand my kids a pile of cash I never touched. If I spend it, or my kids spend it, or the government spends it, it will eventually be spent by someone at some time.

The second goal of my investing is to maximize the returns possible by taking the least amount of risk. I do that by buying assets and earnings at discounts that are only available in public equities. It seems like a paradox, but private markets for companies are much more efficient than the public market. Outside of extremely unusual situations it would be rare for a private company to sell for less than their property and plant, or less than NCAV, or even for a few times earnings. Yet these conditions are occur with regularity in the public markets.

Staying focused on your purpose helps to ignore investments that don't "fit". An investing purpose could be confused with Buffett's circle of competence. I think they're different, I hear people throw ideas out because it's out of their circle of competence. To me the circle of competence is a phrase meaning that someone intimately understands the topic at hand. There are many ideas that I understand well, but they don't fit my investing purpose. The worst abuse of the phrase is when investors use it as an excuse to not investigate an investment. "Oh banks, that's outside my circle, I'm happy with a tiny circle so I'd rather not learn something new.."

The benefit of having a purpose is that it helps an investor keep focus. I know the types of stocks I do well investing in. There are plenty of other styles of investing that work well for other investors, but they don't work for me. When someone pitches something that doesn't fit in my purpose I can listen and appreciate the idea, but it's not something I need to act on. Having an investing purpose also keeps me from speculating too. I'm focused on long term results, and want to stay aware of risk, by keeping my purpose in mind I don't buy stocks hoping they'll pop on an earnings surprise, or trade short term on rumors.

There are probably very successful investors who had no purpose, maybe it's not even necessary. I know for myself having a purpose to my investments has helped tremendously. I'm not thrown to and fro by the market's waves, I can react quickly when I see an opportunity, and it helps me recognize investments that are good, but not a good fit for myself.

 

There is a difference between growing at 50% from a tiny base by burning cash and compounding investment gains at 12%. This being said, "other people's money" has always been the best way to get rich. Not necessarily sure I agree with you that having a purpose helps you a better investor, however, if can probably help you align your investments with your goals better so that you get more utility/happiness out of investing even if it actually hurts performance somewhat.

 

When you invest, whether in a start-up or in a public company, you are basically exchanging current consumption of burritos and beers for future consumption of more burritos and beers. The idea is the same, the system of risks and rewards is not. Statistically, I m not sure more people are financially independent from free enterprise than from a long and steady accumulation of wealth. I personally think it is wonderful to own your company, but starting your own business is overrated.

As for myself, I still consider the best investment in term of ROIC being education (non US)

 
Best Response

I like the basic point of what you're getting at, but some of what you've said gives me pause.

Oddball Stocks:
If you want to get rich I have one piece of advice. Sell all your stocks, walk away from the market and go start a business. With the exception of Warren Buffett there are very few rich people who became rich through investing in publicly traded companies.

You realize this is terrible advice, right? I mean, just laughably bad. Also, if you think Warren Buffet is one of "very few" rich people who became rich through investing in public markets, I have to wonder, what do you think "very rich" is? Are you including people who work regular jobs and put away a few hundred bucks a month to buy stocks? Plus, starting a business is ridiculously difficult.

Oddball Stocks:
It's not unusual to hear of entrepreneurs growing companies at 20-50-200% a year or more.

Again, while it's probably not unusual to hear of entrepreneurs growing companies at the rate you mention, their actual incidence is close to zero. Most start ups fail. Remember, there's almost nothing harder than starting and growing your own company, and there's almost nothing easier than taking $500 a month, clicking on "S&P500 Passive Index Fund" then "Buy".

"My caddie's chauffeur informs me that a bank is a place where people put money that isn't properly invested."
 

Can't wait until the startup bubble will burst.

You killed the Greece spread goes up, spread goes down, from Wall Street they all play like a freak, Goldman Sachs 'o beat.
 
krauser:
Arti:

Can't wait until the startup bubble will burst.

You mean the internet/social media/pub app bubble or startup bubble in general?

The internet. Trend in starting your own business is a good thing but buying iphone apps that produce nothing and generate no income for gazzilion of dollars... well that reminds something, dotcom buble perhaps?
You killed the Greece spread goes up, spread goes down, from Wall Street they all play like a freak, Goldman Sachs 'o beat.
 

I invest because I like the challenge of beating the S&P/other investors, enjoy reading/researching various companies in the sectors I closely follow, and because I enjoy watching my money grow.

Buffet once said that if he managed less money (in the 1-10 million dollar range if I remember correctly) he could compound it at a rate of 50%+. Most people are far too focused on the short term return of their investments and don't take a true long-term outlook. It's also difficult to evaluate the skill of an investor/fund manager since the variance in returns can be so great.

Take Baupost Group for example--If you invested in Klarman's fund at inception, you would have returned nearly 50% less than the S&P 500 in the first decade. I bet a lot of investors were pretty discouraged with those results and bailed on the fund, only to regret it later (Baupost has annualized returns of ~19%)..

 

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