Ever since my early childhood I have been an avid animal lover, and have had the good fortune of parenting a loving canine ‘Rex’ as we would fondly call him. My readers may wonder, why am I talking about a dog in a financial column? Well the reason is simple, while I grew up learning most of my fundamental and technical aspects about finance from the books and institutions I attended, there were some subtle yet profound lessons of investing I learned while observing my four legged best friend through our years of mutual understanding about each other. And that’s what I am going to share with you all.
Resilience
Whenever I asked Rex to fetch a ball while playing with him in the fields, he would run after the ball as though his life depended on it and get the ball back to me, only to have me throw it back and then he would do the same all over again and again and again. He never grew tired of the exercise nor did his excitement to the cause ever subside.
Lesson derived
The game of investing is a similar exercise, the markets invariably go through various ups and downs, but how you react is entirely in your hands. Your resilience holds the key to the degree of success you can achieve while investing with constant efforts. No matter what the markets throw at you, one must learn to stay focused on the goals while sticking to the fundamentals. After all the most important quality for an investor is temperament, not intellect.
Reliability
There were occasions when I would leave my house without finding the need to lock the door. With Rex sitting by the door I was certain that no one would dare to step in the house under his watchful eye. When it came to trust he was the most reliable friend I could ever ask for.
Lesson derived
Similarly in deciding any investment option reliability plays a pivotal role. With the ever increasing avenues to invest ones money, add to it the multiple companies and banks that offer them, choosing the right asset management company does become a difficult task. Every company makes promises of glamourous returns to attract your money and in doing so make tall claims. History is witness to countless stories of people falling for their own greed. And therefore checking the credentials of the asset and the company we invest in becomes so important. To put it simply an investment avenue that lacks reliability is a sham.
Practicality
Ever since we bought him to our house as a small pup, Rex soon learnt the ways to adapting to his new family and surroundings. He would respond to gestures and gradually learnt to understand spoken commands. He also had chosen his favourites in the house based on who would fall for his charms the fastest and pamper him with his whims and fancies.
Lesson derived
Adapting to the markets and learning the traits of profiting from it are keys to the art of investing. To be a successful investor one has to be an avid and fast learner because you pay for it with your hard earned money. Be practical at the same time by making realistic expectations.
Learning and inspiration can be taken from almost anything and at any time, it’s what I like to refer as the classroom of life. Affection, love, care, selflessness, forgiveness may not find a mention in a financial column such as mine, but they are much important traits to learn from this cute species rightly known as The Man’s Best Friend.
