Attitude

Character Traits
First, I want to correct a mistake I made in my first post about traits.  I called these traits I am describing, personality traits.  Wrong.  They are not personality traits, but rather, character traits.  As a means of making the distinction between the two, think of many personality types sharing the same character traits.  Every person has the capability of being courageous, or disciplined, even though we may find it hard at times.  Which leads me to what I think of as the most important trait of all, for personal investors.  Attitude.  Yes, I know we all have attitude, but few of us cultivate it enough, or master it.

Money
Take our attitude about money, for instance.  If we fail to have an abundance of money in our possession, then we have either given most of it away, or we have a poor attitude about money.  In any aspect of our life, if we think we can, or if we think we can't; we are correct.  What do you tell yourself about money?  Or, is it really you?  I can still hear my mother reminding me that money doesn't grow on trees.  How many times did I hear my parents say, "Just when we started to get ahead of our bills..."

Beliefs
I can teach people how to invest money in the stock markets, but their success has more to do with their attitude than it does about what they know.  Do we see the stock market as a zero sum game, where our winning means somebody else has to lose?  Do we know there is an abundance of wealth in this world, or do we see it as being limited to only a few lucky individuals?  Do we think making money has to be difficult, and time consuming, or do we see making money as an exchange of value?  In every case, what we believe makes us right!

Focus
Even if we manage to amass a significant amount of money, it will soon disappear if we have the wrong attitude.  Studies have shown that lottery winners and their money are soon parted when they have a poor attitude regarding money.  That is why I find it important to designate a portion of what I make to charity.  I am grateful for the opportunity to do so.  One of the best things about gratitude is it forces us to think about what we are grateful for, as opposed to the things we don't want, and don't like.  I also get to share the fruits of my success with others less fortunate - others who may not have the capital to invest, or a good strategy for doing so.

Do's & Don'ts
To be honest, attitude is something I struggle with in writing this blog.  We are all being manipulated by the humongous advertising budgets of the financial services industry.  Most people believe nobody can time the markets because the "experts" don't want us to think otherwise.  They will promote the ideas of any academic or "expert" who says so.  Even though we can achieve a better return from Exchange Traded Funds (ETF's), their solution is to invest in Mutual Funds.  Guess why?!?  In the face of all of the misinformation designed to mislead and confuse, I find it very difficult to ignore the things that people should not be doing and focus, instead, on only those things we should be doing.  (See, more proof that their plan works!)

Positive Thinking
Fear begets fear, just as love has the power to change everything in our lives.  We can choose one, or the other.  No person can be fearful and loving at the same time.  We can go from one to the other in a hurry, but we cannot hold onto both emotions at the same time.  Fear is the enemy in investing as surely as it is the enemy in life.  Positive things are always, always, the result of thinking about and believing in positive things.  Mother Teresa was known to have said she would never attend an anti-war rally.  However, she would be happy to be invited to a peace rally!

Positive Results
The change in attitude is sometimes really very subtle, as in the previous example.  To believe we can achieve one result while thinking about a different one, is impossible.  I admit, it is one of the things I could  be better at.  Not only do I believe it would make me a better personal investor, I believe it would also make me an even better person.

Do you have the attitude for success?

Traits

The Question

Before I traded my corporate cubicle for a home office, I had to do some research.  The primary question I was attempting to answer was, am I the  kind of person who would be successful at being self-employed?  For instance, it made no sense to me to take a person who loves to be around other people and expect them to enjoy driving a truck by themselves on long hauls, days and weeks at a time.  How suited was I for self-employment?

Personality
Everything I had learned to that point suggested there were, basically, four personality types, and three motivational styles.  Most people seem to be motivated through an affiliation with other people they like and enjoy.  Next are those who derive the most self-satisfaction from achieving and accomplishing.  The other two personality types can more, or less, be seen as people who have a strong need to be recognized within their sphere(s) of influence.

Simplistic?
The problem with categorizing people is that it is a simplistic approach, at best.  It is impossible to say people are this, or that, without exception, and without giving consideration to the melding of various traits - sometimes depending on the circumstances involved.  In my own case, my research was so overwhelmingly in favour of making the change, I only regretted not asking the question much earlier.

Purpose
My spiritual beliefs suggest that we are a unique combination of interests, talents, skills, abilities, and purpose.  Yes, I believe that we all have a purpose - one which is directly related to our interests, abilities, and the circumstances in which we find ourselves.

Who Is In The Driver's Seat?
For all these same reasons, I also have to ask, should people actively manage their own investment portfolio?

First, let me ask a different question.  Should most people learn to drive a car?  Most would say, why not?  There are good drivers, and not so good drivers.  There are different reasons for wanting the ability to drive oneself, and others.  There are some that should never drive, and others who are unable to.  For those who can't, would you suggest they get a ride with an unsafe driver, or in an unsafe car?  If they don't know about driving, or cars, how are they going to tell the safe ones from the not-so-safe ones?  We can provide alternatives for them by making public transit available, and through the use of taxis, but the need for education remains.

Not being a driver is no reason for not being educated about what constitutes good driving and what the characteristics of a safe vehicle are.  A failure to make good decisions is to put one's life in jeopardy.  As a different example, I don't want to be the one to fix the roof of my house, but I need to be educated about when it is time to do so.  If we don't have any interest or desire in who or what we invest in, then we had better find someone we can absolutely trust with our very survival!

Success Traits
For the rest of us, I am going to write a couple of future posts identifying what I feel are the traits that make people successful in the stock markets.  There has been much written on the topic, but most seem to confuse personality traits with skills.  I want to concentrate on the few personality traits which I think make for success.  Like the classifications used for personality types and motivational styles, I'm not sure anyone is the perfect fit.  The real key is to employ our strengths, and to identify weaknesses and their potential for causing us to lose money.  With that awareness, we can play to our strengths and begin to mitigate the possibility of loss.

What is your opinion?  What are the traits you feel would lead to success in the stock markets?