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| Chief Mrs. Roseline Omolara Osipitan, Oil Baron & Investment Expert |
It’s simple.
People buy, sell and trade investments – called stocks that they have made in
companies. So, how does it all work? And, more importantly, what works?
The easy answer to the last question is ‘Buy low; sell high,’ but don’t you
just know that there’s more to it than that. The question of deciding what to
buy, how much to pay for it and when to buy (and then sell) it has been the
subject of entire libraries of books, most of them bigger than this one, and so
I’ll limit my contribution to a few choice rules, and the first of these is to
understand the real forces at play: value and speculation.
People buy, sell and trade investments – called stocks that they have made in
companies. So, how does it all work? And, more importantly, what works?
The easy answer to the last question is ‘Buy low; sell high,’ but don’t you
just know that there’s more to it than that. The question of deciding what to
buy, how much to pay for it and when to buy (and then sell) it has been the
subject of entire libraries of books, most of them bigger than this one, and so
I’ll limit my contribution to a few choice rules, and the first of these is to
understand the real forces at play: value and speculation.
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Now personally,
I think economists were put on this earth to make astrologers look good, but
I’m not averse to quoting them, and one of the most quotable – John Maynard Keynes – once said that
the stock market is just like a beauty contest.
I think economists were put on this earth to make astrologers look good, but
I’m not averse to quoting them, and one of the most quotable – John Maynard Keynes – once said that
the stock market is just like a beauty contest.
Now when he said
that, he didn’t mean that stockbrokers should abandon their suits for swimwear
and profess a desire for working with children or world peace. He was referring
to a type of British beauty contest that used to be run by London newspapers, in
which readers could win a prize by picking the beauty whose photograph was
deemed to be the most beautiful by the greatest number of other readers. This
meant that winning was not about picking the prettiest, nor even about
predicting which the average reader would think the prettiest, but instead
winning became a game of anticipating what the average reader would expect the
average choice to be. And this, believed Keynes,
was how the stock market works. Investors try to make money by buying stocks
that they think other investors will want to buy in the future, and the price
that they’re prepared to pay for a stock depends less on the fundamental value
of the company than on their expectations of what everybody else will be
willing to pay for it. That’s the essence of speculation in the stock market,
and that’s why the fundamental value of a stock and its price on any given day
can be so different.
that, he didn’t mean that stockbrokers should abandon their suits for swimwear
and profess a desire for working with children or world peace. He was referring
to a type of British beauty contest that used to be run by London newspapers, in
which readers could win a prize by picking the beauty whose photograph was
deemed to be the most beautiful by the greatest number of other readers. This
meant that winning was not about picking the prettiest, nor even about
predicting which the average reader would think the prettiest, but instead
winning became a game of anticipating what the average reader would expect the
average choice to be. And this, believed Keynes,
was how the stock market works. Investors try to make money by buying stocks
that they think other investors will want to buy in the future, and the price
that they’re prepared to pay for a stock depends less on the fundamental value
of the company than on their expectations of what everybody else will be
willing to pay for it. That’s the essence of speculation in the stock market,
and that’s why the fundamental value of a stock and its price on any given day
can be so different.
“If you really want to accumulate wealth in the
stock market, then here’s my rule. Get rich slowly, but surely, with value.
Ignore all the noise, the clamor aboutWhat this piece of news or that piece of gossip
means for a price; stay away from the ‘proven’ techniques for predicting what
prices will do tomorrow based on what they did yesterday”
Speculating on
stock market movements is great fun if you want to observe mass psychology in
action, but in an uncertain world it’s not the road to wealth. If you really
want to accumulate wealth in the stock market, then here’s my rule. Get rich
slowly, but surely, with value. Ignore all the noise, the clamor about
stock market movements is great fun if you want to observe mass psychology in
action, but in an uncertain world it’s not the road to wealth. If you really
want to accumulate wealth in the stock market, then here’s my rule. Get rich
slowly, but surely, with value. Ignore all the noise, the clamor about
what this piece
of news or that piece of gossip means for a price; stay away from the ‘proven’
techniques for predicting what prices will do tomorrow based on what they did
yesterday (technical analysis! don’t be fooled by the rational-sounding label,
it’s irrational) and resist, please resist, the temptation to dive in and out
of stocks chasing a quick buck. If you’re going to invest in shares, look for
value. Look for companies whose share-price doesn’t reflect their worth; look
for companies that make or do something that people will find more valuable in
the future, and look for companies whose value is appreciated by the investment
funds (we’ll meet them in Rule 50).
of news or that piece of gossip means for a price; stay away from the ‘proven’
techniques for predicting what prices will do tomorrow based on what they did
yesterday (technical analysis! don’t be fooled by the rational-sounding label,
it’s irrational) and resist, please resist, the temptation to dive in and out
of stocks chasing a quick buck. If you’re going to invest in shares, look for
value. Look for companies whose share-price doesn’t reflect their worth; look
for companies that make or do something that people will find more valuable in
the future, and look for companies whose value is appreciated by the investment
funds (we’ll meet them in Rule 50).
Once you’ve found them, buy them, and unless the
fundamentals change, buy them for the long run. Wait for their value to appreciate,
and watch as your wealth accumulates. So, to buy the right stocks, at the right
price of course, don’t follow the crowd, find the value. Easier said than done,
you might say, and you’d be right. It can take a lot of research, but you can
make it easier if you follow the next Rule.
fundamentals change, buy them for the long run. Wait for their value to appreciate,
and watch as your wealth accumulates. So, to buy the right stocks, at the right
price of course, don’t follow the crowd, find the value. Easier said than done,
you might say, and you’d be right. It can take a lot of research, but you can
make it easier if you follow the next Rule.
From The Book; The Rules of Wealth by
Richard Templar
Richard Templar
(Read Rule
50 of Rule of Wealth tomorrow on Asabeafrika)
50 of Rule of Wealth tomorrow on Asabeafrika)
Read-to-Wealth Series
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