value investor

in the [pseudo] complex world of high finance, there is the common knowledge that in order to invest, you need to “enter” (i.e. buy) a position (i.e. investment) when it’s low (i.e. cheap), and “exit” when it’s high (i.e. expensive). investors call this phenomenon ‘riding the waive’.

the real talent in order to do so is to find those precise moments when to take a position [or when to leave], when there is a firm belief that whatever you’ll be doing will turn out to be good, to yield a good return.

some investors believe in gut feeling, entering an investment just because they like it, they “feel” it is going to be the next best thing close to winning the lottery [some go even further, saying that it better than…]. others believe that there are some strange and mystic forces that drive everything in the universe, including investments, and they dedicate their life in trying to predict the movements of a tick in a computer screen, based on the exact same pattern they saw in the year 1967, and that must mean something. some others don’t have a clue, and they choose whatever the flavour of the month is: “if everyone is doing it, i surely won’t be the last in line …”

and finally we have the value investor. these are the most cunning and thorough of them. they respect the market and their players. they choose pretty well their targets, devoting time, patience and all available resources to decide their move: get in, get out or do nothing. the basic principle behind this strategy is only to be part of investments that have perceivable [and understandable] future value: that have significant upside potential. keeping an ever vigilante spirit, and humbleness [they know that there are always people smarter, stronger and more informed] they reassess their options and actions continuously.

although they look at everything with a cold eye and mind, they have an enormous passion for it, and are extremely disciplined.
they get in and get out, only when they perceive true value add [or the absence of it].

[the most important thing is that] it matters not if they are winning or loosing, value is something that is quite perceptible [and tangible] to them. they’ll enter and exit a party at their own timing. not a minute sooner, nor a minute later. even when everyone thinks it is only getting good, even when it blows up in their face.