I was at an investment seminar this afternoon.
The session was supposed to start at 1:00 pm "sharp".
However, at 1:15 pm, quite a lot of people were still streaming in...
Since I was sitting near the entrance, I started to "people watch" and "time" the late-comers.
The last person to walk in was an elderly male gentleman in has 70s? He came in at 2:10 pm - a princely 1 hour late!? On a Sunday afternoon?
I'll poke the organiser next time I meet him - don't print on the programme sheet the session will start 1:00 pm sharp when you don't mean it.
No, the organising side did not start on time too... (But that's a post for another time)
You are definitely not a trader if you are habitually late
If you consider trading a craft - and not a play play hobby to pass time - you would know that discipline is one of the key attributes for consistent performance.
The amount of work and preparations before a trader turns up at work (or turns on his PC if trading from home) is almost a daily lifestyle.
Repetition becomes habit; habit becomes lifestyle.
If I'm to visit a place I've never been before, I'll google the street directory and find out how to get there the night before.
And if the meeting is very important - like a job interview - I'll even visit the place 2-3 days before the actual meeting to time the journey and familiarise myself with the surroundings.
I don't want to get flustered by being unprepared on the actual day. (Guess why we have rehearsals for National Day parades?)
Isn't this what we do as traders all the time?
The last thing we want is to miss a trade because we were late (unprepared)...
You a long term investor so no need to respect timing?
OK, you are right in a sense that you can be slightly early or late and it won't make a big difference in the grand scheme of things.
Warren Buffet wrote in his op-ed in the NY times during Oct 2008, encouraging fellow Americans to invest in stocks despite the wide spread fear of equities at that time.
If you had listened to Warren Buffet and bought, you would see the S&P fall a further -20% until it bottomed in March 2009.
Fast forward 6-7 later, does it matter?
If you bought Singapore stocks similarly during Oct 2008, is that considered late or early?
How about buying Singapore stocks around April 2015? Is that considered late or early?
Now make a wild guess who did more preparations - those investors who bought in Oct 2008 or April 2015?
Singapore Man of Leisure (welcome to my blog; just google it!
