The next skill I absolutely have to learn
This is mandatory for any investor...
I arrived at investing accidentally. As I explained in my first post, I never had dreams of tackling this game. My experience in the market, combined with a clearheaded analysis of my strengths and weaknesses, led me to believe that I could be successful as a money slinger.
While I have a certain degree of self-confidence, what I lack is technical know-how. Unlike Liam Neeson, I don’t have a very particular set of skills. To rectify my massive knowledge gaps, I think nothing is more important than learning how to perform a discount cash flow analysis. I have to teach myself how to value a business. My current strategy is irresponsible. I know what sectors I want to invest in, but without a way to judge an asset’s merits I have only two choices.
Buy ETFs
Take single company suggestions from other investors and financial analysts
If I’m going to seriously get after it, I need to learn how to do my own thinking. To that end I will start learning how to do a DCA analysis by the end of this month. I have no clue how long it takes to learn this skill set. Maybe it’s a multi-month learning curve and if that’s the case, I commit to starting that process this month.
I’m particularly interested in performing an analysis on Laredo Petroleum (LPI). This is a company recommended by David Hay and so far it’s been an excellent buy. When the market dips LPI goes down less than the index, and when the market rallies LPI outperforms to the upside. Based on price action alone I suspect that Laredo is a quality company. Now I want to find out for sure.
