Atul Sethi gives the 101 in the tips and tricks to constructively taking in the abundance of information that we are given.
By: Atul Sethi
Find Resources and Use Them
There is a sea of great resources to help your investment and financial planning, and spending a little bit of time to find sources that you like, and would come back to, can pay huge dividends. The internet has democratised the sharing of information so much that there are few ‘secrets’ that are only accessible by the privileged. Once you find a source you like, ignore big words and excessive acronyms. Once you strip these away, the principles are simple.
Saving Time and Money
One of the benefits of curating a list of sources that you find useful and can come back to repeatedly is that it will save you a ton of time. Better yet, it can save you money too. Learning from the experience of others usually provides insight into mistakes that they have made. You can make them yourself, or learn from others and avoid them. There is a great book titled, Big Mistakes: The Best Investors and Their Worst Investments’ by Michael Batnick. Reading through a few examples in this book can help prevent you from making similar errors.
People listen to educational or entertaining podcasts. Vector users of online applications with headphones look at mobile screens. Broadcaster at radio station speaking into microphone, flat cartoon
Consume Content in Your Favourite Format
The best part about the abundance of resources is that there is availability across a range of formats. Whether you consume information by reading, listening, or watching, there is something relevant for you. For example, there are books aplenty, and many of the best introductory material can be found in one volume. One of my favourites is A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel, which is an easy- to-read comprehensive guide of the investment landscape.
Morever, the number of podcasts in this space has exploded over the past decade. For those that prefer to listen, you are almost spoiledfor choice. Many of these are also available in video format on YouTube. We are lucky to even have some podcast producers among us locally. Dr. Andrew Stotz – an award-winning equity analyst in Thailand – runs a podcast titled, My Worst Investment Ever. There are more than 700 episodes to date and it contains a treasure trove of information. Local investor, Direk Khanijou, also has a podcast about financial history and investing principles. In a recent episode, he shared some of his favourite books that he read last year.
A Little Goes a Long Way
It’s true that the best finance and investment content may not be as exciting as the trending shows on Netflix. However, even if you are not enthusiastic about this subject area, having some rudimentary understanding of basic principles will be of use.
The use of big words and excessive acronyms can make this subject area daunting. Once you strip this away, the building blocks are simple. High school students do much more complex maths than you will ever have to do managing your finances
Atul Sethi is the founder and CEO of Farnam Tree, a licensed boutique investment firm based in Bangkok. Atul has over twelve years’ experience working in investment banking and as a research analyst, prior to starting Farnam Tree.
