Am I an average investor? Well it depends on the group that I am with.

There are groups where in a bell curve I would be at the left most, and in certain other groups at the right most. The smartness lies in choosing the correct group! However, I am more concerned about whether I will be able to meet my goals. So other than some dramatic change in the economy, law, etc. I think I am on the right path, and hopefully my treasury will outlive me and my wife.

Being average is so shameful these days (let me proudly declare in the world / Indian population on most parameters I would be on the wrong side of the bell curve) that we pay lots of money to see a film. Enter the hero (omg even Sanjay Dutt is a hero, as is Salman Khan – with 2 people with whom I would not exchange even ONE day of my life!) and he can do no wrong. And in the end Right triumphs over Wrong. We just love the hero winning. IN real life we are all average (including Sanjay dutt and salman khan like Tiger woods or even SRT). We pay MONEY to see the hero fight 20 people, woo the best girls, sing in the most melodious voice – and we love to pretend that we are all that.

Exactly the problem with porn. Sets wrong expectations. Ditto with Financial porn. Sets wrong expectations. We think we need to trade every minute (we need to have the same broker as Ekta Batra who was last seen endorsing Zerodha), we need to drink the same cola as SRT or SRK. Eat the same chocolate that Amitabh Bachhan eats….

We are all average. At the end of the day SRT / SRK / AB all go back to be the average citizen, the average father, average husband. You cannot remain exceptional for long.

So in my investing career I have made some exceptional investments, and some stunning losses. I was wiped out because I chose a wrong broker. However, thanks to time, I am now an average investor. I know many average investors, and yes I know some exceptional investors and exceptional traders. And I know some amazingly dumb investors and traders too. Sure on an average all of them put together they may have done well. Some of them may have panicked when the market fell 1624 points, many did not. Many of them were buyers – the day before. A few were sellers yesterday. Just stay the course and see whether your goals are being met. If that is happening, you are better than average!!

Average student. Average brother, Average son, Average citizen. Average ……….everything average is the average story of my life!!

Enjoy your status. We say Tiger Woods did not stay extraordinary for too long, right. Welcome being the average investor. THAT IS ALL YOU NEED TO DO.

http://markmanson.net/being-average

  1. sir what are you saying

    right from lkg our parents teachers everybody want entire class getting marks above class average only.

  2. My 2 (sarcastic) average paise:

    Who wants average 12% CAGR in equity, anyways…
    If equity gives 12%, why not stay in bank FDs (are they taxable? isn’t TDS enough? does it depend on my tax bracket?) which gives 9% without volatility …..
    Inflation is not a worry.. in next 8-10 years, India would be super power (what does that even mean?) and average inflation would be down to 0. This inflation is a bubble created by equity investors

  3. But no one wants to be average, If I advice long term benefits of equity investing in mutual funds , goal setting and emergency fund,People are not intrested, They want trading ideas , next infosys or wipro or some tips to double the money in one year.

  4. Millennials/Gen Y have been afflicted with the disease of a self-obsessed culture where every Joe/Jane thinks they are the special snowflake on whose shoulders the weight of mankind lies.

    Now every IT worker, every 2nd/3rd tier college grad wants to be a professional photographer, musician , bestselling author and travel blogger, all rolled into one while having a supermodel wife and raising two over-achieving kids (one boy and one girl of course) with at least a 7 figure salary.

    What we get instead is a smattering of bad self-published novels, some random photographs of street-dogs,puddles etc. with the much abused copyright symbol and a lot of unused guitars lying around.

    I choose the everyday working-class hero over this BS anyday!

  5. Vaibhav you are so right.

    I have seen my friends in IT just buying a 50K camera and they thing themselves as a photograph. They click every damm picture, be it street dog lying or pottying or just a wasp. Its becoming a fad to have a unique hobby, if you dont have a unique hobby ie above average then you are an average joe and no one wants that.

  6. @Vaibhav – your post resonates with me to some extent… Do consider other side of coin, many of the IT kids earning big money, had a humble childhood, they did not get opportunity to explore all the hobbies.
    If not now when do you think people can experiment and explore? They buy 50k camera from their own pockets.
    I tried my hand at playing guitar, didn’t had it in me :), I sold it last week after 5 years for $100..had got it for $200!
    I also pursued cycling seriously for last few years, today I can cycle 50+ miles easy breezy 🙂

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