Q: Do you have any principles?
I'm sure we all have principles. They might be in our conscious memory, or in our sub-conscious. Even criminals have their own principles as in how they deal with Joe public or others of their own ilk.
Q: Are your principles documented?
If we have not written down our principles, we tend to lose sight of them. It is very helpful to write them down, and keep them somewhere easily accessible and visible.
Q: Do you refer every decision to your principles?
If we don't make every decision based on our documented principles, which decisions can be short-circuited? Or, it might be an opportunity to review our written principles, as they may be incomplete.
Q: Would you share some or all of your principles?
Please feel free to respond or comment.
Below, I will summarise how principles affect my decision making.
If I have to make any decision without referring to one or more guiding principles, I consider that a stab-in-the-dark or knee-jerk reaction. And this includes all my investment decisions, whether I invest money or time. I suppose I should say that time is more valuable than money. We can always make some money later to offset any losses. Can we make up for lost time? Last I heard, the time machine is yet to be invented.
As an architect and an investor, it is only natural that I base all my investing decisions on well-defined principles. Any time is a good time to review and refresh our principles.
And at the top of the list is ethics. Life must have a higher-purpose, than just making money. If I don't care about who/where I invest and only care about returns, I am no different from thieves or pickpockets trying to steal from others. Indeed, we have too many white-collar criminals around us. So much so that has become a norm. Nobody bats an eyelid over financial crimes anymore. At the very top, it has become a fashion. Central Bankers kicking the can down the road.. blowing up bubbles ever bigger.. beggars belief. Taxpayer monies being used to line up private pockets. List goes on..
Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see..."
"We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do." MK Gandhi
The beginning of every transformation has to start within ourselves. We can change ourselves, without compromising our principles.
As an investor, we are not investing in certain personalities or businesses. We invest in opening up this world and making it a better place for everyone. If our investment targets don't have a vision/mission reflecting this, they should have no place in this universe.
I try to have well-defined principles, without getting into low-level details. Principles help me to decide when to invest and where to invest. Certain industries and industry sectors are excluded, as a result, even if they promise big returns.
At the bottom of the list is return on investment in terms of money. Money is not, and should not be, at the top of the decision-tree. Loss-making is not the goal of any investment. Financial profit is certainly important, and that is why it is on this list. But if I put this above any other item, this tends to over-rule all others. Hence why this is at the bottom.
This post is currently in draft, to be updated.
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