On... Easy Money?

Recently, my wife asked whether I'm making money in investing. If I am, then it's easy money and I should continue? Otherwise, quit? 

How soon should you be investing before you conclude that you're making money or not? Sure you can invest for a week and see if you're up or down. But does it carry any conclusions whether you're a profitable investor? To the layman, if you tell them you're making money after a week, the conclusion might be investing is easy money and you should continue investing. Or if you're not making money, investing is hard and you should quit. 

In my "previous life", I was a geophysicist. My degree took 3 years, and after that I took 1 year masters before I got a job. Even after joining the workforce, I was in the graduate program for 3 years. That is a total of 7 years before I was considered a "fully trained " geophysicist by my company. 

A doctor takes many years of education before they can practice medicine. Would you trust a doctor that has only one week experience to perform your surgery? A pilot takes many years of training before they can fly a plane. Would you trust a pilot that has only 1 week flying experience? An engineer takes many years of education before they can build a bridge. Would you drive your car over a bridge built by an engineer with one week experience? 

If every profession, takes years of education and training, what makes people think you can conclude someone is profitable as an investor after a week (or months, even years? ). Sure - at some point you need to conclude whether you're a profitable investor, but it should be after doing it for more than 5 years at least? 

I've been grinding away at investing (part time) for four plus years. I don't think I can/should conclude whether investing is easy money or hard money yet.  

Comments

  1. If you conclude that investing is easy money, you haven't been investing long enough

    ReplyDelete

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