Blog

I haven’t done this before, but I thought it might be interesting to share some of the links I read each week. Many other writers do this, and they seem to (quite logically) cluster them near the beginning or end of the week, so I thought I’d drop mine in the middle of the week. Bear with me while I figure out how this is going to work, and I’m sure I’ll make a few adjustments along the way.

I’ll also try to focus these links on topics that I’m finding interesting and relevant. You probably won’t see many articles debating current events, politics, earnings reports, or economic numbers, simply because I believe that most investors find it quite difficult to make use of that information. Rather, I’ll focus on topics like developing a trading process, how people think about, and, probably more importantly, feel about risk and opportunity in the market–that key area of investor psychology, perhaps broad structural shifts in the world, and expect a smattering of kind of interesting and off-beat links, but I’ll also try to keep those contained near the end of these posts. So, without further ado, here we go:

Brett Steenbarger writes (and has written for many years) a fantastic blog. His recent post on a critical investor blind spot is important. I also tweeted a post he wrote on the transforming potential of trance states, which is good background for some of the psychological work in my trading course.

You want to make consistent trading profits? Are you prepared to work hard? Of course, but make sure you understand what that means.

In my experience, the process of learning to squeeze profits out of the market rests on accepting some hard truths. I’ve often wondered if many people struggle because they would rather hold on to beliefs that make them feel good, rather than facing reality which can be disheartening and even frightening at times.

Financial literacy matters. We all have limited time and energy, but spending some of that time on fundamental education is probably a good idea. To that end and in response to some reader questions, a few years ago I wrote a reading list that might be a little daunting, but you don’t have to do it all at once.

And, some random (non-finance) things: Windows RT is about to die a much needed death, some Android security features to consider, and there are a few articles floating around about getting by on less sleep, but this one might be worth a read.

Last, I’m developing some web design skills (and I use that word in the loosest possible sense). Head over to Waverly Advisors site and check out our new redesign.