New Project: I Am A Terrible Investor. (and what this is all about)
Hi, my name is Eric and I am a terrible investor.
I have lost many thousands (update: tens of thousands) of dollars because I thought I might be an “okay” investor.
I was wrong. I am terrible.
I fell into the beginner’s trap — knowing enough to think I knew enough. Really, I knew only enough to be a danger to myself. An Overconfident Rookie fighting longer odds than I ever guessed.
And you’re probably an Overconfident Rookie too. No offense.
It won’t do you any harm to assume you are dumber than you really are. Assuming you’re even a little bit smarter than you actually are is deadly.
The goal of this project is to save us from ourselves.
We are going to explore why investing successfully is so much harder than it appears, by getting the stories of awful investments from smart people.
Then we will learn how to embrace our ignorance and try to avoid the same mistakes in the future. If we’re lucky, we may learn to avoid mistakes that others have been kind enough to make for us. And we’ll get some laughs out of it along the way.
Why is this project important?
Because there are forces quietly pushing you toward terrible decisions.
You’ve certainly heard stories of friends making a bunch of money in the stock market. Or someone’s uncle collecting $10,000/month from rental properties without working. Or a guy who drives a BMW because he has an ownership share in the local bar.
No one tells you the stories about investing in a stock that goes down 80% in six months. Or buying a duplex to rent out and finding themselves underwater in their mortgage. Or giving their brother $50,000 to start a restaurant and losing it all.
We hide our failures — and show off success.
We are all ashamed of our failures, and those about losing money AND being wrong AND looking stupid are a triple-whammy that we hide from the world.
When we hide those stories, we create a world where all the stories sound good, all the investments look easy, and success seems inevitable. After all, that guy down the street bought a boat after his stock pick worked out!
Which all tells us that we can’t possibly lose and we should place a big bet right away and start living the dream!
And then we get crushed.
Again.
So, the purpose of this project is to fight that effect.
We collect stories of awful investments.
To talk about things that failed, what happened, and why. To learn why investing successfully is harder than it looks.
Ultimately, to save you from making peak-confidence, tiny-knowledge investments on ideas that will take your money, kick your ass, and leave you regretting everything.
This is the antidote for the overconfident beginner — Welcome.
If you have a story of losing money and getting your ass kicked — write it up and share it with us! I’ll publish stories of all kinds contributed from readers as posts. (Anonymously if you prefer)
Email me about your stories: Eric@iamaterribleinvestor.com
I look forward to learning with you.
