Balancing life with investing
When Lynch said, “invest in what you know” I think he meant it as a suggestion for how to front-run the typical Wall Street analyst. There’s lots of value in firsthand knowledge that isn’t available to the Wall Street pro. However, I’ve been using the advice to help me balance the time it takes to research companies with the time it takes being a parent and husband.
My wife and I just had a baby. On top of that we have two other kids, I have a full-time job, plus I’m trying to manage our investments. Spare time is hard to come by. I’ve been carving out an hour or two here and there for listening to audio books and reading investing books. Keeping up with the investments has been made easier by investing in what I know plus finding some excellent accounts on Twitter.
If you haven’t tried it yet, I highly recommend getting on Twitter. I’ve been investing in oil and gas mainly because my backyard is filled with oil and gas producers. Having a backyard filled with oil and gas producers makes it easy to know how business is going. If the drill rigs are in the field and there’s “Help Wanted” signs in the windows, things are going well.
To get a good sense for the business it’s important to read the quarterly and annual reports. However, if you include the advice from the legendary Phil Fisher and “listen to the scuttlebutt“, you’ll be in really good shape to make sound investment choices.
To find the scuttlebutt on oil and gas, there are quite a few accounts on Twitter whose research in the industry is phenomenal. I might create a list of the accounts worth following (I’ll let you know when I do). If you can’t wait that long search Twitter using “#EFT” to get into the community.
If you’re like me it’s a challenge finding time to do all the things you need to do in life. Keeping track of the investments by investing in what you know and using Twitter to get the scuttlebutt, is a great way to manage the challenge.
By the way, I’ve updated the Lynch Fast Grower model portfolio on the site. It has about 90 names in it right now. About 40 more than the last time I updated it in August.