Do what you love, Love what you do

If this chart looks interesting to you for reasons other than you convince yourself that you "might" make some money by knowing how to trade stocks, then go for it.  Personally, it puts me to sleep.  I have tried to do fundamental and technical analysis of stocks for a while.  It is not ME.  I enjoy investing in its many forms and have done so for decades, and there are opportunities for creativity in real estate, stocks, or whatever.  Equity trading and the more "sane" longer term investing, can go right to the core of those who are good at it.  It is in harmony with their spirit and they follow the axiom that I have used as the title to this post. In an attempt to be a partner and friend with someone who is very gifted at this and loves it, I bought the books, took the courses, and executed trades.  I am not without skills and  have made some money.  I would rather trim hedges than be a hedge fund manager. I will have to be true to myself and do something I love more than "charts."   

I have a portfolio manager who is doing exactly what he loves to do, and he has helped me, his client "Don't worry, make money".  If I were to study the subject for 1000 years, considering I don't much love it, I will never know as much useful stuff as he knows.  There is no substitute for mastery and the 10,000 hours needed to get it. And, if I ever get tired of trying to "Seek Alpha" (get better than market returns) with a manager, there are always Index Funds like Vanguard Total Market Index that ride the total ups and downs of the DOW, NASDAQ, S and P, etc.  Over a lifetime, that is a generally good idea since the Dow, for example,  is now at 15,000., and it was in the hundreds during my lifetime. 

Anyway, this post is about doing what you love and not talking yourself into doing something because it is good for you, like Broccoli,  or what Society thinks is acceptable and the "high ground" more traveled.  We only get one life to live and to spend it doing what you don't love for some secondary gain like trading your life for money does not seem to be a good idea.  Even the bible had something to say about this..."What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his immortal soul?"