Driving ~ Playing The Stock Market

Jul 31

Lots of people drive. Although perhaps we should rethink the way that we do it, what with the amount of money we’re sinking into our traveling. While there is much to think about (least of all are my Tips For Saving Gas), you can also find lessons that aren’t initially obvious. And by you, I mean me.

Driving everyday to work has taught me a few things. One thing that I’ve recently noticed is how it seems to me that I need to just chill when I’m driving. That is, it does no good to constantly switch lanes in order to try to get ahead. While I may get ahead a little bit, just a single wrong choice, and I’ve lost all that I’ve worked so hard to get.

So it is with stocks as well.

• Fairly common advice is that you should buy for the long term. The extra stress, work, and volatility are said to just not be worth it. That is, you could do all of that work and still end up at the same place as someone who just set it and left it. And that definitely happens to people when they’re switching lanes trying to get around all of the other people. It’s perhaps even more noticeable since a good deal of the road that I drive is 2 lanes.

• Don’t be shocked if something abruptly happens to you. If you’re going someplace and you need to be on time, isn’t it always better to be early and prepared rather than cutting it as close as possible? That way, if something happens, you’ll have some leeway to recover. And don’t you dare go putting all over your money into 1 stock. Or even all of your money into stocks!

• Notice patterns. When driving the same route everyday, I start to get a sense of how things are. That is, some lanes are more apt to progress more quickly because of the traffic flow. And I start to notice how lights are set up so I know whether it’s worth it to bust my butt to make the light. Alright so maybe that’s hard to make into some lesson for stocks because the whole deal with the stock market is that people are trying to predict what companies are going to do. And it’s only partially based on past performance. Still, take that past into account when doing your stock-picking thing.

The comparison doesn’t hold up completely, of course. While you don’t have to buy stocks, you do have to pick a lane to drive in. But you know what? I’m not concerning myself with making a perfect comparison.