I, Dividend Tycoon, resolve to:
- Keep my eyes open for the best businesses. The signs could be anywhere – in a shopping mall, in an airport, sitting at a bar, reading a newspaper or magazine, driving my car or watching a movie. Just make a note of it, and then go about researching the idea. Hint to self: Doing Christmas shopping I noticed that almost every trolley/shopping basket had a bottle of Coca-Cola in it. Despite the sugar fears, it is still popular where I live!
- Only invest in these great businesses referred to above. Do not feel you need to do anything else other than invest in the best. Have the courage to load up when you find one though.
- Listen more to others, but make your own decisions. Do not let others scare you out of a stock, although listen carefully to what they are saying, and think about why they are saying it.
- Look at stock prices less, and read/research more. Also turn off twitter feed for long periods, it is distracting. Focus on finding the great businesses and the good stock prices will surely follow.
- Find like minded people to talk about investing with, it is always good to hear other opinions before buying a stock. This blog does not make money but has already been a way to connect with some good people. I hope this will continue.
- Invest in US and/or UK stocks. This was the initial reason for this blog, as I am living in an emerging market country with fairly high political risk. There are however some great investment opportunities which I have deployed any capital I have had into. This may be partly due to inertia/procrastination or just home bias, but it ends in 2017. In 2017 I will make my first offshore acquisition and diversify my risk. Offshore though is not an excuse to pick anything offshore, the stocks must still be the best businesses. (See point 1)
- Surf more – it generally improves your investing! Not sure what that says about me though..
- Do not be afraid of cash! (Do not be confused, I embrace cash!) However, I have a rather bad habit of letting it go too quickly. I love owning stocks, so the temptation is always to quickly deploy new cash into new stocks. See point 1, and remember to be patient. Find the best businesses at a reasonable price. If you have to sit on your hands, or go surfing (see point 7), then do that!
- Read Get Rich with Dividends by Marc Lichtenfeld. This book was recommended to me by one of the new readers of this blog, and judging by the Amazon review could be well worth the cost and time it takes to read.
- Be patient! Okay I already said that, but this is my weakest point, so it is another reminder.
- Spend more time on Dividend Tycoon. I enjoy writing, hopefully (assuming you made it to point 11) you enjoy reading. Let me know if you have any resolutions for 2017.
Have a great 2017!