If you were fortunate during your schooling years, one of your teachers would have taught a lesson that extends well beyond the classroom.
I’m referring to the scalding administered for copying someone else’s work.
Copying might feel like a win at the time. Maybe it works out on several occasions, going undetected and getting top marks. But inevitably there comes a day when another person’s answers are nowhere to be found, and (like a marathon runner that never trained) the groundwork to deal with the situation won’t exist.
Very simply, output is a product of input. You won’t find any marathon winners who laced up for the first time on race day.
Investing is slightly more forgiving.
You can hear a hot stock tip, do no further research, and it still might (by sheer luck) work out. The same goes for blindly copying the big funds off a 13F filing. But if things start to go pear-shaped, it can quickly feel like navigating the seven seas without a compass.
Fortunately, a little groundwork goes a long way.
This week’s Market Insights offers a ‘training plan’, so to speak, on the small steps that can transform a weakly-held 13F shopping list into a conviction-backed shortlist of stock ideas.
Sincerely,
Mitchell Lawler, Senior Investment Editor
