The Hard Yards?

How doing not a lot is quite tough

Dear Diary

I started getting into investing about 4 years ago, when life circumstances required a re-evaluation of how I approached my finances. What has followed was and is a journey of learning, activity and results. The learning continues, may it never end, but the activity has definitely slowed. I’m not for example setting up accounts or determining portfolios. This is a good thing overall, as avoiding overtrading for one is a valuable lesson. It does though require just doing less. For someone who runs quite a lot on effort = results, this is a strange feeling.

Perhaps harder is the slowing of results, at least in my perception. Doubling £100 in an investment account feels good and it happens quite quick. Doing so with 100 times that amount takes much more time (at least for me). Compounding is vital, but it’s not linear and right now I’m watching paint dry as the palpable sense of progress is lacking.

I’m trying to tackle this by first, just getting on with it. Investing is a slow sport so best to accept that fact. Second, I’m learning deeper. Initially as I ranged hungrily around for information in a what was a new topic the learning was wide. I’m not saying I’ve reached the edges of knowledge, rather that there’s more value to be had by taking what I know and then scratching below that surface. This both absorbs time and energy but potentially will help decision making and thus returns over the long term. An example is digging deeper into the companies I hold, another is the workings of ETFs. There’s always something to learn of improve on.

So diary the journey continues but its character is starting to shift.