Since this is my first post on this blog, which, by the way, also happens to be my first blog :-), I am going to devote the entire post to explaining the name of the blog and why I started this blog in the first place.
First the name -
The blog, as you know, is called PDL investing. PDL stands for many things, but in this case, it is one of two things - "Plain Dumb Luck" or "Planned and Developed Luck". "Plain Dumb Luck" is just that - plain dumb luck. No further explanation needed. By "Planned and Developed Luck", I mean - following companies you understand, reading balance sheets and 10Qs and 10Ks on the SEC website, listening to earnings conference calls, following companies that are being followed by the great (proven) investors of our time, investing in companies whose management you trust.... all these things and more.
As the years pass, I hope that my investment performance will be marked by more of the second kind and less of the first. Be that as it may, I want to acknowledge that, whatever the outcome, luck has a big role to play in it. I personally believe that this holds true even for the world's greatest investors. You need some luck, especially at the macro economic level. More on that later.
Now for why I started this blog -
I have been "obsessed" with the stock market for many years now. While other ("normal") people like to listen to songs or watch TV, I like to spend my time reading business news on Yahoo Finance, listening to NPR's (now American Public Media) MarketPlace, following companies/posters on Yahoo Message Boards, digging up SEC filings... you get the point. Anyway, my wife, Ashu, noticed this obsession. She also happened to "notice" (:-) ) that I had quit my day job and was not doing anything particularly useful. The couple of businesses that I own/manage did not take up more than 1-2 hours of my time each day on average. So she "suggested" that I do something to put my finance "knowledge" to work. If you are married or ever have been, you know how these "suggestions" work. And so, here we are.
That is it for today! My first post on my first (and perhaps last) blog. Maybe, years (or hours) later, I will look at this post and say that it was poorly thought out and poorly written, but for now I am pleased with it and am looking forward to seeing it published on the blog for all the world to see.
First the name -
The blog, as you know, is called PDL investing. PDL stands for many things, but in this case, it is one of two things - "Plain Dumb Luck" or "Planned and Developed Luck". "Plain Dumb Luck" is just that - plain dumb luck. No further explanation needed. By "Planned and Developed Luck", I mean - following companies you understand, reading balance sheets and 10Qs and 10Ks on the SEC website, listening to earnings conference calls, following companies that are being followed by the great (proven) investors of our time, investing in companies whose management you trust.... all these things and more.
As the years pass, I hope that my investment performance will be marked by more of the second kind and less of the first. Be that as it may, I want to acknowledge that, whatever the outcome, luck has a big role to play in it. I personally believe that this holds true even for the world's greatest investors. You need some luck, especially at the macro economic level. More on that later.
Now for why I started this blog -
I have been "obsessed" with the stock market for many years now. While other ("normal") people like to listen to songs or watch TV, I like to spend my time reading business news on Yahoo Finance, listening to NPR's (now American Public Media) MarketPlace, following companies/posters on Yahoo Message Boards, digging up SEC filings... you get the point. Anyway, my wife, Ashu, noticed this obsession. She also happened to "notice" (:-) ) that I had quit my day job and was not doing anything particularly useful. The couple of businesses that I own/manage did not take up more than 1-2 hours of my time each day on average. So she "suggested" that I do something to put my finance "knowledge" to work. If you are married or ever have been, you know how these "suggestions" work. And so, here we are.
That is it for today! My first post on my first (and perhaps last) blog. Maybe, years (or hours) later, I will look at this post and say that it was poorly thought out and poorly written, but for now I am pleased with it and am looking forward to seeing it published on the blog for all the world to see.
