I am having a busy time of late: On October 15, I had to give a 2-hour presentation (preview) in Hong Kong and on October 17, I was a guest of Share Investor at their Investor Expo in Kuala Lumpur.What I am about to say about the audiences is my initial response only ; I may well have formed an incorrect assessment. But for what it’s worth, here it is: the attendees in HK struck me as being possessed of a higher standard of living. It doesn’t take a genius to work that out. HK has a higher GDP per capita of population. But there was also a great difference to the attitude to learning.
- The HK attendees seemed to be searching for an approach that would save the value of their ‘long’ stock positions, but were looking for some easy answer that would not involve a commitment of time, money and effort.
- It was difficult to get my messages across - there was a cup full of attitude. You know the old saying: “To learn you must first empty your cup of old knowledge”. I’d mention an idea and I could see the shields go up - a sign that the new ideas were not being well received. I needed to find another way through - but I’d say on the night I was unsuccessful.
- They only time the majority really came alive was in the Q&A when I was asked about what the Hang Seng (HK’s equivalent to the ES) would do.
- There were no follow-up e-mails enquiring about what they could do to improve: books, courses, instruments etc.
The KL crowd could not have been more different:
- They were keen to learn
- Their questions were on techniques and what they could do to improve their results.
- I received a number of e-mails after the event asking about courses they could attend to improve their results.
Perhaps the critical difference was that the event in HK was a preview of proposed 2-day seminars sponsored by NextView and the event in KL was a trader’s expo. Sometimes audiences who come to a preview come with the idea that ‘I will not be sold’ but ‘I will learn what I can for free’ - rather than with the idea ‘is the course value for money’. Perhaps that was the reason.
But whatever the reason, there was a world of difference felt from my end of the lectern.
The two events led to a reflection that human beings respond the same ways to market information.
- We can choose to have a fixed, ‘know it all’ mindset. This mindset will prevent us from exiting a position or acting in a way in accordance with the market information. At some level, our fear is: ‘the market will turn (as soon as I exit) or (as soon as I take a position)’.
- The other response is to do whatever it takes to succeed. This includes being attuned to market information and its impact on our trading timeframe. At some level is the belief: ‘that while painful and often loss resulting, this course of action, over a large sample size, will lead to investment/trading success’.
Of course, you know what my next questions will be:
- What mindset do you have? And
- If the actions you are taking are not leading to the results you want, what new actions will you take?
Refer this blog post to a friend or colleague…
