IF I HAD STARTED BEFORE...

"A year from now, you will wish you had started today" - Karen Lumb

In my first post I mentioned about a popular Chinese proverb that says:

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

Basically this means that the sooner you start, the better off you will be. Looking back, I regret that it took me a long time to develop a long-term vision, I think I would have reached my goal by now.

THE FIRST TIME I HEARD ABOUT DIVIDENDS

I started building a portfolio of good dividend-paying companies in early 2018, but long before that, in 2012, I could have already started to adopt this strategy. As I mentioned in previous topics, at that time I was investing in government bonds for my retirement and stocks to earn in the short term.

I remember I was returning from a business trip with a client who had been CFO of some Brazilian companies. He was 52 years old and we started talking about investments and I wanted to know what he thought of my strategy. He told me he had the same method, but instead of government bonds, he invested in dividend-paying companies through fundamental analysis.

But when I heard him talking about fundamental analysis, I automatically stopped paying attention to what he was talking about, as I thought technical analysis was the best thing to do at the time.

IF REGRET COULD KILL, THEN I WOULD BE DEAD

Today I bitterly regret not having listened to him, as I would have already started investing in the way I do now six years earlier, but back then I thought differently.

I wanted to be like those movie guys who sit all day in front of several computer screens trading stocks. I even bought several books to learn about technical analysis, which was more like kamasutra.

But as I mentioned in my first post, I can't make up for lost time, but thinking I'm getting closer and closer to my goal is something that motivates me more to keep going. And there is another reason for me to continue investing the way I started in 2018.

PEACE OF MIND

Nowadays I'm no longer interested in technical analysis, mainly because the way I invest today has brought me more peace of mind.

Before, I was worried about losing money, which made me anxious. Also, I wasted a lot of time analyzing stocks, time that I could have devoted to my profession. But today I'm not afraid that the market will fall, even I want it. Why? To buy cheaper shares that will generate more dividends. And I don't even follow the ups and downs of the shares, because I place GTC order.

But I intend to write a post about the peace of mind that long-term investment has brought me. Maybe the next post will be about that. I haven't made up my mind yet, as I still want to write about what my portfolio would be like if I had kept the first shares until today.

Hope to write about it soon.