The most important rule in investing is not to lose your initial capital. Making money comes later. If you lose 50% of your principal, the loss rate is 50%, but to recover that principal, you need a 100% return. This is because the baseline of your return—the principal—has already been halved. Many people tend to think that if they’ve lost 50%, they only need a 50% return to break even. However, this is a misunderstanding of the starting point. In investing, the baseline is always the original principal. The principal after a loss is no longer the same; it’s already in the past. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”
Investing in stocks isn ’ t only about buying and selling shares on the public stock market. One way to invest in stocks is by improving a company’s performance and helping it grow. In fact, this is a more fundamental approach to stock investing. In other words, both trading stocks and managing the company are ways to invest. Buying and selling a company ’ s stock involves trading its shares because stocks indicate that profits will be shared and signify ownership. When a company is well-managed and performs strongly, its stock price rises. The company’s value is reflected in its stock price, making effective management a crucial part of investing in stocks. It doesn’t matter if the investor is inside or outside the company—managers need to understand the core of what they are doing. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”