I like to approach my investing with the same mindset that I approach watching India play cricket abroad. The keyword there is ‘abroad’.
See, when India plays abroad (and I mean the SENA countries – South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia), my expectations are low. When they do better, I am elated, and when they lose, I don’t get too depressed.
I think watching our investment portfolio should be the same. Having realistic expectation means, a boom market (like now) makes us real happy, but a downturn does not faze us much. There is, let’s just say, downside containment of our disappointments ๐
On the other hand, if we look at our portfolio like watching India play at home (like right now), we expect too much, every defeat is a an unexpected disaster, and a win feels like just ok.
Not good feelings; And makes us act rashly with our portfolio (like ‘resting’ Rohit Sharma :-/ )
How do we form the right expectations, you ask? Glad you did – please read this article from our archives – it’ll set you right!