May 2019 summary update.
I wanted to start off my post to give some background for new readers, what this site is for and what I am trying to do here. My investing started back in 2009. Back then my investing experience was not great and that time was also a quite dark period. During that time I also worked for very little and had to pay my bills, so it got me to appreciate the value of a dollar. Lack of money was a challenge when I was a kid and young adult, back then I did not have control of finances as I was not the income earner. I promised my future self to find a way to not have this problem when I get older. Over the years, especially when I graduated and became working full time in a real job, my investing style and philosophy began to mold into a certain style. I ended up investing to generate more income and the growth of income. I own businesses not to sell them in the future, my goal is to own high quality businesses that output cash forever. I think only when one invests hard earned cash and sees certain strategies fail and others work, one will eventually develop their own "flavor" or style of investing. The investing style on this site is one I have tailored over 10 years (from a teenager to a young adult) to fit my risk tolerance, personal style, and investing beliefs.
My youth investing and lifestyle was heavily influenced by Buffett (his middle to late age style) and his partner Munger. Buffet, his logical nature, his thought process, and culture, is someone I looked up to and helped shape my early life. Munger's early struggles as a young adult and his ability to overcome them also helped encourage me to move forward. Buffett's early days were more of a buy very low and flip companies style, or buy below book value and liquidate inventory and layoff people and sell for profit. However I prefer his approach after his fund size became too large to buy and flip as it is less manual and more long term, I prefer buying in high quality and holding for life. I like to buy high quality companies that are cashflow rich and use those excess cash to invest in more high quality businesses. It is hard in today's information technology internet age to find undervalued companies below book value, and since I have a very busy full time job I cannot participate actively and micromanage my investments so I need a more passive long term approach.
I also have a goal to make a million dollars by the time I am around 30. Buffet similarly declared in the year 1941, at the age of 11, that he would be a millionaire by the age of 35. He eventually crushed this goal ahead of schedule and easily became a millionaire at age 30, although those dollars back then are valued more today than in the past, the 7 figure "double comma club" goal has always been a dream target when I was a kid. I always wanted to be a millionaire. Now, it looks that goal is getting closer and closer.
My primary purpose to invest is independence and freedom. I do not want more money to buy more things. I actually do not have much material desire in life, no desire for a nice car, fun vacations, nice houses, clothes, toys or things. I like making money to make more money, which to many probably looks like a pointless cycle, but I enjoy building and continuously building things, and in this case I like building and maintaining a system that outputs cash. I like seeing my work produce results and improve over time, I like seeing progress and improvement over time. Having more money is like having a bigger shovel, eventually more work and output can be produced. In the beginning I have to start with a small spoon, but over time I can purchase a shovel, and then a pickup truck, and then an 18-wheeler, and then a Caterpillar 797 powertrain hauler, etc.
The one thing I value most of money is the opportunities and enablement money provides. Money allows me to be able to do what I want when I want, it allows me to manage my own schedule, it allows me to say no on something I do not believe in, it allows me to execute on what I believe in without pressure. Money allows me to care for the people I care for, it provides opportunities for people other than myself to better their lives. Without money, one often has to do things one does not want just to survive and that is not how I want to live.
