What would be the title of your autobiography as a PSE investor?

Thank you to all the readers who participated in this Free Stuff Friday survey and shared “PSE investing journey” autobiography title. I’m going to share some of the (anonymized) responses that I received. As usual, no names or identifying info! 

MB bottom-line: I don’t know what it says about me as an investor, but even though my lifetime performance is positive and my years of investing are filled with some fantastic trades and positions that I built at the right time that went almost exactly as I thought they would and result in great profits for me, I still can only really remember The Ones That Went Wrong. The trades that blew up despite my best efforts. The dirty little side deals I made that were losers from the start and only got worse as the days went by. The big bets that tied up capital for months and years that never ended up paying off. That’s why my two examples were so negative! (Example 1: “MERKADO BARKADA: Grabbing Pesos From in Front of the Bulldozer” and Example 2: “Aaaaand It’s Gone: The Merkado Barkada Story”) As you can probably tell by now, I lean heavily on gallows humor to make talking about my investing mistakes easier and less stressful. It seems like many of you who participated in this FSF question feel the same way. I have to say, though, the one that stood out to me (and punched me in the gut) was the very simple yet ruthlessly effective “If”. There is so much pain in that one word. So much opportunity cost. So much investing drama and life in that one word. Thank you to everyone who participated! Congrats to the winners!

---

Merkado Barkada is a free daily newsletter on the PSE, investing and business in the Philippines. You can subscribe to the newsletter or follow on Twitter to receive the full daily updates.