How the army has taught me the 2 most important factors of investing

I apologize for the lack of updates these few weeks as the blog authors are currently serving their nation. Being a typical enlistee, time is something that we yearn for more and as we progress, more and more time seem to flow away from our hands. However, not to worry, we are still working on this blog as it is our passion and a pleasure to do so.

While army has its disadvantages, it had also taught me some precious lessons which I think most men experienced in their NS lives.

One of which is discipline. In my opinion, this is the most important factor, as it not only applies to investment but also in personal finance. 

Why is that so?

To become a successful investor, I feel that one has to master oneself and discipline is essential to do so. One has to stick to the investing plan or strategy that he has set right at the start and not deviate, EVEN IF he has to take on initial losses. Needless to say, army life has taught me the life skill in a hard way but I'm glad they did. As the quote states, "Some things are worth the pain to fight.".

Secondly, it is courage. Being on the army has taught me to fight for things that you want requires courage to ask. The answer to everything is always no unless you ask for it. This is also true for investment. The first step to invest is to actually have the courage to invest. Whatever knowledge or skills that you learn or read do not matter until you have invested in something and experience the roller coaster ride. Furthermore, in terms of investing, it is something which you can truly learn only if you do it for real. As in really real.

There are also other lessons that we can take off from our NS journey which I believe is also an useful trade off for 2 years of our youth. It is make us think, appreciate and value time as well as freedom. While the above are not necessarily true for all, they are my opinions of which I feel are the most important.