What does Van Gogh and Investing have in common??

Vincent Van Gogh was a tortured artist who battled depression and lived on the edge of insanity most of his life. However, Van Gogh said and did some fascinating things that reveal a pattern of opposites and contrasts.

• "There is nothing more artistic than loving people." Yet he spent most of his life in solitude. His art was seeing the beauty in people.

• He used a lot of bold colors. That’s because he was color blind.

• “What would life be if we didn't have the courage to attempt anything?"

There is no doubt that Van Gogh painted many drafts and do-overs before he settled on the final completed painting. We can see why he would say ... “Success sometimes is the outcome of a whole series of failures."

What do you see …. an old woman or a young girl?

Regardless of your interpretation, your brain simply decided what the picture was and filled in the missing pieces.

Every bit of information can be interpreted differently according to our perspective.

If you are in a risk-averse mental framework, then you are likely to interpret a further fall in stocks as additional confirmation of your sell bias.

If instead, your framework is positive, you will interpret the same event as a great buying opportunity. Like stocks just went on sale and you’re able to buy them at a discount!!

Like in the commercial art market, every trade has a buyer and a seller. Someone has to see value on each side of the equation or the transaction won’t happen.

The nature of #risk is that you have to be willing to lose money in order to make money.

#Investing is rarely experienced in a straight line. There will be ups, and there will be downs. That’s normal and to be expected. It’s what gives us such a dynamic financial system and creates opportunities for investing.

Since none of us can predict the future, successful investing (in either art or stocks) requires planning and discipline. But it also requires a sense of purpose, conviction behind your strategy, and trust that over the long term the market will go up and you will earn more money as a result.

Investing is like what Van Gogh said: “Success sometimes is the outcome of a whole series of failures."