There's no single path to success. Just your path

How many investors does it take to change a lightbulb?

The answer probably depends on who you ask.

“Just get it done as cheaply and efficiently as possible” might say the value investor.

“Forget lightbulbs. An artificially intelligent, interconnected, home system is the way of the future” says the growth investor.

“Forget changing it. There is nothing wrong with it” argues the contrarian.

The private credit investor offers “whatever is required, I can finance it at an appropriate interest rate”.

One of the most interesting things about investing is that there is no one single approach or archetype to success. In fact, in the above example, it is possible that all the above investors might be correct at the same time but for very different reasons.

Despite financial markets largely operating on an adversarial process – for every buyer of an asset, it needs a willing seller – there is a lot of wiggle room in how investment decisions can be made.

Style. Risk tolerance. Portfolio composition. The time an investor is expecting to wait for the returns. These are just some of the things that will go through an investor's mind when deciding to press “Buy” or “Sell”.

An ensemble of investing experience

This thought echoed through my mind as I attended the recent Livewire Live event.

From private credit to artificial intelligence. Growth or value. Resources and technology.  Grizzled veterans sharing the same stage as emerging leaders. This celebration of the local investing scene had something for everyone.

It was a perfect example of the fact that there is not a single approach that must be followed to be successful in this game. If you put in the work and find the right opportunities, you have a chance.

And that is what makes investing such a great pastime.

Just like a walk through an art gallery, such as the Art Gallery of New South Wales where Livewire Live took place, you are free to gravitate towards what speaks to your personality and your view on the world, even if it might differ from others in the same venue.

There is also beauty in the conflict of ideas.

Again, Livewire Live was a great example.

One minute, Viktor Shvets, Head of Global Desk Strategy at Macquarie Capital, was offering up a roadmap for how investors might approach a potentially dystopian future world. Next, some of Australia’s leading fund managers were painting a far more optimistic picture of the future and who they felt was likely to benefit from that.

The challenge of conviction

This is something I initially battled with when I started investing.

Nuance wasn’t something I was quite ready to appreciate.

“Just tell me what to do” was something I would find myself thinking, if not saying.

However, over time, I learned that although I could borrow other people’s ideas. I couldn’t borrow their conviction.

The good news is that, whether you invest directly or prefer a fund manager do it for you, there are no shortage of diverse people, opinions and world views out there.

As such, it is easy to create your own personal network.

I’ve personally created a list of investors and fund managers who share similarities with my approach to markets and those who tend to be on the opposite end of the spectrum. By understanding the opinions of both, I can better flesh out my thesis and challenge it for weaknesses.

The good thing about Livewire is that I can find, and follow, some of these people and hear from them directly on a single platform.

So, when people ask me how to approach investing, my answer is to find an approach that works for you.

This may take time. You may make some mistakes. But if you stick with it, learn lessons, and evolve, you’ll make better decisions as it will be based in reasoning that aligns with your world view and conviction.

It’s a big world out there with many different paths.

Thankfully, you don’t need to walk them all. Just the one that is right for you.