Personal Advantage: Key To A Successful Investing Strategy

One of the many reoccurring things that I have noticed as I read is the concept of having comparative advantages. When I first started trading, I was told I needed at least one of these "personal trading advantages." I could not think of anything for the life of me. I thought: How can I have any advantage at all? I don't have any inside information, and all the tools I use are accessible to anyone with an Internet connection.

Now, with how the brain works, neural connections get connected when we do something, and every time we do something that connection gets "greased" so to speak, in that it makes it easier the next time. When we think of the best athletes in their field, we think of basketball players who grew up carrying around a basketball, or Tiger Woods golfing with his dad while young.

Since I was a child, my eyesight and vision neural pathways had been greased to pick up on colors, patterns and movements that are over-looked by others. Therefore, my personal trading advantage is my vision and reaction times, and while some of the older chart readers may have the depth of experience that comes with looking at charts for 20 years, they will not have the innate talent that comes from someone who was staring at patterns and acting on those patterns since they were very young.

I have a few other personal trading advantages that come from a bit more personal parts of my life, but this physical advantage that I have taught me that almost everything in life is connected. Of course you will not have a personal trading advantage in the stock market when you get into trading. Your personal trading advantage will come from the things you have done outside of trading that give you a unique look on how things work. When you try to think of your comparative advantage, think of the neural networks and connections that you have "greased" and see how these can help in the stock market.

I hope this example may be able to help some people looking to find their personal trading advantage. I can't find it for them. But if they look hard enough and diligently enough, I think everybody can find a personal advantage. Then it becomes a matter of practice.