Views
2 years ago

Blue Chip Issue 82

  • Text
  • Financial
  • Advisors
  • Investments
  • Equity
  • Wealth
  • Offshore
  • Asset
  • Portfolio
  • Investing
  • Global
  • Momentum
Welcome to our Investing Offshore Special Edition of Blue Chip. a quarterly journal for the financial planning industry and the official publication of the Financial Planning Institute of Southern Africa NPC (FPI). Blue Chip publishes contributions from FPI and other leading industry figures, covering all aspects of the financial planning industry.

FOREX BOOK REVIEW

FOREX BOOK REVIEW CONTROL Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results Review of Atomic Habits written by James Clear. At Prudential, we aim to build up small, positive returns continually over time, while also avoiding large losses, to deliver strong outperformance to our clients. This same approach of aggregating the positive and limiting the negative can be applied in daily life, to stay happy and healthy. In the book, Atomic Habits, James Clear suggests that real-life change also comes from the compound effect of hundreds of small decisions. He calls them Atomic Habits. What makes this book different is that rather than focusing on the individual’s measure of willpower, the author argues that breaking bad habits and building good ones result from having the right systems in place. He explains that motivation is often overrated, and that the environments we create for ourselves often matter more when trying to create good habits. “Disciplined” people who appear to have a lot of self-control are often just those who have structured their environment correctly so that they don’t need heroic willpower to overcome tempting situations. It is therefore best to be the designer of your own world and not just the consumer of it. Instead of focusing on what we want to achieve, the book calls for a focus, instead, on who we want to become. Incentives start a habit; identity sustains a habit. The book teaches us how to become the best versions of ourselves. The author describes four laws of behavioural change that can help us build better habits. He also provides practical, real-life examples of how better habits can be instilled. Clear calls on examples such as troops returning from Vietnam with heroin addictions, as well as well-known individuals such as the comedian, Steve Martin, in his quest for better habits. In making sense of habits, the book delves into what motivates human behaviour. The human brain associates specific habits with specific contexts. Habits thrive under predictable circumstances. Humans tend to adopt habits that are approved by our society because we have a strong need to fit in and belong to the tribe. The cost of good habits is in the present, while the cost of bad habits is in the future. It is all about delayed versus instant gratification, which relates to our ancient brain. Clear professes that many habits occur at a decisive moment that sets you up for a productive day or an unproductive one. He refers to gateway habits – small steps that influence the big steps thereafter. You can only run a marathon if you start with putting on your running shoes, for example. One can cut out bad habits through increasing the odds that you will do the right thing in future by making the bad habit difficult in the present. An example of this is when gamblers voluntarily add themselves to the banned list at a casino to prevent future gambling sprees. Good habits should be made easy (putting your running clothes out the night before) and bad habits difficult. This is where technology comes in as a useful tool, through for instance limiting your social media browsing with a website blocker, or setting up a debit order to enforce your saving habit. The author then moves on to habit tracking, which forces you not to break the chain and to make it obvious what your progress is, such as setting up a reward for every time you pass up on a cappuccino. Humans like seeing their visible progress. In the final section of the book, Clear expounds how habits relate to genes and personality types, as habits are easier to form if they align with your personality and skills. The Goldilocks Rule is introduced (ie working on challenges of just manageable difficulty). The difference between great athletes and everyone else often boils down to who can handle the boredom of training every day, repeating the same drills over and over. Habit formation is not about how long it takes to establish, but about how many repetitions it takes. For Clear, habits are the backbone of any pursuit of excellence. The book concludes that small, positive habits do not simply add up – they compound. The words of the famous investor Charlie Munger are very apt: “The first rule of compounding: never interrupt it unnecessarily.” Miranda van Rensburg, Regional Sales Manager, Prudential 64 www.bluechipdigital.co.za This article was first published in Prudential's Consider This magazine.

REGISTER FOR AFRICA’S LARGEST VIRTUAL ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT CONFERENCE 25 March 2022 | 09h00 to 12h00 Register to attend Africa’s largest alternative investment conference taking place virtually on 25 March 2022. The conference will host some of the leading alternative investment fund managers focusing on artificial intelligence, structured products, tech, private markets, impact investing, cryptocurrency and more. ALTERATIVE INVESTMENTS TO BE SHOWCASED HEDGE FUND PRIVATE MARKETS STRUCTURED PRODUCTS DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY HEDGE FUND PE & VC MARKET UPDATE REGISTER ONLINE WWW.ALTMARKETPLACE.CO.ZA CRYPTOCURRENCY EMERGING MARKETS MEDIA PARTNERS THE EVENT WILL BE BROADCASTED VIRTUALLY MASTER OF CEREMONY: MICHAEL AVERY

Other recent publications by Global Africa Network: