In terms of developing the skills of a professional investor, there are some attributes that you need to be thinking about.
So, I want to break down four qualities that I think are critical for you to invest in if you’re looking to step up and get a higher alpha or well above average result with your investing.
And, if you’re wanting to fast track your journey to becoming a professional investor and achieving financial freedom, make sure to check out these nine accelerators.
The Inspiration Behind the Four Attributes
Before delving into each attribute, I want to give a quick back story into how I’ve come to hone in on these four attributes.
They were developed from two activities:
spending time with amazing people who are killing it from an investment standpoint and generating investment results that people dream of, and
working with hundreds of investors over the last ten to twelve years and observing specific patterns of behaviours that either support wealth creation or, to some degree, sabotage wealth creation.
So, I want to unpack what each attribute means to me, how you can work out if you lack these attributes and how you can resolve that. Because if you’re serious about wanting to transform your results, you’ve really got to pay attention to these.
And when it comes to solving your weaknesses in terms of these attributes, solutions can be anything from formal education to gleaning wisdom from people who’ve walked the path before you and sitting on the couch in a psychologist’s office to work on your personal development.
With that being said, let’s get straight into the first attribute: mindset.
Attribute 01: Mindset
Mindset refers to how you feel about money, how you relate to it and how healthy your relationship is with it.
And certain elements come with developing the right mindset. For example, how much analytical wisdom do you bring to the table? What lessons have you learnt growing up? And how has your money evolved as your income has grown?
Mindset Sub-Element: Ambition
Mindset also incorporates this concept of ambition.
Some people have massive amounts of ambition when it comes to running their business, but, for whatever reason, that ambition doesn’t translate into precise effort when it comes to developing wealth – and that’s something to be mindful of.
A good question you should ask yourself is, “do you have the fierce ambition to actually build wealth?”
Mindset Sub-Element: Urgency
The next element of mindset is what I would describe as urgency.
When I talk about urgency, I’m saying how much fire in your belly is there to get results and take action? Of course, we can all say that we have theoretical ambition, but how much fire do you end up bringing to your wealth-creating activities?
Mindset Sub-Element: Goals
Another element of mindset is setting goals. You need to be clear about the goals you’ve set and what you need to do to achieve financial freedom and hit your goals.
Mindset Sub-Element: Beliefs
Lastly, your beliefs around money will also influence your mindset. I encourage you to unpack:
- what you believe about money,
- whether you think you’re worthy of having money,
- whether you believe you deserve to be wealthy, and
- whether you have some shame or guilt about money.
These are all the things, in my perspective, that sit squarely within the concept of mindset.
Attribute 02: Stewardship
I’ve extensively spoken about stewardship in many of my podcasts – so make sure to check it out. But in simple terms, stewardship is about establishing how you look after and care for the money that comes into your world.
There are so many great resources available for mastering the art of stewardship. However, some stewardship systems can be pretty complex so if you need some support, utilise all these resources.
A fantastic read is the Barefoot Investor, and it’s a resource I would definitely recommend to anyone who needs support with their stewardship system.
But in my opinion, there are three key parts to stewardship.
Stewardship Sub-Element: Management of Money
The first crucial element is the management of money.
In becoming a professional investor, you need to establish whether you manage your money well or whether you just spend it and have an easy-come-easy-go attitude?
Stewardship Sub-Element: Control
Another element, which is linked to the management of your money, is control. How do you control the management of your money so that it allows you to amplify it?
Stewardship Sub-Element: Diligence
With both those two sub-elements comes diligence. Diligence is the amount of time and energy you put into ensuring that you’ve got a strong awareness of your snapshot of wealth.
Many of the people who come into my world don’t have an accurate take on where their balance sheet is at. They have a loose understanding of it sometimes, but management, control and diligence are about giving it a bit more attention on a regular basis – which brings me to the concept of cadence.
Stewardship Sub-Element: Cadence
Cadence in reference to wealth creation is about being able to give a little bit of attention to your wealth creation efforts regularly – even if it’s only 15 minutes each month.
It’s about tuning in and setting rhythms around what you want to do and how you want to do it – because ultimately, that’s what will amplify, compound and increase your velocity over time.
Attribute 03: Investment Effectiveness
The next attribute I want to mention is investment effectiveness and how important it is.
I speak to investors all the time who have no idea how the investments they’ve selected have taken them toward their desired goal around financial freedom.
So, investment effectiveness is all about how effective your decisions have been in aligning with your goals. So, if I were to describe the components of investment effectiveness, it would be:
- How good have you been at asset selection?
- How good have you been at managing your investments, redeploying capital, and increasing the velocity of your money?
- How well does your strategy align with your goals?
- How well have you been networking?
Investment Effectiveness Sub-Element: Network
Networking is a super powerful tool when it comes to investment effectiveness.
You need to align yourself with deal makers and people who will share their wisdom and support you on your wealth creation journey and actively feed you deals, as and when you need them, that align with your goals.
You should never have to invest from a place of FOMO (fear of missing out). If you are in the right network, not only will you have your ear to the ground and get an understanding of what is working and what is not, but you will also get access to deals.
If you get that piece right, you will reach your financial goals decades before the age of 65.!
Attribute 04: Knowledge
The last attribute I want to direct your attention to is the concept of knowledge.
Now, knowledge isn’t all about formal education; it’s also about the informal means of acquiring knowledge, such as finding mentors who have experienced the results that you want
Knowledge Sub-Element: Thirst for New Information/Ideas
Other than the formal and informal mechanisms of knowledge, you need to have a thirst for new information and ideas. It doesn’t help to be complacent in the knowledge you already have – you need to establish how you can make your current results better.
Knowledge Sub-Element: Discernment
Discernment is your capacity to identify what investments are significant and relevant and what investments aren’t.
Final Thoughts
Everything in my programme and everything that I believe is about sharpening the axe: and if you can give some attention to those four attributes, which are mindset, stewardship, investment effectiveness and knowledge, I think you’re going to go a long way towards getting your axe significantly sharper than the average Joe.
The starting point for everything is to get clarity around what you want in life, business, and your wealth-creation journey.
If you’re interested in understanding how to create wealth through alternative strategies, please check out my programs, where I help you catapult your investment income and blend strategies to shave decades off your timeline to financial freedom.
Or, you’re welcome to get in touch today, book a call with me, and I would be happy to talk you through it – no obligation!