Just finished reading this investment guide book, & I feel so much more enlightened by the material inside compared to the stuff learnt in the 3-year finance degree! Warren Buffett's serious but light-hearted approach to his invesment philosophy is amply covered in the book, & really, there's no one out there who can touch his investment record. Anyway, just thought that I should share some of my favourite quotes (finance academics & student be warned: some of his comments would shatter whatever confidence you have built up from all those As scored in your Uni years!):

'Diversification is for the birds'

'I plan to keep working until 5 years after I die. I have given the Berkshire board members Ouija boards to stay in touch'

'In evaluating people, you look for 3 qualities: integrity, intelligence & energy. If you don't have the 1st one, the other 2 will kill you'

'Diversification is a protection against ignorance. It makes very little sense for those who know what they're doing'

' I have enjoyed the process of making money far more than the proceeds'

Other notable quotes:

'The only time where success comes before work is in a dictionary'
- Vidal Sassoon (entrepreneur - hair care products?)

'Don't do anything until you know what you are doing'
- Jimmy Rogers, legendary investor

Comment: Highly recommended! Many examples given when these master investors have to make split second decisions, & how their 'unconscious competence' works in these cirscumstances. Eg. how George Soros became known as the 'Man who broke the Bank of England', etc

Starting to think I'm cursed.. coz just when everything seems to be turning out great, there's always a spoiler waiting in the wings. It has happened way too many times, & as much as I want to remain positive, I can't help but get the idea that I'm probably really not cut out for this. A divine signslashintervention to get me started on looking for a proper job, perhaps?

I've only discussed this with 1 person previously (u know who u r =), but it's not really such a big deal, so I'm sharing it with every1 to see if u think I'm cursed too. All right, so the story goes like this. After this MSN conversation, the customer placed a trial order with us. We prepared his order and shipped it out on the 5th june, expecting it to arrive at Turkey on the 19th. Due to the congestion of container traffic (yes, there is indeed such a thing!), the cargo is only leaving on the 2nd July, delaying the shipment by a full month! Trouble is, my customer has promised to sell the stock to some1 else on the 5th July, and if he doesn't deliver, he has got to pay 30% for breaching the contract.

So he came complaining to me, and I forwarded to him an apology letter from the shipping company (which is really poorly written...). He was really pissed off and accused me of being a cheat & started threatening about taking our company to the courts. After futile explanation attempts, he cancelled a large order for next month, and probably won't ever purchase anything from us ever again.

The key point here is, I wasn't aware of the delay and I had exactly the same information as he had! I've acted in his best interest all these while, preparing the documents he needed and sent it to him as soon as the shipment left Singapore. Yet for all the effort I've put in, it has come to this again. Zilch. It's not the 1st time this has happened, & I'm just so dissappointed right now. Maybe, just maybe, this biz is not really for me, & I should find another biz or enter the job market.

Kept reminding myself there's no easy path to success, but this latest setback is really disheartening, to say the least. Just hope that I'll find in myself enough courage & wisdom to bounce back stronger than ever... I must, & I will.