The Valuation : Value Investing Through Valuation

How many people can invest—and then truly forget about it?

Everyone knows that investing a meaningful sum in a solid, growing business and leaving it untouched can yield substantial returns over time.

In theory, it’s the perfect investment strategy.

But reality looks very different.

Most investors habitually open their mobile trading app every day to check their account.

When prices are in the green, dopamine spikes; when they turn blue, stress levels soar. You swing between heaven and hell multiple times a day.

Meanwhile, those who are already wealthy behave differently.

Having more money allows them to leave their investments alone without obsessing. Ironically, this indifference is the very force that enables the rich to keep getting richer.

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1. Why We Fail to “Forget”

Our inability to forget about our accounts isn’t due to a lack of patience. It’s human nature.

Behavioral economics describes this as loss aversion bias.

Humans feel the pain of losses more than twice as strongly as the joy of gains. Watching your invested money shrink triggers an instinctive fear. So we check our accounts constantly to manage that fear.

But this behavior ends up hurting us.

Frequent monitoring shifts our attention away from a company’s fundamental value (signal) and toward short-term market noise. It’s like digging up seeds every day to check whether they’re growing—there’s no chance for roots, let alone fruit.

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2. The Wealthy’s Most Powerful Weapon: Margin for Error

Are wealthy people extraordinarily patient?

Not really. Their environment is different.

For someone with tens or hundreds of millions in assets, a few tens or hundreds of thousands invested in stocks is just a fraction of their wealth.

Even if that portion were cut in half tomorrow, their livelihood wouldn’t be threatened. They invest with genuine excess capital—money that doesn’t need to pay next month’s bills or service debt.

This “breathing room” puts time—arguably the strongest force in investing—on their side.

Markets are inherently volatile.

Even great companies experience 30–50% drawdowns depending on macro conditions.

Most retail investors can’t withstand that fear, or they need cash urgently and are forced to sell at a loss.

But the wealthy can hold on.

For them, a crash looks more like a “clearance sale.” With their financial cushion, their ability to endure volatility is simply on another level.

And when the market eventually recovers and fundamentals reassert themselves, those who stayed invested enjoy the compounding rewards.

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3. How to Quit the “Poor Investor Habit” of Constant Checking

We can’t become multimillionaires overnight.

But we can adopt their approach.

In a tilted playing field, we must intentionally replicate the environment of the wealthy.

First, extend your investment horizon.

A company needs at least three years to grow. Expecting tomorrow’s price to reflect today’s purchase isn’t investing—it’s speculation. Businesses don’t mature overnight.

Second, build a forced “forgetting system.”

Automate monthly contributions on payday and remove your trading app from your home screen.

There are countless studies showing that the less frequently investors check their accounts, the higher their returns.

Third, focus on cash flow.

If you want to avoid emotional swings over your stock valuations, your earned income or business income must be solid.

Paradoxically, strengthening your primary source of cash flow is one of the best ways to maintain a healthy investing mindset.

Warren Buffett famously said,
“The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.”

The wealthy understand this instinctively.

Opening your account every day and riding emotional waves is essentially begging the rich to take your money.

If you want real returns, sometimes you need to forget you even invested and focus on your daily life.

That’s the first step onto the fast lane of wealth.