Arnold Schwarzenegger gave an interesting speech recently at the Global Transformation Forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The speech was short, and was an outline of his six rules of success. Whether you like the Austrian Oak or not, it is difficult to argue with his level of success. The rules are simple and directly apply to every investor. Take a few minutes to see how you are implementing the Austrian Oak’s guidelines.

1. Have a vision.

“If you know where you're going everything will fall into place.”

2. Never think small

“It takes the same amount of energy to think big, as it takes to think small. So might as well.”

3. Ignore the nay-sayers

“Take the words 'it's impossible' and 'it can't be done' out of your vocabulary. Everything the nay-sayers say is a liability, will only prove to be an asset to you.”

4. Forget plan B

“As soon as you start telling yourself that you have something to fall back on, this is the most dangerous thing, because it means you're already doubting yourself. Don't take your eye off the ball, don't take your eye of plan A, there is no plan B!”

5. Work your ass off

“You never want to fail because you didn't work hard enough. None of my rules will help you, unless you're willing to work, work, work! You can't climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pocket.”

6. Don't just take, give something back

“We must serve a cause greater than ourselves. All of us need to create change. Don't just work on 'me', work on 'we'”

Success in accomplishing any financial goal begins with an objective and plan how to get there. If the vision is to have sufficient funds saved and invested upon retirement in 30 years, development of a plan with benchmarks along the way will aid in its attainment. Markets go up and markets go down, and what seemed very achievable in strong markets may not seem so in market declines. But staying the course with a clear destination in sight will help offset short-term negative investment psyche.

Developing a successful portfolio management and investment plan incorporates most of the above attributes. Determining your specific level of risk and overall investment goals will ensure a better portfolio outcome. If you are risk adverse, buying a speculative utility stock with a higher dividend, justifying it as an income play, may not suit your overall needs. Overweighting in a few industrial sectors may not be an inappropriate strategy, unless it is done unintentionally.

Time and efforts spent to expand your knowledge of finance always pays off in the long term. It is important to know what you know and to know what you don’t know, and then to stay within the comfort zone of what you know. As your knowledge expands, so does your comfort zone of investment strategies and options.

Thanks to a good friend, Mr. Bugs Tan, a renowned industrial inventor from Kuala Lumpur, for bringing this short speech to my attention. Thanks, “Uncle Bugs”.

This article first appeared in the Nov 2015 issue of Guiding Mast Investments. Thanks for reading, George Fisher

A link to the one minute speech:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFsUeUJiA9k&feature=youtu.be