Getting Off the Schneid

I did an amazing thing last year with First Cut stock studies: 209 of them! Two hundred nine. The time required for data collection, completing a stock study guide and First Cut report, and blog posting averaged 3-4 hours thereby making for a substantial annual commitment. I began my journey with 55 studies between Sep – Nov 2022 before taking a 65-day break and resuming on Jan 12, 2023. I then did one study per trading day through Oct 26 before a technical glitch blocked access to the M* website through my local library. Expecting this would take days to fix, I waited. Days turned into weeks, however, and I fell off the wagon. The investing world hasn’t heard from me since.

During the interlude, my brain has been in a state of—hibernation? Unwelcomed sabbatical? I really don’t know! I’ve taken breaks before (such as the 2+ months mentioned above), but not this long. Everything else in my life has been proceeding as usual including my trading. Trading pays the bills and takes less than 30 minutes per day; thankfully no interruption has been seen there. In my mind, however, the “optional activities” discussed in these first three paragraphs are what make the difference between working and retirement. Since those optional activities have now been absent for a while, I’ve started thinking of myself as “semi-retired.”

I don’t want to be done yet, though. I feel I have at least one more act left.

First things first: write this post. Since I haven’t blogged in what seems like ages, it took a herculean effort to do basics like login to WordPress, get into my blog folder, search the title index for links, remember what to do with tags, etc. These tasks are automatic when I’m doing them multiple times per week but after four months away, a chisel is needed for newfound rust.

I can now be the last, probably, to say Happy New Year to everyone! Greetings after a long hiatus.

My plan going forward, first and foremost, is to catch up on the blog. This will involve many of the things I wish to revisit: restarting the stock study engine, backtesting option strategies, catching up on financial journals, and studying other investment ideas from my reading or personal trading. Perhaps I’ll also process some of what I have learned from the BetterInvesting volunteer program.

Today’s goal was just to get this post done—whether adequately proofread or not—thereby getting me off the schneid. Tomorrow I’ll need to follow-through but for the time being, mission accomplished!