Nicolas Darvas

Today I'm going to tell you the story of Nicolas Darvas. The short version. Actually the very short version. Darvas was a professional dancer who made over 2 million dollars in the stock market from an original stake of $8,000. Basically he found a system he could stick to (his box theory) and then he followed it. However and this is what I found very interesting, as long as he was overseas and away from the stock market he made money. His broker would send him the tape once a week. That's it! He wasn't distracted be the constant noise of daily news, wall street hype, etc., etc. He just watched the tape once a week.

But then he decided that he could improve his investing if he went to New York where he could be in the middle of the action and get the latest happenings as they unfolded. So what do you think happened? That's right he immediately started to lose money. You want to know why? Because all that worthless noise played on his emotions till he couldn't stick to his system that's why. My suggestion is you turn the damn TV off and ignore all the crap that the media and wall street put out every day. Just look at your positions once a week like Darvas did and I suspect you will have a much better chance of achieving results like he did.

Ever wonder why Buffett lives in Omaha, NE?