New Year New Me Permanent Resolutions · Invest & Retire Community

New Year New Me Permanent Resolutions

When you decide to change in 2026, what's important is to make sure you only make a mistake once.

When I make a mistake (whether it is investing or life), I try to make it only once and learn from it.

Or else - life has a funny way of repeating the lessons and punching you in your face until you learn it anyway (e.g., learning it the hard way).

Over my years of study, a lot of experts dedicate this to discipline, motivation, visualization etc.

But these strategies usually fail me when I am tired and when I need to stick with the plan the most.

Turns out, the solution for me has been solved by large corporations and accountants a long time ago.

These are called - CONTROLS.

Large corporations have proper controls in place to ensure that executions are executed.

For example:

If I want to do 10 push-ups a day, I have a log of 10 push-ups a day (that's a control). Then I have a reminder to check the log of doing 10 pushups a day (that's a second control).

You probably already have these at your workplace (implemented by your accounting team)

What about investing controls?

Let's say you develop an investing strategy. It is profitable. So the only thing you need to do is to stick with it.

Here are some controls:

1. I record and print out the investment decision once a week (or whatever frequency you wish)

2. I compare my weekly performance, actual vs my strategy performance (Actual minus Strategy = 0)

3. I compare my monthly performance, actual vs my strategy performance (Actual minus Strategy =0)

4. Whenever there is a large deviation, it gets flagged as red and it gets summed up as the total deviation of the last 2 months (so I don't forget I break my own rules)

5. On a weekly basis, I write down notes on what exactly the pattern or trigger or setup. If I deviated, I write down wny that is (usually the reasons are bad and I need to fix it)

By having multiple controls, this significantly improved my "discipline" and "mental willpower" because I can think less and it is more "in my face" when I make a mistake.

In other words, discipline is a system, not willpower.

Having the right systems is what generates the weekly/monthly results when there are volatile market events.

Cheers,

Eric

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Eric Seto

Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA)

Chartered Investment Manager (CIM)

Founder of 5MinInvesting.com

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Disclaimer: This communication is provided for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, a recommendation, or an offer to invest in any fund or strategy. No advisory relationship is formed by receipt of this content. Any references to strategies or markets are general in nature and do not reflect the performance of any client account or investment product.

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