Investments marked by personality traits
Frequently Asked Questions about this Article…
A Plodder is a long-term, buy-and-hold investor who rarely trades. The article describes a Plodder with 20 stocks bought for $50,000 each — most are now about $60,000, except Telstra at $30,000 and the banks at $100,000 each. Plodders often focus on franking credits, quote Warren Buffett, keep big positions they acquired at a float (the banks make up about 40% in the example) and tend not to sell, sometimes regretting missed sales like Telstra.
The Gambler treats the sharemarket like a high-stakes game and can be lured into complex products they don’t fully understand. The article warns Gambler investors often end up “skinned alive” in derivative products or promoted investments, highlighting the high risk when you follow marketing hype without full understanding.
The 10‑Bet Investor is essentially organised gambling with a concentrated portfolio of speculative ideas. The example in the article: 20 stocks bought for $50,000 each — two go to zero, 16 sit between $45,000–$55,000, one is $200,000 and one becomes $2 million. They focus on resources, exploration, biotechs and new issues, avoid banks and big blue chips, and typically don’t prioritise yield.
The 'Blind and in Love' investor puts a large sum — the article gives $1 million as an example — into a single stock. That position could be worth anything from zero to $10 million the next year, making it extremely volatile. These investors often sit in the top 20 shareholders, don’t sell on spikes or troughs, know the stock intimately, and can end up very rich or very poor.
A Daytrader aims to open and close positions within a single trading day. The article colourfully notes a Daytrader with $1,000 in capital can behave like they have a $100,000 position that must be sold by day’s end. Daytrading can incur very high dealing costs (described as paying an average salary in costs each year) and has a high attrition rate — only the most devoted tend to survive.
The Income Investor concentrates on equities for dividend income—often out of necessity or tradition. The article says many income investors made big losses in the financial crisis by holding stocks ‘as long as they still pay the dividend.’ They learned that a dollar of income can be the same as a dollar of capital when the capital value falls, dislike volatility, and some now consider steady bond yields acceptable if it helps them sleep at night.
A Value Investor makes long-term claims about stocks based on historical information and major assumptions. According to the article, value investors can explain their reasoning thoroughly but are often poor at timing trades — they may need decades (the piece jokes ‘50 years’) to prove they’re right, and more often than not they eventually are vindicated.
The Lone Ranger is an amateur trader who has given up a regular job to trade full time. The article warns this path often ends when the trader runs out of money or realises that trying to make $1,000 a day is a tough, demanding, soulless and ultimately boring existence. In short, full‑time solo trading carries high financial and lifestyle risks.
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