A Useful Stock Market Principle
In 1906, an Italian economist named Vilfredo Pareto observed that roughly 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. This observation became known as the Pareto Principle or the 80-20 rule. It is not a hard and fast rule but the principle applies to our lives. In essence, not everything we do is equal. We can observe that large amounts of activity produce limited results. Conversely, we can also observe where small amounts of activity yield great results. This observation might be called the vital few and the trivial many. The key is what does this mean to me.
When it comes to anything, there are tradeoffs. For every YES there is a NO. When we say yes or engage in some type of work or recreation, we are really saying no to other things that we could be doing. The use of the Pareto principle could be used to help lead us to a more productive and profitable life. When I was a counselor in a Rescue Mission, I would challenge my clients to make a list of the areas of life that they needed to work on. For many the list was long. I frequently observed that they would select the trivial many instead of going after the significant few. They would work hard but in the end, they would give up or fail. They would wonder why. I would ask them if they wanted at least a 50-50 chance of success. All agreed. I would then use this illustration. Suppose you had ten items to work at. If the principle applied, it would suggest that 2 items would yield 80% of the overall desired results. It they chose to work on the trivial 8, they would have some return but clearly nothing like selecting the top one or two. In fact, it would yield less than 50%. They could work on 8 and get roughly have a 20-80 chance or work on the most important and have 80-20 chance. Those that selected properly faired much better.
When it comes to stock market education, there is a lot of material. My goal in developing the free stock market course is to present the significant few verses the trivial many. As an introduction, there is a free online stock market course that you can use to help make your choice.
