A few days ago, I was browsing Douyin and stumbled upon a video by the popular influencer, Brother Beard, who has millions of followers. In the video, Brother Beard was quite angry. He said that one of his fans was very lazy, not taking the initiative to search for basic information online in just 10 or 20 seconds, but instead kept asking him repeatedly, which made him very annoyed.

I can completely understand his feelings. I often encounter such fans as well. A couple of days ago, a fan asked me, "What is the fund code for the Shanghai Composite Index Fund?" I haven't replied to him yet. Although I'm not as angry as Brother Beard, his question made me feel disheartened.

If a fan is so lazy that they are unwilling to take a few seconds to search for the fund code online, what can we authors expect them to learn? What's the point of imparting our investment experience to such fans?

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My stock investment knowledge was entirely self-taught when I was in my twenties. On the first day of entering the stock market, I would stand in the trading hall and watch the market for 4 hours every day. After returning home, I would spend another 2 hours reviewing the market and read financial newspapers like "Securities Times" and "Information Morning Post" for at least 2 hours. At that time, the "Information Morning Post," which was updated every Monday, was worn out by me before the next issue came out.

In order to study stocks, I gritted my teeth and took out 1,000 yuan from my principal of less than 4,000 yuan to buy a second-hand computer. The computer's configuration was so low that after pressing the power button, I had to go eat first. After finishing my meal, I would check the market because only then would the computer program just enter the market page.

Around 1996, there were hardly any books on value investing in China. They were all about technical analysis. I bought all the books related to stocks at that time and studied them at home. I wrote investment notes on the old straw bed in my unit during work.

Later, I bought securities qualification examination materials from Xinhua Bookstore and studied for a few months. I took the train to the provincial capital to take the exam and finally obtained the qualification. Even now, when I don't understand something about securities or funds, I usually search for answers online. I only ask my colleagues and friends when I can't find the answers.

For 28 years, all my financial knowledge has been self-taught. From stocks to bonds, futures, convertible bonds, and so on, I have completed all the learning by myself. My major in college was industrial enterprise management, which is not very related to finance.

Especially after entering the stock market for a few years, there were not many good stock investment books on the market at that time. Most of my investment insights were gained through losses. Specifically, I would come up with a strategy or method, then invest a few thousand yuan to buy in. After buying, I found that the subsequent trend was not as expected, so I had to cut my losses and exit. Then I would try another plan to buy. Almost all the content I talk about in my articles now is a summary of my personal experiences and lessons learned. I never talk about things I haven't experienced.The teacher brings you into the door, but self-cultivation depends on the individual. In our lives and investments, "diligence" is very important, while "laziness" is definitely not a good trait. Especially, mental laziness and reluctance to learn are even more unacceptable. Many of my friends around me have given up learning after middle age, and they have contracted "laziness disease." As a result, they have gradually fallen out of step with the times after middle age, their income has also stagnated, and their lives have also become mediocre.