Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again.
- Andre Gide
The best ideas are already out there. So there's no need to reinvent the wheel. Save yourself the trouble of thinking you're truly special to come up with innovative solutions every time. Some of the world's most successful value investors are cloners, and there is no shame in it.
With reference to thinking about potential investments and tracking them on an ongoing basis, the following are useful:
1. The four-quadrant approach is an effective way to think about your potential investments. It avoids the clutter and neatly organizes companies into four buckets as per business and valuation. Going ahead it makes sense to have rules about how much you will be willing to bet into these buckets.
2. Vishal (founder to Safal Niveshak) has done a great favour by teaching amateur investors how to keep track of their investments using Google Finance and Excel. It's a very handy tool and serves as a ready reckoner of potential investments.
Most often good businesses are not available at cheap valuations. If you're not completed convinced about growth, you may not invest in such companies. It's important to keep them on your radar though so that when the iron is hot (good business; good valuation), you can strike them! This is where the excel sheet is most useful.
Cheers, and happy investing!
