Continuing your trading education through teaching

• abnormalreturns
• November 16th, 2012

A common assignment in high school communication classes is to require students to explain how to accomplish a (relatively) simple task. For example: how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Step one: grab a plate, step two, open the loaf of bread, etc. What this assignment requires students to do is make explicit the many steps that we take for granted in our everyday lives.

I have written previously on the benefits of blogging for traders and investors: here, here, here and here. One could argue that blogging is simply another form of teaching. Another way to accomplish the very same thing is to actually teach a class. There are a couple of posts today that look at this idea of how teaching can help the teacher as much as it enlightens the class.

Gatis Roze at the StockCharts.com Blog talks about how teaching is a two-way street and how seeing weaknesses in his students also highlights weaknesses in his own investing. One problem Roze sees in his students is a desire to make trading increasingly complex:

There is some persistent human trait that causes profitable investors to keep tampering with a successful system until it becomes more and more complex.  For some reason, they ignore the fact that their system is producing consistent predictable results – instead, they keep trying to tinker with it.

The same can be said for newbie traders as well who think “more is better.” A similar message awaited students who attended a Howard Lindzon lecture. In addition to imparting the challenges of investing to students who have yet to enter their investing lives, Howard came away with something as well. Lindzon writes:

Most importantly though, I learned. I should be a better investor tomorrow.

There is a tired cliche that reads:

Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.

Maybe in regards to trading this phrase should read:

Those who can, do. Those who want to continue learning, teach.

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