PERSONAL FINANCE
SIMON BROWN: Don’t make it too personal
A site visit or a personal experience with a company can either make you love it or loathe it — but don’t let your feelings cloud your judgment
I was on a day-long site visit to Renergen* last week, the second one I have done in the past 15 months. It was fun, I learnt a lot and came away not only smarter about the stock, but also with a better understanding of the strategy, risks and the management team. In short I was drinking the Kool-Aid — and this is an important point about personal experiences with listed businesses.
First, a personal anecdote is just that, personal. Maybe we had a horror experience at some burger joint or maybe it was the best burger we’d ever eaten. We come away either hating the business and wanting to short it or loving it and wanting to invest our entire net worth into the stock. Yet is one experience really a fair reflection of the entire business?..
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