I have been into investing since 2014. This started when my friends and I were talking about life insurance. Back then, I happened to have a life insurance that was linked to my newly opened savings account. It was a simple life insurance coverage that offers up to 5 times the amount of whatever I have in my savings account. That was the only thing that I knew about life insurance. As naïve as I was back then, I was surprised when my friends asked me how much my monthly premium was. Apparently, I had no idea because I was not paying any. Then they introduced the concept of Variable Universal Life (VUL) insurance to me, which in plain and simple terms is a life insurance with an investment component. Then they talked about mutual funds and the stock market. Suddenly something in me was awakened. I was very much interested in what they had to say. Eventually, I decided to get a VUL for myself and that was the time when my investment journey began.

I knew I was hooked into learning about saving and investing. I read every book and online material I could find. It is often said that one should first invest in one’s self and so I did. I followed this advise to the letter. I enrolled in both free and paid (sometimes expensive) seminars about investing. I got acquainted with terms such as stocks, UITF, mutual funds, and even in real estate. So long as it was within my budget, I spared no expense.

Fast forward 4 years later, how have I been doing? Well, I would not dare lie to you and say that everything went smoothly. The had been roadblocks and pitfalls along the way. One cannot talk about investments sans the concept of risk. As a matter of fact, all forms of investments are accompanied by different degrees of risk. In a nutshell: the bigger the risk, the higher the potential. In the same fashion, the lower the risk, the lower the potential reward. Some of my investments earned me money; many ended up with losses. This is the hard truth and not without a simple reason – nobody can predict the future. The same thing applies to the so-called fortune tellers! If these clairvoyants do, they would have been richer than Warren Buffet himself, don’t you think? Not even the Oracle of Omaha himself is immune to incurring losses.

I did make investment mistakes and I still do. It is part of the game. I think this is part of being human. I have lost thousands and there is not turning back! The most that I can do – just like any normal person would do – is learn from my mistakes. I would rather lose thousands now, than lose millions later. I would rather learn the skills to minimize (not eliminate) risks, than learn them at a time when there is already too much at stake. To paraphrase one of my favorite philosophers, Soren Kierkegaard, life is best understood in retrospect. It pays to look back at the past for guidance. It pays to be a student of history, and there is no other more relevant to us than that of our own.

Despite the investment mistakes I made in the past, I am optimistic. I remain driven. I am still young, and this is the perfect time to err. In the future, mistakes are yet to be made and they make us human. Nevertheless, mistakes are designed to teach us. It is, therefore, our responsibility to transcend the human experience of failure to bring out the best in us. In talking about investments, as well as in life, failures make us better investors and better persons.