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But, having a satisfactory investment return is not my conclusion.

After all, I did not hold any of these items after 2002.

The real point is: How did I pick this list ?

It was some 10 years ago, when I first started some investment in the local stock market. As you know, I had no formal training in finance or business, and most of the items were chosen by intuition, or by simple layman parameters (for example, a low P/E ratio or high dividend rate).

Soon afterwards, I recognized my insufficiency. I began by reading The Ten-Day MBA of Steven Stilbiger, trying to learn how to read a balance sheet and financial statement. In the next two years or so, I had extra private study and went through another half dozens of books in this area (notably, Security Analysis by Graham and Dodd, and One Up On Wall Street by Peter Lynch).

But, am I making better investment decisions now ?

I doubt very much.

(Well, yes, it is gratifying and rewarding to read and learn an entirely unrelated subject. The pleasure is beyond the financial return.)

PS. I began reading the financial page of our morning paper since secondary school, but neither did I have the time nor some seeding money to start a trade. In fact, buying and selling stock in those days was, to me, a complicated task. It was not until the availability of internet and electronic banking when I could stay at home and make investment decision at the most inconvenient time. From then, a large population of people who used to have no easy access to stock trading could join the market, contributing to the bubble in late 1990s. The whole story is an excellent example to illustrate The World Is Flat as outlined by Thomas Friedman.