Money lessons from a music critic

I have a friend who is a professional music critic. If you don't know what that means, he analyzes musical performances, recordings, and compositions and provides his insights and opinions. Some people like the opinions of music critics, and many people hate them for being pretentious a-holes, which is often true.

This friend of mine is good at what he does, and I often find his reviews fair and valuable, but that's not important for the topic I want to discuss.

Music critics often can specialize in one or a few genres, such as rock, pop or classical, but this friend of mine is ready and willing to review just about any music. He has a broad range of interests and musical knowledge and will gladly listen to anything. The one thing he will not do is the (in)famous top lists. You know, those lists that pop all over at the end of every year ranking the "top 5 albums" or "top 10 upcoming artists", you name it.

He is actually famous in his niche for refusing to do anything of the sort. I once asked him why he was adamant about that position, and his answer was marvellously simple. He said, "If you can name the top 5 albums in a year, you did not listen to enough music".

And now you might be thinking, "Wait! Is that it? The big lesson was about music, and the title was clickbait?!"

Yes. Welcome to the internet!

BUT BEAR WITH ME! You made it this far, so lend me another few minutes, and I'll connect the dots.

Yes, my friend was talking strictly about music when he said that, but his answer was so simple and on the point that it made me realize it can be extrapolated for many other aspects of life. Money included.

Social media is crawling with financial gurus or crypto experts listing "top 5 stocks to buy," the 3 best strategies to make millions while asleep," and so on. But how many of those influencers actually spent time exploring beyond the 4 or 5 assets or strategies they recommend?

It feels weird to write this because I'm a big advocate for consolidating your portfolio rather than diluting it all over the place, but it's not as contradictory as it initially sounds.

I do believe in picking a few assets that I believe will perform well in the long run, but that doesn't mean I need to shut down to what else is out there.

I'm constantly doing research and learning about new projects, new mechanics, and new industries. While I like to invest in a limited number of assets, there is nothing wrong with swapping one for another in case I spot a better opportunity.

That's especially true in the crypto space, in my opinion, because it's so new and still widely uncharted territory. New projects are born and old projects die every day so it's very important to stay tuned in what is going on.

By all means, focus on a few favorite projects if you will but don't shut yourself to everything else out there. You never know what you may find.

Final Thoughts

The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 principle is a great rule of thumb to help you cut through the noise and focus on what really matters but that doesn't mean you should ignore everything else once you find your "top pics" because there is a vast world out there and you don't want to miss it.

To paraphrase my friend "If you can pick the top 5 projects in a year, you haven't looked through enough projects"

Posted Using INLEO