Investment and Chess Part 1 Differences

I started investing about seven years ago. Since I did not have time and energy for trading stocks, I chose mutual funds and traded online.

I consider myself a traditional guy: think long term, invest in index funds and take a slow and steady approach. I know at the current economy downturn, SP 500 index recessed to the level of a decade ago. Quite a few “experts” scoff this slow and steady approach too out of date, but I told my self: To be successful, you are allowed to be different.

Over the years, I found there are some differences and similarities between Investment and Chess. Part 1 lists the major differences, and part 2 lists similarities.

I am only a chess parent, not a regular chess player. See if you agree with me about the observations. Here go the differences:

Investment is a means to reach richness; Chess is a journey to pursue happiness.
Investment prefers diversification; Chess prefers concentration.
Investment doesn’t require practices. More actions generally lead to worse performance; Chess requires practices. More excises generally yield better result.
Investment requires more static strategy (strategy before acting); Chess needs more dynamical strategy (strategy during the game).
Investment involves heavily of “common sense” and luck; Chess involves heavily of calculations and analysis.
Many people like investment although they do not earn any money; Some people enjoy chess even the games are relatively boring. At times, I belong to both groups. How about you?