The Lazy Investor

I am an awfully lazy investor. Every year around this time  I will stack up all the hard copies of new company annual reports received through the post. I then remove the pile of untouched old AR from the cabinet and replaced it with the new stack. This has been repeated year after year. I suppose I go through this meaningless routine each year believing I will find some time to know a bit more about the companies I have invested in, or rather find the interest to do so. (Maybe you can call it professional fatigue but I don't enjoy reading financial statements now).

I usually attend the Annual General Meetings of the smaller companies which are not covered by analysts as well as companies which I contemplate gaining or reducing exposure. At these AGMs when people ask the management very detailed questions often beginning with "Can I refer you to page XX of the AR" I will inevitably  tell myself I need to be more diligent and more informed on what I am investing in. Lazy investors like me who hope to be enlightened at AGMs can only pray for more questions being raised and a good buffet spread as an icing.

In particular I will be most delighted when youngish investors ask very in-depth questions. I have a feeling some of them are full time investors. At times I see the same faces of these 'serious investors' at different AGMs. Spotting them gives me a little comfort that I share the same investment they have decided on after doing their detailed homework. It is a bit like a lazy student copying the work of a diligent one, although Warren Buffet's golden rule is never invest in anything you don't know well.

Attending these AGMs sometimes makes me nostalgic too, especially when questions are raised about the company's financing plans. The standard and familiar answers are similar to responses I used to rehearse and prepare when participating in my ex-company's road shows. In addition spotting familiar faces in the panel of board directors sitting on the stage brings back memories of days when they were in my company's board; and how I struggled to answer their grilling queries on papers put up for approval. Then there are the supporting staff running around to facilitate the AGMs, probably staff from Corp Com or PR departments. They remind me of the extensive preparation for corporate events and it makes me feel like I have missed out on something after I have stopped working. Joining the long queue at the reception after the AGM can make one feel even more deprived lol.

Nevertheless in everything there is the pros and cons. With the knowledge that the company will be distributing consistent dividend I will feel recharged and top the outing with a shopping spree, diligently spending the returns as a lazy investor.