Obligatory Valentines Day Post

If somehow you haven't realized it, today is Valentines Day.  I don't have very strong feelings about the holiday one way or another.  I definitely don't like the holiday and don't celebrate it despite the fact that I have a girlfriend.  I don't hate the holiday either, probably due to the fact that I'm in a happy relationship.  But even when I wasn't, I never begrudged happy couples their day.

I guess the one thing I never could get behind is doing what everyone else does.  This has helped me throughout my life, especially financially.  You shouldn't go where the crowds are, it is simple supply and demand.  There is a huge demand for things like flowers and gifts on Valentines day and the markup on these items are ridiculous.  Wait a day and things get a lot more reasonable.  I guess I just never understood why this one specific day was the one day you had to be romantic.  What about the other 364?

This also dictates who I am as a stock picker.  I tend to not follow the crowds. I  just can't stand  going with the crowds.  I like to buy stocks that have dipped and are a good value.  This can be a painful thing to do because stocks in the short run are very momentum driven meaning that if they have been down, they are likely to go down further.  People will tend to watch fasting rising stocks go up, and continue to go up and then jump in right when they are about to top out.