Why are we here?

[Leo Karl <leokarl@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey guys,

There's been two interesting discussions going on here for the last few
days, the first dealing with the validity of Gann's ideas as a function
of how much money Gann himself made in his lifetime; and the second
dealing with the relative success of short term traders versus long term
investors.

The common thread running through both discussions seems to be an effort
to show that the *best* approach that we as investors/traders should
pursue is the one that PROVES the most profitable; i.e. the proverbial
*bottom line*.

I submit that the conventional wisdom embodied in this "bottom line"
mentality is NOT what really drives any of us to invest the way we chose
to, and until we're clear about why we really trade as we do, we'll
seldom be satisfied with our results.  And to chose our investing
methodologies based on what SEEMS to work or not work for someone else,
may prove unrewarding.  After all, the values of Gann's ideas are really
no more or less validated by his modest earnings than were the value of
Jesus's teachings invalidated by his untimely end.

I guess what I'm trying to get clear on for myself at least, is that I
suspect, but can't prove, that damn few of us are REALLY doing this to
make money. Rather, we're doing it for other reasons which we don't
fully understand, then justifying it to one another by accepting the
common bond in a need to make a money.

I would be interested in how many of us understand why we are here? (On
the metastock-list that is---I want to confine my philosophic tendencies
to reasonable proportions!)  If it's ONLY to make money then I fear that
we may be leaving too much on the table.   (Not unlike when I sold TXN
at 87 a few weeks back.)  I mean, there's got to be some other joy that
keeps us toiling over our charts, and I think that if I, for one, could
discover what REALLY makes me persist with the frustrations of this
pursuit, then maybe I could, in recognizing that joy, find a kind of
happiness that money only teases you with.

Anyone else out there concern himself with that kind of stuff?

Leo