The Most Difficult, But Profitable, Investment Puzzle In The World

 | Dec 11, 2013 06:42AM ET

“Pad kid poured curd pulled cod.”
 
Scientists at MIT say it’s the toughest tongue twister ever created.
 
“If anyone can say this 10 times quickly,” declares MIT psychologist, Stefanie Shattuck, “They get a prize.” Or perhaps notoriety in the Guinness Book of World Records.
 
It’s that difficult. Go ahead and try. Before long, you’ll be scurrying back to the safe and easy tongue twisters to redeem your self-confidence. Like “Sally sold seashells by the seashore,” or “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”
 
And that’s my point today – to prove that shunning difficult tasks is in our nature. Especially when it comes to investing.
 
Heck, even the greatest investors are guilty…
 
Charles Munger, the unsung hero behind the success at Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), once summed up the firm’s investment approach by saying, “At Berkshire we have three buckets: yes, no and too hard. We just throw some decisions into the ‘too hard’ file and go on to the others.”
 
Now, I might not have nearly as many zeros behind my net worth as Mr. Munger, but I gotta say… he’s making a colossal mistake. And here’s why…
 
Buffett’s Biggest Blunder?
I only took a few physics classes in college. So do you think I was always familiar with nanometer-sized semiconductor components and the magnetic force created by spinning electrons? No way! Yet back in 2009, if I simply tossed the technology into the “too hard” hopper, I would’ve missed out on the six-month, 125% run-up in shares of the spintronics industry pioneer, NVE Corp. (NVEC). WSD Insider subscribers would’ve missed the boat, too.
 
Same goes for my knowledge of rare earth metals, additive manufacturing and the budding body of work in alternative metal mesh sensors for use in touchscreens.
 
I was as green as you could get when I first met with Uni-Pixel’s (UNXL) CEO, Reed Killion, way back in May 2011.
 
But if I simply ignored him and dismissed the company’s potentially disruptive technology as “too hard” to understand, my MicroCap Tech Trader subscribers would’ve missed out on the stock’s meteoric rise – from a lowly $7.50 per share to more than $41.
 
What about the overlap between rules-based application development, scan-based trading, supply-chain optimization and the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) signed into law in early 2011?
 
Sorry, but I never took a single Six Sigma course during my MBA program. And the closest I ever got to being truly on the “inside” in Washington, D.C. was when I attended the Texas-Wyoming Ball for President Bush’s second inauguration.
 
However, if I simply declined to meet with Park City Group’s (PCYG) CEO, Randy Fields, and spend almost a year getting up to speed on the technology, MicroCap Tech Trader subscribers wouldn’t have been able to enjoy the stock’s run-up from our entry price of $4.05 in April to over $11 in October.
 
(In case you missed it, here’s why I’m convinced the stage is set for an even more Original post

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