Couldn't have said it any better, unless I negated your statement.
Over the years, I’ve often heard investment strategy compared to this driving analogy. “You would not drive a car by looking in the rearview mirror”. In fact, I’ve probably used this analogy myself.
The analogy could be used again to refer to moving ahead with life, new decisions, new opportunities, new partnerships, etc. One need not be bound by the past. The future is yet to be written.
However, as with many analogies, this one can also be taken to an extreme. Some would say to Never look back – Only look forward.
In driving a car, I find it very useful to know: Where have I come from? What route did I map out and take? Did I even have the right map? What resources did I use up in the trip? How long did it take? What hazards were there along the way? What could I have done better? Did I enjoy the scenery?
Certainly, it is a lot more than just looking in the rear view mirror.
I did look out the side windows, the rear window, the mirrors, and at the dashboard to keep my excesses in check, making sure I had the resources and staying power, and even changing the route to make sure I didn't deplete all of my resources.
Perhaps, I stopped to fantasize a scenic view to appreciate nature and my surroundings. Perhaps, I shared observations with my spouse and children.
Yes, I did look most of the time to the front to observe the road, read road signs, assess approaching potential hazards, and to target my destination. At times, I would slow down, speed up, turn sharply, or make gradual adjustments.
In investing, and, in this case, with LQMT, I advocate modeling the business together with planning and budgeting. All of the actions I took while driving have investing equivalents. The investor needs to understand the business, its product quality, product cost, customer profitability, and manufacturing and sales processes both in the past and in its planned future.
Most importantly, the investor, thru people, is learning and growing and is developing an ability to respond to changes in the investment climate.
My rearview mirror, a review of a company's financial and real world fundamentals is one of my many options.
One that I use all the time and one I will continue to use to the last day.
Finally, it's a real good idea to use your rear view mirror at the beginning of your journey lest you have a fatal accident backing out your driveway. And lest ye forget, LQMT is in a battle zone with an indecisive leader whose success has been magnificent at diluting the stock from 100,000,000 to 500,000,000 and seems headed to maxing out the 700,000,000 shares which the naive and bumbling shareholders approved within the last year.
Try watering the gas in your car by that much and see where it gets ya.
