"You don't have to be smart to be a good investor, you just need to have the right temperament"

The title sums up the truth about success and wealth creation.

I wish it was me that came up with that quote, but in all honesty, it came from the legendary investor and multibillionaire - Mr Warren Buffett.

Even though, Mr Buffett was referring to investing in his comment, the same can actually be said about being a good entrepreneur as well.

In both entreprenuership and investing, you need to have the right temperament. You need to have a thick skin, learn not to panic, have patience, have conviction and belief in your decisions, trust in your abilities, stick to your plan, never lose sight of your goal(s), and have a never-say-die attitude. Do this, and you cannot fail, in fact, eventually you will win! Remember, winning is not about doing better than others. It's about being the best you can be. It's about achieving whatever goal(s) you have set for yourself.

The truth is, I really am not a "smart" guy, at least not as measured by traditional metrics such as IQ, formal qualifications etc. I have friends and relatives that are much smarter and more qualified than me in such areas.

Heck, my highschool final exam mark was 255/500!

Not what one would call a brilliant student by any means.

I am uninformed (and uninterested) when it comes to current affairs, most sports, fashion and trends or fads. I really am just an average mug of a guy.

However, I do have an huge interest in the economy, business and investing.

Some people love their golf (for example), and will play 2-3 times per week which adds up to 10-15 hours or so, as well as practice at the driving range for say 3-4 hours per week as well. In doing so, they gain a degree of proficiency at their chosen interest.

Well, I'm kind of like that golfing guy, except instead of my time going into golf, it goes into learning to be a better investor. My time goes into looking for value opportunities that I think have yet to be discovered. That is it. That is what I have done.

In short, this is how I made it work for me:

• I started a business and once I had cash flow and profits I took those and invested them - consistently.

• The "cash cow" was the business. I knew this, so I had to stay focussed on the cash cow. This meant that my investments had to be "set and forget".

• The investments chosen were industrial and commercial property. Buying every few years with the business profits and ensuring that each purchase was cashflow positive!

• I kept focussing on the business, to generate the cash to invest.

• The positive cashflow from each property helped pay down the debt.

• I kept focussing on the business, to generate the cash to invest (yes, I know I said this earlier, but it is important, and it is what I did every year).

• The investment choice meant that I didn't have to think about it. It just generated positive cashflow and appreciated in value, while I just worked! In fact, I have a property that was purchased over 12 years ago, and the ONLY time I ever set foot in it was to inspect it before buying it - that was it. The property manager did the rest while I continued my focus on generating cash from my business.

• My interest in stocks came about after retirement. I saw it as a mental challenge. It has ended up as a hobby/passion that I find fascinating - especially in the current times.

As you can see from my points above. The way I invested and created wealth was not something that required "brains" or a "high IQ".

What it did require was the following:

1. Consistency - investing often

2. Focussing on what made the money for the investments (the business)

3. Having a plan to invest in income producing assets for passive income.

4. Picking an investment vehicle (positively geared property), that allowed me to stay focussed on the business. This choice of investment suited me because all my attention could be focussed on my business. The investments just generated cashflow and appreciated over time. They required little to no attention from me.

5. Temperament - to deal with the ups and downs of business and the economy

6. Tenacity - to never quit

7. Belief - that my plan would work

8. Above all, it required the understanding that mistakes would happen, money would be lost and lessons were to be learned. This is part of the journey. My attitude was always: "EITHER you WIN or your LEARN". If I made a bad choice, I would own that mistake. I would work to recover the losses and do better next time.

As you can see, none of the above took any real super intelligence.

It really is as Mr Buffett said - "You don't have to be smart to be a good investor, you just need to have the right temperament".

Warren Buffett also said: "You don't have to do extraordinary things to achieve extraordinary results". He is absolutely correct. There was NOTHING extraordinary about what I did. However, our results have been quite extraordinary.

One other thing I will reinforce here, is that I was lucky that I picked property as the investment vehicle, instead of stocks. I honestly believe that the short-term fluctuations in the stock markets would have been a HUGE distraction, and I would not have been able to focus anywhere near as well on my business.

Having said that, I think that now, after all these years, my temperament has matured and I no longer panic when the market drops, nor do I rejoice as the market rises. In fact, nowadays, I prefer a bear market so I can buy quality stocks cheaper!

As I have said before... if a mug like me can do it, heck, anybody can!