Owning a Business
According to Graham, Munger and Buffet we should own a company not a stock. Doing that changes our attitude to how we see a stock and most important: we shift from a short focused behaviour on stocks to a long term investing pattern.
Outside the market buying a company will demand all your savings, take out a considerable loan and make a life-long effort to consolidate the business among other competitors. Imagine you want to buy a company which already has products, cash flow, workers and customers. The price you would pay for it, would be enormous. Therefore if you decide to acquire a company, it will be the most important decision in your life. And you wouldn't do it if you didn't believe in it. You couldn't reverse it easily unless you commit an economic and social suicide. When you start thinking like that, something changes in the way you look at the stock market. You wouldn't sell a company tomorrow if you bought it in real life. If you did so, you would put an end to your financial and existential biography.
But acquiring a business is more than money. It's also about being part of it. Do you love the products you sell? Do you like the people you work with? What is your opinion about the projects you are working on? Could you identify with them? If your answer is yes, then you can buy the stock. You will own it for many years to come without remorse unless the fundamental story changes. In fact, this kind of thinking allows you to hold a stock for a long period of time through different crises without having second thoughts.