Howard Marks, famed investor and author of The Market Cycle once wrote that “investing is more art than science.”

The art is in the ability to understand and manage your own judgement.

The science is the structure of that judgement, not in the decisions themselves. The discipline of investing is akin to the scientific method - questioning, forming a hypothesis, testing it, and observing and sharing results. That test comes in the form of an investment decision.

Just like any art form, it is an expression. And given it is so closely tied to human judgement, that expression can become a true reflection of one’s identity.

That unit of expression is not the decisions themselves - it’s one’s asset allocation. This is the ratio of all investments across different risk profiles. If you see yourself as being more risk-averse, you’ll likely see that reflected in more conservative investments. Ofcourse, that will change over time. The act of continual rebalancing is a way of adjusting that expression to your current value system.

I’ve found the best investors have a keen sense of themselves, not just their investments. It’s perhaps why investment advice can often sound like life advice.