---
title: "Investing like carving a mark on a boat to find a lost sword: Why do most people always buy in the past?"
type: "Topics"
locale: "en"
url: "https://longbridge.com/en/topics/35849826.md"
description: "A man from Chu crossed a river and dropped his sword into the water. He hurriedly carved a mark on the boat, thinking he could find the sword by the mark once ashore. But the boat was moving, the water was flowing, and the sword was long gone. Isn’t today’s stock market the same? Many people buy stocks not based on current conditions but on past memories. They see a stock rise last year and assume it will rise again this year; they see a "blue-chip stock" fall sharply and think it’s "cheap"; they hear the market is warming up and rush to add positions, as if the boat could stay in place. But the market has already changed. Capital preferences, policy directions, and industry cycles are all shifting bit by bit. Yet most people..."
datetime: "2025-10-31T10:18:52.000Z"
locales:
  - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/topics/35849826.md)
  - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/topics/35849826.md)
  - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/topics/35849826.md)
author: "[來鑫](https://longbridge.com/en/profiles/13845814.md)"
---

# Investing like carving a mark on a boat to find a lost sword: Why do most people always buy in the past?

A man from Chu crossed a river, and his sword fell into the water. He hurriedly carved a mark on the boat, thinking he could find the sword by the mark once he reached the shore.  
But the boat was moving, the water was flowing, and the sword was long gone.

Isn’t today’s stock market the same?  
Many people buy stocks not based on current market conditions but on past memories.  
They see a stock that rose last year and assume it will rise again this year;  
They see a "blue-chip stock" that has fallen significantly and think it’s "cheap";  
They hear the market is warming up and rush to add positions, as if the boat could stay in place.

But the market has already changed.  
Capital preferences, policy directions, and industry cycles  
are all shifting bit by bit.  
Yet most people still rely on old logic, old valuations, and old emotions—  
searching for a sword that fell in moving waters.

Those who carve the boat aren’t unintelligent,  
they’re just too attached to certainty, too afraid to admit they’re wrong.  
Truly mature investors  
have long understood:  
The market has no "right or wrong," only "adaptation to the present."

Sometimes, aligning knowledge with action means no longer struggling with the past.  
Moving on quickly and maintaining rhythm—that’s true wisdom.