Thanks for the shout Mihail - Never actually expected anyone to read my ramblings 😂
It is important to make sure we continue to question our morals/philosophies as we age, get new data from life experiences etc, I was so arrogant in my world-views in my late 20s, but now question everything!
Being arrogant and dumb was part of my philosophy, too, especially in my 20s. I hope that now I am only dumb, with the ultimate goal of becoming less dumb.
Socrates says that an unexamined life is not worth living. So, rule number one is to question everything, and mostly myself.
It’s funny you post this…25 years ago a group of my former high school classmates asked me to talk with them about their investing group. I listened and had to tell them that their $9k commodity account was unrealistic and that they should consider it an investing club…a way to learn about the markets. They then started talking to me about all sort of proprietary measures (they’d been sold a prop program for commodity trading). I let them go on for awhile then finally said, “You guys have mentioned everything but the most important thing.”
“What’s that?”
“The price.” Not one of them knew what the current price was, what the price had been for 30 days or 6 months nor did they realize certain commodities have seasonal prices…
We love to forget about the price. We treat investing, business, and life as one-dimensional activities. Then, we focus on resolving our problems and achieving our goals while ignoring the price.
The goal of dramatically reducing your spending for FIRE leads to poorer health and relationships, a stagnant or declining income, and less self-improvement and learning. This will eventually lead to expenses rising faster than income.
Active investing should outperform passive investing because the intelligent invest in themselves when the market is expensive and stocks when the risk-reward offers a better return. Passive investing leads to the opposite. Most money enters near the top and out near the bottom. The percentage of people doing this gets worse as they're told to DCA. Then the mainstream media ignores the risks near the top and creates fear when there's a good risk-reward.
Thank you! I learned about your Substack through The Old Economy. I will read when i get the chance. From the headlines, I'm looking forward to reading your work.
Thanks for the shout Mihail - Never actually expected anyone to read my ramblings 😂
It is important to make sure we continue to question our morals/philosophies as we age, get new data from life experiences etc, I was so arrogant in my world-views in my late 20s, but now question everything!
FIRE passive investing a classic example.
Looking forward to the next one 🫡
Being arrogant and dumb was part of my philosophy, too, especially in my 20s. I hope that now I am only dumb, with the ultimate goal of becoming less dumb.
Socrates says that an unexamined life is not worth living. So, rule number one is to question everything, and mostly myself.
I subscribed yesterday and today you quoted Thomas Sowell. My respect for you went up 10X
Thanks!
Thomas Sowell is one of the brightest minds in the humanities. His work is a must-read for anyone interested in how the real world works.
It’s funny you post this…25 years ago a group of my former high school classmates asked me to talk with them about their investing group. I listened and had to tell them that their $9k commodity account was unrealistic and that they should consider it an investing club…a way to learn about the markets. They then started talking to me about all sort of proprietary measures (they’d been sold a prop program for commodity trading). I let them go on for awhile then finally said, “You guys have mentioned everything but the most important thing.”
“What’s that?”
“The price.” Not one of them knew what the current price was, what the price had been for 30 days or 6 months nor did they realize certain commodities have seasonal prices…
An illustrious example. Thanks for sharing.
We love to forget about the price. We treat investing, business, and life as one-dimensional activities. Then, we focus on resolving our problems and achieving our goals while ignoring the price.
The goal of dramatically reducing your spending for FIRE leads to poorer health and relationships, a stagnant or declining income, and less self-improvement and learning. This will eventually lead to expenses rising faster than income.
Active investing should outperform passive investing because the intelligent invest in themselves when the market is expensive and stocks when the risk-reward offers a better return. Passive investing leads to the opposite. Most money enters near the top and out near the bottom. The percentage of people doing this gets worse as they're told to DCA. Then the mainstream media ignores the risks near the top and creates fear when there's a good risk-reward.
I might quote this comment as some point! 👏 👍
Thank you! I learned about your Substack through The Old Economy. I will read when i get the chance. From the headlines, I'm looking forward to reading your work.
Thanks! It's just a monthly journal I try not to take too seriously 🫠