Recently a lot's going on in the financial industry, including the epic rise of Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency that's making everyone kick themselves over why they didn't buy some earlier. It's the finance equivalent of making people go "on tilt," where they secondguess their decision not to invest earlier on investments and abuse their regret by investing hastily on unwise investments.
To tell the truth, I've kicked myself a lot on investments as well, including so many regrets about not buying certain stocks earlier. Back in 2011, when I was advocating for buying certain stocks, like "BUY Chipotle, BUY Amzn," etc., etc., turns out the correct advice was simply to BUY ALL STOCKS!!!! as the stock market has been on an epic run since 2009 (including 2011), with certain individual stocks multiplying their value by 3 times, 5 times, 7 times. (like Amazon). It's so frustrating to think how much I could have made (ぼろ儲け) if I had a lot of money back then, and doubly frustrating that I DO have money now, but all the stocks have inflated to the level that it's possible they've peaked and there are bubble conditions in the economy, including in the housing market, and it's not as easy as it would have been in 2009/2010 at the very bottom of the market (Even the Dow Jones itself went from 6000+ to 24,000, quadrupling its value!) to go out and invest in something When we
I often have to restrain myself from regret with the other side of my brain going, "Robert, all stocks are speculation. There's no 100% guarantee of anything, you're guessing that the price of a stock will go up based on what other investors' expectations of the stock will be." They're guesses. It's like going to the blackjack table and guessing that the dealer has a 10 hidden under his 6, you're making a bet on how you think some event will turn out. Except stocks have more information underlying them that give more information to inform the speculation (and sometimes, insider trading to really help inform the decision). Buying a house (other than for the purpose of living it) is also speculation: hoping the house will rise in value or that you can rent it out at a better value. Especially in LA and major cities in LA, buying a house means speculating that there WON'T be a major correction in the housing market in the near future, where all evidence and history indicates that these things work in cycles and eventually there WILL be a correction where housing values will go down all of a sudden like in 2008. So now where am I supposed to put my investment? (Even though interest rates are still low at under 4%). Savings accounts are too low, I don't want to put all money into a CD locked up for 2 years, what to do, what to do?
I've often wondered what it would be like to make a living speculating on stocks or sports games, making bets. People do do it for a living, that's how some people roll, they make their money work for them and just live off the profit. It seems like such a thrilling prospect to support oneself by essentially winning a game, and the winning times would surely be sweet, but then I remind myself how terrible a feeling it would be to lose, where you throw way your hard earned money on simple speculating and helplessly watch as your savings go down the drain. I feel bad sometimes that I didn't invest all my money in something sometimes (after it goes up), but it would be doubly painful if I DID invest the money and lost it all. It's a terrifying feeling, being in charge of all that money that is essentially one's lifeblood. MJ can't even handle the thought of potentially losing $100, even if it means there's a chance to gain $100. "Why don't we just use the $100 to buy a really nice sweater?" I guess there's something to be said for that.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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