You are the best thing I have ever made.
"You didn't make me, I was in Mummy's belly."
Fair enough. The logic is sound enough and I don't want to get further into that conversation at 8 in the morning, with a four year old.
I definitely didn't "make her" anyway, I actually had very little intentionally to do with it - but I have had a fair bit to do with her life since she was born. It might be natural, but it is kind of funny when we think that we make children, even though there are millions of years of biological evolution involved that makes our part in the process more like we are passengers on a bus. Though the ride is more fun and there are generally less people aboard.
Past birth though, we do tend to get the sense that we can be active in shaping the world, though there is mounting evidence that suggests that we might have even less effect, as genetics plays a very strong role in influencing outcomes. Then there is the question of free will and whether we are free to make our decisions at all.
I was thinking about this a little this morning as I looked over my crypto holdings and how meager looking they appear in comparison to the heady days of 2017/18 when the markets were up significantly. It is quite a fall considering on token count, I hold a fair bit more now than then, but the total value is a quarter of what it was. But at the end of the day, it is what it is and if that run comes, it should be worth something more than what it was back then. Will it be worth enough?
The hourly "salary" has sucked enormously if looking at it from that perspective, but I don't think that is the way to look at it. Yes, there are the social and personal values and benefits of writing and interacting to be considered, but from a purely financial approach, investments have to consider the future value of what is evaluated - in this case, the various tokens. The work put in is a necessary requirement, the means to some kind of outcome in the same way that a service business has to create supply chains, develop products and find a market before they are able to turn any kind of revenue.
This all takes time and therefore, patience, work ethic and the resources and capabilities to be able to perform and survive while the time is being taken. The hardest part isn't the time, it is all the other allowances that need to be made to be able to have that time for value to build. Some people are far luckier than others in this regard, for example, people who inherit the space to be able to invest themselves and these allowances compound over time.
For example, a person who pays their way through university, pays rent and covers their living expenses by working a low salary job, is likely to be at an economic disadvantage to someone who is able to have their education and living during that time sponsored by their parents. Like my daughter, no one chooses their parents, the local economic conditions or how they are raised - yet, it will have a profound effect on the outcomes of their life, for the entirety of their life.
There are pros and cons to both life circumstances - I was the first kind of person, many of my friends the second. There seems to be a difference in attitude surrounding financial risk-taking, which I assume is down to a variation in mindset, likely that I am approaching from a scarcity position, and they, while not quite abundance, feel they have a safety net.
Last night I was thinking about how often I have felt that there is any kind of safety net to catch me at a fall and I was drawing blanks. My family tends to live in a more isolated ecosystem where we do not rely on each other and there is definitely no financial inheritance to speak of that would have given me the sense that I could take a few risks and be okay in failure. This has meant making calculated decisions that have erred on the side of caution far more than exposed myself to even slight risk.
The problem of the non-risk-taker is that the world is designed to extract wealth from anyone who doesn't generate more wealth with their resources. There are many mechanisms for this to occur, inflation being one, the continual drive for consumer spending at any cost another. Risk exposure gives the potential for loss, but it also gives the possibility to beat the rising living cost curve, which means if there is the disposable income available to risk, one is able to beat the curve without threatening living standards.
However, this means that for someone who doesn't have that disposable income to risk, the generation is going to have to come from a resource where the the opportunity comes at the cost of losing some kind of economic quality of life position, making the impact far heavier and therefore, the barrier to taking the risk much higher. Having a scarcity mindset doesn't just make someone more likely to save in what is a losing battle against inflation, it also makes those savings less available for wealth generation due to the fear of loss, the fear of losing the work that it took to gather the savings and, all that was gone without during that time.
Fear of losing the effort is a big hurdle in my opinion, as it is soul crushing to spend time and effort trying to build, only to have it come to much less than expected. Where previously the work was done and the wealth collected, with the the problem being an unwillingness to use the wealth to generate additional value - I think that we are entering a stage where people are taking the process a step back and many are unwilling to do the work at all, yet still have designs on satisfying their consumer desires.
It could be that we all have a scarcity mindset of some degree, it is just how it presents that is the issue. In the past, the first post war generations collected money that they felt they could use to collect things, but they didn't collect many things. The newest generations are happy collecting things, but are less interested in building the skills and resources to keep generating value -which is part of the reason that the debt cycle keeps worsening - as we are living beyond our means, which is spending more than we own - but there is always a line of credit available to us.
It is a funny play with words in my opinion, as there are two sides to my bank card - the "debit" and the "credit" accounts. Credit means that the bank has "faith" that I will pay it back - Debt means that the bank has an obligation to pay the bill for me - as I have credited them.
I think that this is worth thinking about as when we as consumers use the line of credit open to us, we almost invariably use it to buy depreciating items, but the line of credit we open to the bank by depositing our funds in them, are invariably spent on value generating assets and mechanisms, including them using our funds to open multiple lines of credit to their customers and attract interest earnings on the debt accrued. Essentially, we are funding the debt cycle in both directions.
What I have noted for the most part is that when we use credit cards, we usually buy things that are outside of our normal reach, luxury of some kind. What is interesting to note is that if I told a friend that I put 1000€ on a credit card for a holiday, they would understand it completely. Yet, if I said to the same friend that I put 1000€ on a credit card to buy Bitcoin, they would think me absolutely insane. It is a interesting conflict as people seem to emotionally treat credit as disposable income, while it is anything but, as there is a cost incurred to take the debt and then, this expensive money is happily spent on something that likely has no chance of a positive ROI. I don't recommend using credit cards to invest with - but definitely don't use them to consume valueless with either.
Our emotions play a very big role in how we understand money and the decisions we make and I believe that a lot of how we feel about what is otherwise non-intuitive, is developed in those formative years and the continued conditions of our lives. What this means is that while we can't choose our parents or change many of the circumstances in which we live, perhaps a change in our attitude and emotional response to the influences on our life by changing the narrative is enough to kickstart us along a new path in life.
We may never find the mental position of abundance, but perhaps we can escape some of the negativity of scarcity and make something worthwhile in the process.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
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Thanks mate
!ENGAGE 15
I think that shaking off the scarcity mindset would be liberating for most people considering themselves to be confined.
It is nice to see what kind of discussions you can have with a four year old. It will be nice to have even more of those as she grows up
A friend was saying the other day how he talks with his 14 year old son, and how much he enjoys the discussions now. I am looking forward to it. =)
!ENGAGE 15
Oh I think it will be awesome, I will gladly read them when you'll share
ENGAGEtokens.I am sure that you had some witty answer for the daughter. As they say, like father like daughter :)
Yes indeed the formative years are so important in any child's life. We were taught that cash is king and if you want it, then you save for it. Build up a "war chest" for emergencies and save everything that can be saved.
To this day I am allergic to credit cards and we have no debt.
So many get caught knee deep in debt and this Covid lockdown has shown the dangers of losing everything that one has worked hard for. "Forcing" so many to even commit suicide and leaving their families destitute.
We have a house, a car, clothes and food, so what more can we want? I have not had a holiday for 20 years and have a 100% work attendance record, working even on weekends and public holidays. Madness?
No, just my way of life and when I clock out to depart this planet, my wife is set up to continue in comfort.
Yes, we have problems in life, such as keeping the charity going and we have dreams, such as helping many more destitute souls, but if it's meant to be, then it will be.
Just my own way of looking at things!
I always do, but in this case I chose to credit her the last laugh.
It doesn't have the same effect now, as the ability to save and the wage disparity in respect to inflation is different. This is why doing what parents did can lead to bad outcomes too. Still, it is a better attempt than credit!
Most likely, the path to fulfillment.
Life is a balance between helping ourselves and helping others, with a lot of overlap in the two. Though, we are largely out of balance in this society.
Some times it is good to let them have the last say, as it builds confidence lol.
Yes, inflation and add to that the astronomical bank charges, then saving is almost a waste of time.
But it is still better than debt lol.
You are right about the lopsided balance and it is getting progressively worse!
This is what I think. I never had it as a child, so perhaps a little confidence is worth more for her future than me having the last word.
It'll break soon enough.
Yeah, mistake I made was to give my children everything that I never had.
My two daughters turned out fabulous, but my son and I don't sit around the same fire, as he thinks that he is my boss. My mistake was to let them get away with anything.
It's that break that's going to cost many tears my friend and I think that the results of the Covid lockdown, bad as it is, will be childs play compared to what is coming!
A bus ride? Really? Your buses in Australia and Finland must be a lot better than they are here. I only rode the bus as a last resort or, at best a sense of duty. When I got a car the bus was done. Besides the car had a back seat...
Credit was thought to be self regulating for a long time. That didn't work out so well for the economy, did it?
Credit is a drag on the economy either way. Too much credit exposure is probably a kiss of death for any business (or sector for that matter) and too little credit means that consumers are NOT spending to their capacity and therefore the manufacturing sector is not maximized.
I think it's fairly obvious that the next financial crisis and the one after that will be credit crisis one way or another. Too many goods and services that aren't paid for lead to a crisis.
I don't even have the emergency grade credit card because it's just too easy for me to find an emergency situation.
Actually, I have been really surprised at how good public transportation is in Finland. Trains, trams and buses are all pretty clean and in good condition. I don't use them often these days, as I travel to weird places for work.
I like having a backseat too.
I feel like the current "crisis" is the latest attempt to squeeze more out for the few, before a hard reset.
I think this is the best practice. Just a few stacks of hundreds kept in a floor safe under the bed... :D
!ENGAGE 15
I'm going to go there. I'll probably regret it.
I have a back seat problem. It's my size. My first ex and I decided we were going to get it on in our Triumph when we were newlyweds after a couple of unsuccessful drunken efforts that ended up outside. We hung a towel over the garage window and got naked before we got in the car to minimize the difficulties. We worked pretty hard at it and could not get it done until I put the top down. I'll leave that to your imagination.
Now you know why I've always carried a sleeping bag in my car. It's not survival it's emergency services. I still prefer the car....
Very good points, sir. I don't use credit either, except when unavoidable for coverage of pet emergencies, and the card is interst free if paid off during the promotion period so it works to build credit. My car is paid off and I rent for now. My Father advised me young not to use credit. I didn't listen during college and it took a long time to fix. I'm happy to say it is paid off. Have a good day!
Fair enough :)
This is something that a lot of people tend to fail at over time, and often the principle borrowed accrues interest, not just what is left.
My first credit card was after I was left unexpectedly unemployed for 4 months in a foreign country where I had no access to any kind of support. Not ideal.
I never had a credit card and I don't intend on acquiring one in the nearest future. I was an impulsive buyer, that's why. Now that I have outgrown my impulse buying, I realized I survived without credit card. Living within our means has been our way of life.
Now, I am influencing my husband to go and take financial risks, I convinced him to look into the stock market. I'm glad he did, he's glad he listened. Though we are still in the conservative portfolio as we both were from families where scarcity is the norm.
"surviving" the impulse buying phase without credit is a huge achievement. Congrats!
Most of the world is in no kind of portfolio at all.
!ENGAGE 15
We put absolutely everything on Credit.... especially our Groceries. We earn 2 % cash back on all our purchases and always pay our credit card bill each month. I have never paid a penny in Credit Card interest, and almost zero Mortgage interest by setting up an RRSP mortgage.
It is the way to do it, but is not well executed by most, which is why the credit companies offer it. I don't know if it is still the case, but in Australia it was possible to do it that way using housing loans and more than half a loan period. Problem is, a little slip up was very costly and many people ended up actually extending their loan period. For the most part, the house always wins.
Be the House. Build up a few Million useless US$ and borrow from yourself. Make passive income on Youtube.
!ENGAGE 15
I absolutely hate to use my credit cards to buy consumables, although I do like having lines of credit available to me for emergencies. Credit is much like alcohol. Temperance is the best policy.
But if you look at the economic cycle, credit is necessary for the economy to expand. Suppose a new factory is built. Credit will usually be needed to fund the investment. But how could consumers buy the products, making the investment worthwhile in the first place, if all they had was salaries paid ultimately out of profits from earlier investments? Large purchases such as cars or homes are paid for with credit (newly minted money in case of mortgages not car loans). Credit has a crucial role in the entire cycle. The main problem with debt is that it creates cycles on its own and if those cycles become too large in volume, they become a hindrance to the economy.
Yes, and pretty much all of the debt creation is in the hands of organizations that are calibrated to maximize profits for themselves, not balance the economic outcomes for sustainable growth. The setup incentivizes activities that lead to poor outcomes.
They're also wary of losses, or at least they should be. Trouble is they have so much leverage that they need to be bailed out from time to time causing a moral hazard because by that time their managers will have cashed out their bonuses.
Why be wary when the bailouts are taxpayer funded?
Tax payer funded but not gifted by tax payers. There is a big difference for shareholder value.
But managers do not need to concern themselves with the difference.
I wonder if after the last 12 years, shareholders are seeing the value in letting the economies be screwed so they get a bailout.
That's a coordination problem. Shareholders are concerned with their own value first and foremost.
!ENGAGE 15