Well, You are Mr. Incredible!
Mr. Incredible is a favorite movie around my household (both part 1 and 2). There are several scenes we watch over and over again, and quote often.
Bob Parr: Because I'm formulating, okay! I'm taking in information! I'm processing! I'm doing the math, I'm fixing the boyfriend, and keeping the baby from turning into a flaming monster! How do I do it? By rolling with the punches, baby! I eat thunder and crap lightening, okay? Because I'm Mr. Incredible! Not "Mr. So-So" or "Mr. Mediocre Guy"! Mr. Incredible!
[Violet and Dash are silent for a moment after Bob's rant]
Violet Parr: We should call Lucius.
Bob Parr: No, I can handle it! There's no way I'm gonna...
[yells]
Bob Parr: [Jack-Jack goes flying through the walls, catapulting himself towards the pool in the backyard, and Bob runs after him to catch him]
Violet Parr: I'm calling Lucius.
That is one of my favorite segment from the movie Incredibles Part II.
Because I'm Mr. Incredible! Not "Mr. So-So" or "Mr. Mediocre Guy"! Mr. Incredible!
Mind you Mr. Incredible is a superhero, and yet, he is struggling with his average parenting identity! I think he is a great dad! But very average, just like me. So why does it hurt to be an average dad?
Why does it hurt if your portfolio returns are market average?
Notice, out of 30 years, there are only 6 years of negative returns. Worst being 37% during the financial crisis, but it was followed by 9 straight years of positive returns.
Over the last 30 years, the average annual return of the S&P 500 has been approximately:
Nominal (including dividends): 10.985%
Adjusted for inflation: 8.262%
Wow! 30 year! That is a typically a very long and full working life, right? Just starting with $500 and investing $500 per month compounded while investing total in S&P 500 gives you $1,027,330! Yes, that is the power of compounding. Yes, it did have two of the largest bear markets in the history of modern stock market.
Yet we are not satisfied. We are always looking for the next big thing, to outperform the market..............and failing mostly!
Here is that clip!
Cultural Narratives of Exceptionalism
From a very young age, we are often surrounded by stories of extraordinary people—geniuses, heroes, disruptors. Media, education, and even corporate culture often glorify being "the best" or "above average." This creates a subtle pressure: if you're not exceptional, you are invisible. Especially if you grow up in SE Asia, China etc, you are told constantly that nobody remembers the second best! The word Tiger Mom didn't just came out of thin air, and also it is not just Chinese, I have seen plenty of tiger moms in India.
Somewhere along the line we have forgotten that being an average dad, an average student, an average investor, an average cook ........... none of these are a 'bad' thing. It is in fact a normal thing.
Social Comparison
We constantly compare ourselves to others, especially in the age of social media, where people showcase their highlights. Internet is full of YouTube videos with 1000% ROI on some hot stock or some secret coin! Have you ever wondered:
if they are making 1000% on an token or stock, why are they selling their advice on YouTube for a $200 subscription?
why they are always % return? 1000% of what exactly? $1? Why not a dollar amount with dates and time stamps?
You should know the answer. They are fake.
And yet, thousands of people are trapped by these crooks. In fact some our discord servers have these people too. I say always ask them, why are they poor?
Fear of Wasted Potential
Many people feel and want to be exceptional. They think they could be if only they had more time, resources, or motivation. If they had inherited money, or if they bought that good stock at the bottom of the bear market where they were writing "its a bloodbath" on discord. Just buying S&P 500 index fund every month seems:
- very boring
- for the losers
They search for better and better ROI and that Perfect High
What do I tell them? I am going to borrow another quote:
"I'm at the stage in life where I stay out of arguments. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right. Have fun,"
Because:
It’s always easier to sell them some shit than it is to give them the truth
Oh my, what a blog. I've actually thought about this, not in economic terms but in more global terms. Why do we have to be better? What is the source of the need to look over our shoulders and compare? We might be happy with the house we have until we visit someone with a grander house. It's not just the Internet. That's an easy fall guy. It's human nature. Ah, there it is, nature! The will to prevail, survival of the fittest. I really do think the need to be better is rooted in our fundamental instinct to survive and to have our progeny survive.
This sounds far fetched, but it certainly explains why people compete and want more even when they are extravagantly endowed with material possessions.
Anyway, you can see I've thought about this. Have to catch the Incredibles. It looks vaguely familiar, but I haven't had a child around for many years (even my granddaughter is nudging 21), so maybe I haven't.
Thank you! Incredibles, both movies, are really incredible. They were made thinking about modern parents, and it feels like daily life for my wife and kids.
That is what Edna said in this scene!
In the 1990s, as a society we did something incredible! We began to celebrate everything that our kids did. We must celebrate 45 in mathematics! What started as a noble act went overboard and we started celebrating kindergarten graduations by late 2010s! Then when these millennials started joining workforce they wanted encouragement for every powerpoint presentation they made! Whether they have any use or not! Well party can only last for so long!
If everyone's "super", no one is!
😄
Great points you brought! First I would say about parenting… it is good to be an average dad. I try my best to do that 🤣 and average means failing sometimes… like the stocks going down right? As you showed there are bad years but the average is… good! The problem is selling when it is bad 🤣. Panic is normal to find during these times of bear market! We need to be in good mental health to control ourselves and don’t give up! I joined crypto by the way during a hyped marked followed quickly by a long bear market! My pacience is paying something! And I believe that my investments in some years will bring juicer fruits.
The last point is very important! I could write a post about it and it reminds me the psychologie of the neighboor grass always been greener . Sometimes is difficult for people to notice that what we have is good and maybe we don’t need to do nothing extra… just continue doing what we are doing right now.
I say I am perhaps a below average dad. Thankfully their mom is an above average mom, so as parents we perhaps balance out as average. Yes average does mean failing at task sometimes, perhaps a lot of the times. Average also means there are always people better than you, and there are people who are worse than you, and that is okay.
Yes! Good tip!
😇
You'll make it up with the grandchildren. My husband has :))
Well, just trying to get to one day at a time, you know :) I have very low expectations. :)
From what I remember I never used dating app. Now I am considering it. So far I have not signed up. just opened a few. And I noticed that even the girls I would consider average looking have only responded to minority of people. I consider myself probably about average looking. So I am not sure if there is a point in signing in a dating app...
Now you raise an interesting and important topic. I have married my school mate, and we are together for 30 years. So I have never dated! Unfortunately, I have seen a lot of people around us date. I personally can't shouldn't speak intelligently about dating, but the current trend of online dating concerns and bothers me immensely. I am old fashioned that way. However, that said, it is the current trend, perhaps even a older trend now, so I can't ignore it. I mostly see people suffer during online dating, but my data could be limited.
back in school I really liked one girl. But during school years I never asked her out. I just bought her gifts(earrings, perfume, flowers) and often gave her sweets...So as you can see in school years I was perhaps even worse at this dating thing than I am now. At least more clueless. So I think that you are quite lucky for getting married with schoolmate. I imagine that this saved you a lot of headache.
I am thankful, yes, it did save me a huge amount of headache
Crypto is my search for that new high. My traditional investments I just let plug along and earn me 9 to 12 % each year. I only wish I had started investing sooner. I think I am about 5 to 10 years off the mark.
9 to 12% is a lot! :)
That is all that I did.
Yeah, I mean there have been some years it was less, but I think that is my average across the past fifteen to twenty years or so which puts me on the right track for retirement.
Warren Buffett is living proof of this boring model working. Also if you look at pensions. In general they are steady Eddies as well. Even the risky ones.
Yes, during a long bull market life is simple
So, that's where those questions came from... I'm definitely not an average investor yet, being a little under the SPY average 😅 But it seems like I'm working my way back up, after doing exactly what you describe when I started gambling with stocks in 2021. I was lucky that 2022 came around right after, so I got my lesson quickly.
And I actually got a 2000% return stock, PLTR. It's luck that it shot up so high, though, probably not going anywhere but down in the next 5 years. Took quite a few profits, and now have some lying around - I'll need them in 12 years, more or less, and I hope that the company will be paying dividends by then.
Most of my investment is silent, though. Sitting in CDs in several insured cooperativas around here. Since credits are super expensive (cheapest with luck around 14%), the CD's are lucrative, between 8 and 12%, depending on negotiation and knowledge of how the system. That is compounding nicely, though I'm only adding the interest back to the pile every month.
And no, I'm not going to buy land. Yet. There is that dream of buying a piece and regenerating a forest of native trees... one day.
Never express profit or return in percentages, it is a red flag. If you are comfortable, say how much was it $100? $500? $5000? If you are not comfortable in sharing that info, then don't mention it. Otherwise, you are not doing a favor to yourself or the reader.
Yes, if you get 8-12% on CD that is great (it is okay to express CD or bond return or mutual fund/ETF return in percentages, there are no surprises there). However, you have to watch the inflation rate. I just looked up the inflation rate at Ecuador from internet and it is saying 1.5% for 2025. I haven't verified it, and you can correct me if I am wrong. If it is really 1.5% then 8% on CD is absolutely amazing. Begs the question, how are banks doing it?
Regardless, if I get 8% on a CD, which is risk-free and my inflation is 2%, I wouldn't look for any alternative investment. However, that is me personally.
Nothing is risk free, it's Ecuador. But the banks have a working insurance, depending on the segment they're in, either 5k, 13k or 32k are insured, and that insurance has worked nicely on the past, as far as I know.
I review the earnings statements and holdings of the bank before I invest, and though I'm no expert, I can spot a few red flags I think. If there's another banking crash, though, that won't help. So I have to have alternative investments. Then comes the additional layer of being from Germany, so I need a cushion there, too, in case Lily wants to study - that's what the stocks are for, since I can't really invest from Ecuador, I do it from Germany.
About percentage or $ numbers, best would be both I think. If I tell you I made 5000€ on PLTR, but don't tell you the percentage it could either be amazing as I only invested 400€, or it could be terrible if it was 2,000,000€.
Yes 5000€ and the percentage makes sense.
Then, portfolio size also matters I'd say. If my portfolio is 5 Mio., 5k doesn't matter. If it's 25k, 5k is a huge amount. A good display might be:
Initial Investment: 273€ (40 shares at 6,83€)
Profits taken: 1703€
Current position: 20 shares, total worth 2700€, 10% of the portfolio, second largest position.
That gives enough information for those watching or reading the person displaying to form a good judgement.
I find it very useful to consider myself Mr. Average when it comes to trying to figure out what course of actions others "in aggregate" may take.
I never have inside info, I am not a genius and I have all the psychological biases that come with this monkey brain.
Putting that belief into some kind of actionable strategy is another thing though, it's hard to remain truly objective and Vulcan.
The best I can do is try to avoid the worst excesses of the crowd
As long as you can average out in the aggregate you are likely fine.
I wasn't going to comment after reading this yesterday because I didn't have much to add. Now this morning I'm reading a book and learned a new term, "terminal uniqueness" which made me think of your post.
One of the definitions is "Feeling worse than everyone else because of the severity of your problems, or feeling better and more special than others."
It's kind of ironic because so many of us want to believe we are better than others or would even rather believe we are worse than others. Somehow, we can't stand the thought of being "average." Anyway, I thought this term fits with your post.
This is a problem that started with Millennials. It is not their fault, but ours. In the boom of the 1990s and early 2000s, we get into a system that everything got to be celebrated for the kids. There is now kindergarten graduation! So when these kids go to work place, they needed cheerleading for everything!
It's so true. Have you watched the scene in Meet the Fockers where they make the joke about the 9th place ribbons? Hilarious.
Yes, I have watched all three movies, and I remember the scene clearly.
"if they are making 1000% on an token or stock, why are they selling their advice on YouTube for a $200 subscription?"
Very interesting! I have been wondering why someone would sell an hidden Gem for just $200. Earnestly I see a lot of these things on social media, where some trading guru Boast about knowing a crypto token or stock that will do 10,00% in less than a month, and they will even beg and pressurize their followers to subscribe to their VIP channel for even $50. All these tell just one thing; They are not making anything from that. I pity those that are deceived by these guys. They are all thief, including those crypto pump callers.
They even tell you, when asked multiple times, that they are doing it to spread their knowledge. To that I say, really? Why don't you go to the local high school and volunteer?
😄😄 😄 I have seen them a lot.
A good chart showing where to invest dollars and other weak currencies. And most importantly - when to do it: during a crisis in reliable stocks. I hope my daily PNL in crypto trading will be no worse :)
The fact that you are looking at daily PNL is concerning to me, but that is entirely your own business.
1/30 of the capital is allocated to speculation in crypto futures. I hold two strong coins and short two weak ones for the long term. I hope that 80% of the daily fluctuations will be in my favor.
Great insights! Embracing our strengths and weaknesses helps us grow beyond average.
what is 'great' about it?
Wow, while reading your article, I loved both the Mr. Incredible scenes and the investment examples! 😄 The balance between Bob Parr's challenges as an ordinary parent and his superhero identity is really touching. At the same time, the information in the financial part is also incredibly motivating. Seeing the power of compound interest and long-term investment in this way really makes you think. It was both a fun and instructive article, well done @azircon
Reminds me of the nike tagline 'just do it! Sometimes we don't do grand things as we're scared to fail and be called average.