- Going to the DMV can be a time consuming affair.
- It is not possible to lose weight unless you reduce your caloric intake and/or increase your physical activity level.
- Most girls with pants worth getting into require a substantial investment, both temporal and monetary.
- Despite best efforts at hygiene, you will be in constant contact with germs and bacteria throughout your life.
- No matter how much dough you're making, it's not enough to afford the stuff you don't need.
- The more you think through a great idea, the less excited you'll be about it.
The stock market is a zero-sum game. If you win, some other schmuck loses.This was wisely pointed out as being untrue.- You will die. Sorry.
- It's really hard to understand even yourself, so you can forget about truly understanding anyone else.
- Money doesn't buy happiness, but its absence can almost certainly cause unhappiness.
- Most of the people rallying against the war in Iraq were clucking in support of it not so long ago.
- Humans are easily influenced and manipulated. Even you.
- Donating to charities makes you feel good, but all the money that goes to all the charities is not even enough to cover a fraction of the interest owed on third world debt.
- Some of the best things in life are not good for you.
- Despite the various safety stats, skydiving is still not as safe as not skydiving.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Some Inconvenient Truths
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
You got a couple of those wrong:
"The stock market is a zero-sum game. If you win, some other schmuck loses." That's BS. You think it's true because you come from a culture where investors try to out-screw each other all the time.
But consider this scenario: I buy a stock at 5 cents. I hold it for 10 years, earning another 10 cents in dividends. I sell the shares to you for 50 cents each, and you hold them for another 10 years, earning 5$ in dividends. You then sell the shares for $10 each. See? No one lost a cent!
It's only speculators, nervous get-rich-quick investors and fucktards who ruin the stock market for the little guy (who has no clue and lets himself be convinced to sell at a loss).
The golden rule is always buy buy buy and never ever sell. It's just that simple. Markets go up by an average of 10% a year - but only if you hold stocks for a long time, and don't turn into a snivelling pussy if other nutjobs drive the price down below what you paid.
Refutation: 100%.
Next item: "You will die. Sorry."
No, I don't plan to as a matter of fact. My parents generation is the last generation which won;t have a choice about whether to die or not. I will continue to exist, in some form or another, until I decide I've had enough. That might be in 500 years, or it might be in 5 billion years - or I might just choose to give up my individuality and merge with a group mind at some point in the future. The possibilities are endless, and one of the options most definitely is NOT "dying".
Read up about the Singularity.
c.davies is a douche
c.davies:
Well, you're right about the stock market not being a zero-sum game. I'm not sure if you're example is right, because you treat that last sell as an end, when in reality someone has to buy the shares at $10 each, and it can then drop back down to a nickel, and so the guy who bought your shares is a loser. But, stock markets are not zero-sum because stocks increase in value when companies earn money and dividends are paid, so wealth is created and you're right.
As for dying. We'll see. Just in case I'm right, can you write up a will leaving all of your assets to me in the event of your death? That'd be sweet.
Stuff related to not dying:
http://www.singinst.org
http://www.mprize.org
http://www.sens.org
http://tinyurl.com/5jo75
I'd also refute that weight loss item. It may be true for some people, but it depends on one's metabolism. I've lost 77 pounds since I changed my diet drastically, but the calories I eat have stayed the same or even gone up, while the exercise I get is about the same.
(Hint: it's a certain low-carbohydrate lifestyle that people like to knock without understanding.)
While the stock market isn't quite a zero sum game, trying to BEAT the market is. For every investor that generates returns higher than the relevant benchmark another generates less.
Do not try to be a stock picker unless you think you are smarter and/or luckier than at least 50% of the money on the market. Hint: if you are reading this, you probably aren't. Go for index-following ETFs.
Post a Comment