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Finance

~2m skim, 287 words, updated Jan 22, 2025

2025-01-07

Worry for nothing through careful planning.

Contents

Memento Mori¶

People ought to live with balance.

• Mind
• Body
• Soul

Neglecting any one of these three will result in a critical imbalance. Neither can they be regarded in isolation - we are all a gestalt, a whole greater than the sum of our interconnected parts. None of these areas should wither from lack of care.

• Mind - Education, fed with good problems
• Body - Exercise, fed with good nutrition
• Soul - Faith, fed with good wisdom

You must also remember that you will die. As taught in Kerouac’s On the Road, it is sometimes important to be childlike and see life with new and fascinated eyes, totally enraptured by the present and your physical senses.

What all of this comes down to is striking a good balance between these three components - and with these life manuals, I hope to record my methods for each.

Be pragmatic. Be well fed. Be wise. May God bless you.

This is Not Financial Advice¶

If you follow any of this, you are entirely responsible for any gains or losses that you experience. I hold no accountability. Thanks.

Fear & Greed¶

When people see “green line go up”, they want in on the action. Depending on the timing, this is either an OK or a bad time to buy an asset. It is rare that, having gone up a double-digit percentage, any asset will continue upwards without considerable momentum or reason.

• Don’t pile money into assets when the market is green and greed is high.
• Don’t sell everything when the market is red and fear is high.

This is how chumps, suckers, and those manipulated by FUD¹ think. Use the Fear & Greed index as a tool to help judge the market. Better put by Warren Buffett²:

• “Be fearful when others are greedy.”
• “Be greedy only when others are fearful.”

Precious Metals¶

Unless the world is about to collapse, holding a great deal of physical precious metals is unnecessary - though holding none is unwise. As a rule of thumb, at minimum, hold a few months’ of expenses worth of gold and silver. Ideally half a year’s worth.

Never ever buy paper metals - stock or crypto - with the expectation that it will be available in a time of crisis.

The Stock Market¶

Generally, a losing game. Picking stocks takes time and highly patient and systematic thinking to see consistent long-term returns. Read these. Pay attention to what politicians are investing in.

• Ray Dalio’s “All Weather Portfolio”
• Buffetology - See a summary of “Buffetology”