Everything I learned about investing, I learned at Halloween

Thanks to Fareed Zakaria: 'There is a Silver Lining' for the prompt

Everything I learned about investing, I learned at Halloween. Back in the day when we went door to door, my brother and I would each come home with a pillow case of candy. I'd empty my bag in about a week. He'd still have half of his at Christmas. I'd be doing his chores and he'd pay me in candy from his bag. But much of the time I'd just be wanting what I couldn't have. My will to save and eat frugally was weak. I was a consumer not an investor.

American investors have been using their investments to live like rock stars. When the middle class first discovered mutual funds and rapidly rising home values, they thought it was stupid not to spend now. A friend of mine told me, 'it's like a river, you've got to jump in or you'll still be standing on the shore' (when all the others are reaching the harbor of prosperity) Refinancing and day trading have been ways to empty the candy bag without adding value.

My grandfather was a farmer. He never owned a house, always lived in a place that he managed for the land owner. When he couldn't work any more he rented a place in town until my grandmother died and then he bought a trailer and lived in a trailer park until he couldn't walk. Then he lived for more than ten years in a skilled nursing facility. He couldn't pay the cost so MediCal picked up the bill. It was clearly beneficial for him to have this 'socialist' resource available.

Life isn't about capitalism. So even if the Dow Jones never rises above 10,000 again, we're not living in a worse place. The thing about capitalism is you can become a god if you invest wisely. The best investors have made millions. And a few have made billions. Warren Buffet doesn't ask anyone for permission, he doesn't wonder if he'll be able to afford to travel to the paradise he enjoys. But, 100 years from now he'll be just another name in a book.

Someday, we will be telling our grandchildren what we learned in this era while they roll their eyes and say yes, yes you told me that story before. The relationship with those unborn children is what matters to me. Even if I'm living in a 'grapes of wrath' labor camp, I will have value and they will have value independent of my investment portfolio. We are children of God and it is not clear what we will someday be, but we will be in the image of God and in his care. When streets of gold are beneath our feet, we won't be cursing the day we bought that big position in General Motors.

So the question of my day is, 'how do I love people in October of 2008?' I think it's a challenge. A lot of people don't want to be loved. A few are too embarrased to be loved. It's my quest, how should I prepare, and how do I love the people in my life today?

scared to death

I haven't had a paying job since the end of June. I had quite a bit of money saved once but I've been spending it for the last 10 years. I've traveled all over the world, India, Turkey, France, Thailand, and China to name a few of the countries I've visited (or lived in). So I decided it was time to come back to California and replenish my savings.

Wow! What a big surprise. Unemployment is up, investing is a terror, there's no money 'floating' around waiting to land on some deserving volunteer/humanitarian teacher. So I have been applying for dozens of jobs. To tell you the truth, some of them I would never want.

One of the jobs I applied for, but didn't really want, was teaching science in a 7th grade science class. The teacher who started at the beginning of the year had just graduated from college and didn't expect the students to be so difficult. So, yeah, I am going to come in on a white horse and save the day! or not.

I'm waiting, and hopeful that I will get a job teaching for a faith-based education program. I've had an interview, I did a couple demonstration lectures, and they asked for my references to respond to specific questions. That's a good sign! But it doesn't mean it will happen quickly and it could be a couple months before I start working there.

While I wait, I've been thinking that there are other people who are looking for jobs, and not finding it easy to wait, and feeling a little stressed out about it. Maybe running short on cash as well. So, here's to you! You're not alone. I'm feeling those feelings and thinking about what the worst case, as well as the best case scenarios are, just like you.

If you should happen to read this and want to respond, feel free. I'm thinking there are a lot of people who are scared to death that they won't find another job, or won't find it soon, or won't find it soon enough, and might need to vent a bit. I'll read and probably reply if it seems you'd like a reply.

Why I write on obscure bulletin boards

Hey, think about it...
If you read an article in the newspaper and you disagree what do you do? I used to just ignore it. But then I realized, someone is going to read the comments. Even if it's the author, or the editor, or someone with nothing else to do.

So does it matter? If I write this blog and no one reads it, what difference does it make to me? To some degree it's just practice. I've had plenty of people tell me I should practice writing. So, now I'm writing. I don't know if my critics will see this and say, 'wow, what an improvement' or not. My wife is always telling me to write something. She thinks I'm an amazing writer. So now you can too! (Think I'm an amazing writer, not write a negative critique).

But seriously, I think it makes a difference. I may influence a few people on a few days when by some crazy chance they read this. Does it matter? I think so.

Hmmmmm.....

The terror of looking at a white page and imagining how it will be filled is unmatched by any other circumstance. -Randy Higgins

I'm not afraid of speaking in public, even if I don't have anything to say. Snakes are what shotguns were made for. But writing is scary. I think my terror of writing was originally instilled by Ms. Lafayette in third grade. She was continually demanding cute little essays before I could move on to other classroom activities. My fantasy was to get my hands on the classroom chemistry set and mix things until I developed smoke, glowing puddles of molten goo, or some other suitable destruction. I usually ended up looking out the window, drawing a picture of a house, and lying about how great my dog was.

Ms. L had one other continual critique of my work. She said, 'use your own words'. I asked her, 'what's wrong with these words?' She seemed to think that I should be able to plagiarize the textbook without actually using the author's exact thought. I felt like if I was going to tell someone exactly the same thing that I had just read, I could use exactly the same words I had just read!

So I never felt the urge to journal endlessly and put every thought to paper. Writing has almost always been an obstacle to something I'm really interested in. Strange then that I have this impulse to blog.

It's associated with the infinite number of book titles in my mind. I don't have the chapters, but I do have titles. My best chapters are already written by someone else who has said it better. I have found over and over again that when I start to get organized and outlined, I find a published article or book that has already said it better than I ever could. When I find the title that has no book to go with it, I'll write it.

In the mean time, I need to practice my typing. So here it is. My first blog. Enjoy it (or endure it) and look for more to come.