The stock market
This afternoon I watched a video about evaluation of stocks. Wait, let me correct that. I tried to watch a video about the subject but my eyes started to glaze over within a minute. I actually have no idea about the process nor do I intend to learn about the process. Mark me down as either insufficient funds or insufficient interest. Not that interest rates that keeps fluctuating just the idea that I would want to know how to give my money to someone else in return for unsure partial ownership of the company. My own feeling is that buying a stock does not give me much control over the company and it does not guarantee that I will actually increase my own value. If I buy a stock for $1.00 and that stock increase in value by 2% I really have not gained very much. When was the last time somebody gave you $0.02. Up the ante. I invest $100 millions and it goes up by 2%. Now I have a tangible amount which has been degraded in value by time because stocks tend to go up and down like tides on the beach. Go ahead. Go down to the beach and try to calculate where the water will be in an hour. Good luck. And that is how I feel about the stock market. There is a reason why I leave investing to those who have more time in their hands. And yes as someone who is retired I have a lot of time but not enough to waste it going over the fine points of a company’s earnings and losses. They can pay someone for that kind of fun. I am more interested in the levels of food in my refrigerator which also fluctuates or in the amount of attention I get from friends and neighbours which also fluctuates. No need to play with imaginary money in the stock market. OK maybe I should watch the video. Perhaps I will learn something that will change my life although frankly, I am highly doubtful. If I’ve made it this far without understanding high finance I have probably learned enough in my life. Didn’t Leacock write an interesting short story about that very principle? I mean I do remember something from high school. Perhaps not stuff that will make me more valuable to others but I was there and I did my time on the hard seat of life. Sadly our desks did not come with padding.
