The first article is the more typical investing-related commentary written by Barry Ritholtz and published in the Washington Post. The primary focus is about pre-planning for large market declines. He talks about getting defensive, avoiding large declines and several other things that I have been writing about, although with no claim of originality, since I started this site.
There have been a couple of times recently where I've mentioned confirmation bias and Barry's article fits the bill for validating my thought process but as you consume content from me and others (hopefully including Barry) it can be useful to see certain types of ideas repeated in multiple places.
If you read my blog then presumably you have some regard for how I try to navigate through market cycles (otherwise you'd be wasting your time) and you probably understand the importance I place on avoiding large declines (the math is incredibly compelling) and I've been seeing more and more content from other sources either coming to realize the value here or they've simply begun to talk about it openly but either way this is something that can't be studied enough.
The next article was written by James Altucher titled 10 Reasons You Need to Quit Your Job. I know James, more acquaintance than actual friend, but I cannot figure him out. He appears to not believe in going to college or owning a home which I can't condemn but I am on the other side of those ideas. It is quite clear that he is a lot smarter than I am which obviously contributes to my not understanding where he is coming from.
I can relate to the second half of the above linked post however. The first half of the article reads as though he is a neurotic mess who has self-sabotaged every professional opportunity he's ever had. I don't know if this is the case, just how it reads like this little snippet about his time at theStreet.com; I was afraid to go into the office. There were too many people I didn’t want to run into. I would do videos outside every morning in front of the New York Stock Exchange. But I refused to go up into the office for meetings.
And there are more examples just like that. The second half of the article however I can get behind. He essentially gives permission to quit a job you don't like. He says that the fear that this could create would be good thing (I would add a good thing for certain people) and that one way or another you would figure it out.
If you continually wish away your week to get to the weekend then you probably need to figure out how to change jobs. This can be difficult and take time, especially now but if life is about the journey then wishing away most of the journey makes life far more difficult. I've made a couple of job changes over the years and each time there was a lot of planning and building up of a war chest. I am one who does not need the fear or "abyss" as Altucher referred to it. No income doesn't have to be scary with a few months of expenses socked away.
The final article was even more removed from how I process everything. It was titled Against Happiness and written under a pseudonym by someone who is not only unhappy but does not actually believe in happiness. He strives for nobility he says which, citing a philosopher, would put him in a position to deserve happiness but because of the state of the world he cannot be happy. Like Altucher, it is obvious that the author is much smarter than I am so it is possible that I cannot hear some or all of this conversation (paraphrase of a quote from George Hearst from an episode of the shockingly profane Deadwood) but superior intellect does not mean he draws the correct conclusions about anything but you may have better luck with the post.
I believe that for most of us, our happiness, or lack thereof, is in our own hands. This requires self awareness but we can learn to be more self aware and use that self awareness to make our lives happier.As a sort of hierarchy of happiness I think people need to address their own issues first. If you have ever watched the show Dog Whisperer you know that a big part of helping the dog is wearing them out with exercise. Dogs have various types of frustrations with limited outlets. Wearing them out with exercise solves a large portion of most problems. I believe the same can apply to people as well. Exercising has the obvious benefits of weight loss and better stamina but there are of course psychological benefits too.
Personally I don't ever want to worry about money. It is a lot easier to reduce your overhead and employ some discipline in your spending habits than it is to save millions of dollars. If you can afford to buy a house then you can afford to buy less house than you can otherwise afford. If you can afford two $500 car payments then you can afford the two or three $500 repair bills you would otherwise have per year for the cars from years 5-10 of ownership (after paying the cars off).
The other leg of this stool might be things related to self-confidence and esteem. We probably all know people with little to no confidence or esteem and other people with far too much. I don't have much input here other than if you can make fun of yourself, or learn how to, then you probably will have an easier time of things. I would also add seeking happiness in the things you do in your life. The picture is from yesterday's hike. These are the neatest little creatures and we see them here during the warmer months. There can be happiness in a good meal, book or movie. There can be happiness in going to the gym, strike that, there can happiness finishing at the gym or taking your dog for a walk. This is your life, you either enjoy it or you don't.
The second hierarchy for happiness begins to get to the Against Happiness idea of solving the world's problems. Remember the author can't be happy given the state of the world today (although from 50,000 feet is it really any different?) but getting involved in volunteerism near where you live contributes to making your little piece of the world a better place. Chances are you're interested in something and chances are there is a way to volunteer for an organization related to your interests. In addition to helping other there are obviously great personal benefits too.
Truly great people will go on to be part of the solution for many many people, like Lance Armstrong and all the money he's raised for cancer research.
Apologies for being preachy here but woe is the world articles offer little to no value and I felt motivated by this one to reply.
On a sports related note, this weekend offered a cornucopia of different sports including the Red Sox getting pounded by the Rangers and the Tour of Flanders cycling race on Versus. The various races shown on Versus have been a popular topic here over the years so as a public service announcement I offer the following; any coverage on Versus should be watched through your DVR so that you can fast forward through the Jonathan Vaughters segments. I fear he and his peculiar facial hair situation will be featured prominently again this summer. Cycling fans consider yourself warned.
13 comments:
Roger,
I agree with James Altucher about a job, office pol. and your boss. If you do something, do not ever do it for others but your self. That should be rule #1. Rule #2 - go back to rule #1. Today if we have internet and world commerce perhaps on the tec. side I should get some of the credit. Well, I went back to the prof. that I did the research and work and he showed me all kinds of things he wrote about me and the project. I asked him if he could write a letter attributing what he showed me in the 1970's articles so that I could send this letter and the articles to the Pres. Of the Italian Rep.in order to get a little recognition. His answer was a NO. Well, I learned allot. But if I had to do it over, working lots of nights without sleep I would rather be a bum and not do it for a thankless person.
James Altucher is my man.
Jeff from Milan, Italy
Nice post today. Plenty to think about while on my run today :)
I just read that Rep Ryan will propose in his budget to dump medicare for those younger than 55 and replace it with some sort of voucher to be used to purchase private insurance.
All the more reason to be proactive when it comes to personal health and to do everything possible to avoid the largely preventable chronic health problems of our time (Type II diabetes, heart disease, stroke, obesity etc.) The guvment ain't going to bail you out no more.
Hopefully this comment relates to the take charge of your own life theme of today.
I agree with quitting your job, but some preplanning would be my route not jumping into the abyss.
I had a job where they wanted me to essentially commit fraud. Was not necessarily the worst fraud, but still fraud. I refused. Lots of pressure. They found some one else to commit the fraud. I eventually found a new job which was slow due to all the stress.
New jobs was wonderful for 6 years, ok for 4 years and sucked after being assigned to an *#$%@*. I started my own consulting firm on the side. I did not know how to get thing rolling for almost two years. I worked all day for them and then all night and weekend for me. Two years later after my consulting business was bringing in a lot more than my salary I quit.
I'm not the type to jump into the abyss, I toughed it out. which was right for me since I did not know if I would be successful. I also find getting a job is easier when you have a job. They do not want the unemployed even if they are the better choice regardless of how silly that is.
All that aside quitting my job was one of the smartest decisions in my life.
Interesting. About a third of Altucher's article says "this guy is depressed" to me.
One of the best posts you have done this year.
Can't for the life of me get the spectator professional sport thing however.
i'm all on board with being self employed but some folks won't be able to for various reasons.
thanks WH, doing everything possible to prevent preventable (in some instances) absolutely ties in.
SD not sure if depressed is the correct diagnosis but seemingly something.
sports aren't for everyone
"The other important implication of this analysis is that real wages for U.S. workers are likely to stagnate for a prolonged period of time. As a side note, lest the prospect of further suffering among workers suggests that corporate profits and stock market returns will be correspondingly higher at their expense, I should note that there is virtually no correlation between real wage growth and total returns in the S&P 500. Weak employment conditions are a universal bad.
That said, however, the belief that the Federal Reserve can offset this by encouraging higher inflation is a dangerous and misguided dogma, which simply adds insult to injury to people at lower income levels who spend a large proportion of their income on food and energy. What the nation needs urgently is for the Fed to abandon its endless policy of distorting asset prices. This policy has the effect of reducing prospective future investment returns, damaging the incentive to save, and misallocating resources, all while increasing systemic risk and moral hazard - defending excessive risk-taking against losses over the short-run while leaving the nation vulnerable to the damaging consequences of that risk-taking over the long run. "
Hussman
He should be required reading for the fed, congress, etc.
Yes. Its the "give permission" thing that I find most people need but are afraid to admit they need. but the article gives it.
One commenter suggests I might be depressed. Quite the opposite. But I do have problems putting myself in situations that are distasteful to me, even though thats a part of life.
Hi James, thanks for reading the post.
There is no such thing as a job, only work to be done.
Timothy Ferris, is that you?
Enjoyed the "preachy" post. A lot of common sense stuff that we miss in life.
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