Future Markets, A Small Ripple

I had the luxury of watching Tenet in the theater. I must say I'm having a blast with COVID restrictions. I thought I'd be in a situation where I'd feel uncomfortable. Rather, it's quite nice having two seats on each side reserved for safety reasons. There was six people in the auditorium and although the film industry is failing economically, I have to admit it was nice seeing a film with little or no people.

The film Tenet made me think about the past and the future and how they're both simultaneously connected. I guess this story begins last week, where I was camping in the mountains with all our crew. I distinctly remember my friend Sergio talking about gear he purchased when he first started camping. We were all drinking by the fire and he laughed about his first tent and sleeping bag. They were really bad purchases, cheap and almost useless. But he said it was a good lesson for him, that it encouraged him to buy solid gear, gear that would last almost a whole generation. He mentioned his bad purchases helped him with his future gear. He said we always do that, that we always buy better equipment as the years continue.

It made me think of the first time I purchased stocks. They were bad penny stocks. Some of them were as low as fifty cents. I was always looking at my phone seeing a whopping fifty dollars in random, dead companies and hoping one of them would strike it rich and I'd get to reap the benefits. In the end the penny stocks dropped to literal pennies and I cashed out with half of what I started with.

In the process of losing my penny stock money I must admit it launched me into some sort of vendetta, some sort of attitude change that forced me to learn about saving money and investing. It took me for a ride and gave me a lesson that I still learn from today: your money begins with a small ripple of action.

The penny stock loss of about thirty bucks enabled me to do research, learn about markets, learn about capitalism as a whole, which drove me down the road to the mindset of scarcity, savings accounts, investment portfolios, which then turned me toward tax returns, credit loans, the black hole of debt, and retirement. The thirty dollar loss had become the best investment for me. Had I rode and doubled my money, my entire mindset would have been totally different. Had I slowly kept my money and rode the curtails of slow success, I don't know where my mindset would be. It was the loss that pissed me off and said I didn't deserve success so soon. You'll have to earn your stars to get successful in the market.

It has taken me years to find out how to save money, live below my means, find additional income. It has humbled me to find out what money really is. Going back to the past while looking at my future, it's a wonderful thing. I remember my childish mindset back then, drop a few dollars and watch them grow like magical beans to the giant's castle in the sky. I realize each dollar is a brick, and you set that brick on your wall of security. The precious care you lay it down, the better it'll be to protect you in the future.

I'm glad for my losses and my lessons from the first days of investing. I encourage all young folk to partake in loss and feel your savings slip between your fingers. It's a humbling thing and most importantly it's a lesson that life shoves in your face. It's all going to depend how you handle that situation. I prefer to learn from it instead of ignore it. I'm glad I did do something with my lesson because I stand in the center, looking at my silly past and the prospects of my future. That small ripple is now a raging tsunami of knowledge. But the pebble first must enter the water. So what are you waiting for? Make a splash.