Bits and Pieces

Stock Market Values: well, isn’t it exciting, watching the dollar signs go up and down? First is a drastic fall in values, then sputtering rises over a few weeks, then a spectacular decline followed by an equally spectacular jump in prices. This is the face of volatility. It is also the maker of sleepless nights.

As I ponder the latest volatility in the markets, I recall the many times I did the same in years past. The market goes up; the market does down; what matters is the long-term growth pattern and the then accumulated value of the portfolio. Nothing else matters unless you are watching and buying on the downturns to build up long-term values. Usually this is done when young and there is ample time to recoup the losses encountered along the journey. When an elder, there is no time to recoup. Best if you keep things simple and invest differently.

Simple is Best: the ordinariness of simple shapes our feelings of incompleteness or failure. However, try fixing, maintaining or using the complex. Soon the frustrations overpower the value of the convenience which no longer exists when broken. Yes, much easier and cheaper to own the simple. It does what you expected it to do. It does it reliably for years. The cost to maintain or even use it is minimal, perhaps nothing. Simple is often the best to have. It upsets not. It matters for the simplest of reasons.

Nothing complex about that.

Luxury is Deceptive: When you experience something unusually plush, sumptuous or luxurious, it makes an impression. A light bulb may go on in the brain, saying, “So this is what it’s like.!” In another gasp of air, one may actually utter the words, “I could get used to this.”

That first step on carpeting that is over an inch thick, dense and buoyant, is a pleasure. The hush of the room is tactile. The ease on the feet and ankles quickly noticeable. Or when visiting a luxury car dealer showroom, you gingerly sit in the driver’s seat, feel the soft pliability of the leather upholstery, and gaze yearningly at the dashboard arrangement of dials, gadgets and conveniences. It says something special to you. You see the difference and feel it. You can even smell it.

But it doesn’t last does it? If you one day buy the luxury goods, it becomes familiar quickly. After that, the smell is gone, the feel is good but not special, and the ordinariness of the surroundings become expected. Normal. Undistinctive. After some time, the specialness no longer exists. Only in the minds of those who do not have such products in their lives.

It is nice to have such things but not important or necessary. I once chose a piece of art over a luxury purchase. I soon learned that the art has lasting value. It sparks thinking nearly every time I study it. Meanwhile, it is part of the daily landscape and reminds me of mindfulness. Much more lasting is art than luxury.

December 9, 2022

 

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