MUSINGS and other writing by Mark Kolke

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raison d'être
 
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
 
 
Nothing succeeds like failure.

Can that be right?

We live in a world of hype that tells us ‘nothing succeeds like success,’ as Wall Street and Bay Street reinforce that daily with hype about their superior analytics and forecasting, skillful asset managers and legendary stock-pickers. Ups and downs prove them wrong often, yet the world looks to them for guidance.

Take tech-splashy companies that rise and fall, gobble-up or are gobbled-up, and burn through cash like a pile of dry leaves aching to go up in smoke …

And legends in the Warren-Buffett-esque realm quietly invest in sure things, stable things, good things, and never get caught holding a prominent position in the best buggy-whip maker; they fail too, but each time the market takes a big dip, they aren’t selling, they’re buying within their sweet-spot at reasonable prices.

Most of us have small nest eggs at best, and we can’t play with the big boys, yet somehow those realities evaporate when most folks go to Las Vegas …

My point is the best investment we make is in ourselves, the best cost-cutting we do is with our own wastefulness, the best things aren’t things, and the best experiences don’t cost money.

Success is fleeting, and our lives are short; spend it like there is no tomorrow, and you find out that the day after tomorrow is very uncomfortable.  Save, invest, and horde like a mizer who believes he’ll live forever and happiness will likely elude you.

So what should we do?

Work, play, be kind, give, create, make a difference in at least one person’s life, and you’ll be ahead of most people.

Spend one dollar less each year than you earn, and you’ll be wealthier than many people on earth.

Spend one dollar less each day?

Spend ten dollars less each day?
 
Add commas and zeroes to all these notions, and they all prove the same thing – money can’t buy happiness, but poverty is no joy either.

Our world is in a race to earn fortunes for some and save the planet in the bargain; all good things, don’t get me wrong, about appreciating anything that makes our earth safer and more liveable and which balances all the forces for good and evil, strong and weak, rich and poor … that’s all good.

But if you don’t have a purpose in your life, all the billions upon billions some people pile up, won’t satisfy their appetite.
 
 
 
Reader feedback:
 
 
MOUTH PEACE 
Is it social media that has robbed the world of social graces, or is it another form of global warming? Say what you want, attack the person rather than the issue, and when someone treats you unkindly, turn up the heat on the attack, HW, Calgary, AB

 


 
 

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