Copped a few mean digs this week. This is my response.
Right now, I'm giving people a good laugh. I'm a proper comedian.
It's one of the things that happens when you put yourself out there. People want to take you down.
This week, it's all about the crash in cryptos.
“How's your crypto portfolio doing now, Jon?”
“How much did you lose this week, Jon?”
“What tip have you got this week Giaan? Got a crypto pick that's not going through the floor?”
Hardee har har.
And look, I can put on my compassionate zen hat. Some people have so little going on in their lives that laughing at B-grade celebrities on the internet is the only way they can get their kicks.
Really, I should be trying to give them more things to laugh about.
“Hey guys. This week I broke a nail opening the sun roof on my merc. That'll teach me for buying sports cars.”
What? Not funny?
Oh no, that's right. It's only funny when it makes you feel better about your own life.
There's nothing intrinsically funny about my suffering here. Watching other people suffer is only enjoyable when it makes you feel better about your own pathetic life.
Sad.
The other thing I'd say is that while every do-nothing is laughing about the crash in cryptos, the stock market quietly shed $4 trillion dollars worth of value.
Sure, it's no match in percentage terms, but that's like 11 times the dollar value loss in a single day.
And you might say, well, if the crypto market was that size, the losses would have been so much larger.
And to that I would say, if the crypto market was that size, (and really, it's probably a matter of when, not if) but if the crypto market was that size it would be a whole lot more stable.
With size comes stability. That's just the nature of the beast.
The reason why the crypto market is prone to such volatility is precisely because it is small. And it's small because it is still early days. Early, early days.
The final thing I'd say on that is also that, so far, I haven't lost any money on cryptos. As I keep saying, you've got to be in it for the long haul.
And I haven't lost money on any holdings yet, because I haven't sold any yet. Sure, I'm sitting on some paper losses right at this point in time. But check back in at the end of the year.
And the reason why I haven't booked any losses yet is because I don't need to sell. I don't have any stop losses in place.
Why? Because even if I loose everything I've put into crypto, it doesn't touch me.
Do you get that? I've got more than your net worth invested in cryptos, and it's still play money to me, ya stupid wage monkey.
Oh look at me go. Sorry. Arguing with people on the internet again.
But seriously, if you're feeling gleeful now because a single month's market movements have justified your cowardly inaction, you can eat a fat greek sausage.
Maybe cryptos aren't for you. Fine. Awesome. But if you need people to lose money in order for you to feel good about your relationship to the market and your relationship to risk, then you seriously need to have a look at yourself.
(Of course it's the same story for the people who did make money out of cryptos. There was a lot of people crowing about their genius when really all they did was get on a train at the right time…. So I can understand where some of the resentment is coming from.)
And look, I get it. I really do.
We've engineered a system that makes all of us feel insecure. We're indoctrinated into a competitive schooling system that makes some of winners, but most of us losers, and it does that at a very young age.
Then we enter a culture where some of the most creative and brilliant minds on the planet get sucked into the marketing industry – an mega-industry whose sole purpose is to amplify and feed on our insecurities.
And then we're so tied to the machine that the only way we know how to express ourselves and demonstrate our worth to others and most importantly to ourselves, is through flashy material possessions.
We are sick to the core and most of us have no idea.
So when people laugh at others for having a crack and losing some money, I can see it as just another symptom of this crazy system we've got going on.
But seriously, if you're in the market, if you're into or out of cryptos, whatever you're into, you've got to be doing it for you. You can't be measuring your success against others.
There is just no winning that game. You will never be free.
And if you can't be free, then what's the fricking point?
All the money in the world won't save you.