The first money I made on my own was by buying shares in an insurance company in Africa that was going to have a merger. Back then there were no algorithms doing it 17 million times a second every time the price changed by 0.5 cents.
I left home, permanently, at age 19. I tried a different trade and was badly advised by a guy who definitely did it on purpose. I lost a bit of money, not much. Then I started to look into it properly. This was around 1993-4.
And after about a week of looking into it I had the same feeling when as a 4 year old I thought money didn’t make any sense at all. Except back then I thought I was too stupid to really understand money. But at age 25 I knew I wasn’t the problem. The ENTIRE “business” of shares trading, and even more so shorts and puts and all that, is really just a complete fucking circus with a Ponzi scheme at the top, sharks at the bottom and a bunch of math retards in the middle.
Sure, some of them make millions. But you know what? I would rather dig dirt by hand and plant potatoes than do that job.
I read this guy . He writes well. He’s funny. And yes, I understand everything he says. Partly it’s why I like him. There was a guy on Gab I followed too, who posted all his trades. He had Christian Slater as his avatar. Made millions, then bought a giant piece of land, made it solar and self-sustaining everything and dropped it all and moved with his girlfriend to it. I never met him in real life but I figure I’d get along with him. He had to shoot a dog of his or his mother in law, I forget, because it was attacking someone I think. He was pretty upset about it. He dropped out of Gab too as the negativity depressed him.
It sounds weak right? But think about it. Have you ever walked onto a trading floor? I have. Several times. And also managed the construction aspect of how their breakout areas and toilets were to be remodelled.
The toilet roll holders hat to be stainless steel that could only hold a maximum of two rolls at a time and be securely locked otherwise the traders would shove whole rolls down the toilet to block it. The grouting of the tiles had to be of the same type they use in prisons so when they piss on it it doesn’t wear away due to the ammonia. The toilets had no tanks, no covers and the toilet roll holder had a steep angle at the top so there was no real flat surface inside the cubicles to snort coke off of.
They ALL routinely use several prostitutes at once. They marriages are usually shams and their wives happy to be fucked by everyone their husband allows them to. I don’t think either of them even enjoys the swinging/cucking/orgies, or whatever they get up to.
The thing is, the thought of investing my time, and pretty much 24/7, because to track all the shit you get into you need to make trades fast. Plus today with AI, you can lose your shirt or make hundreds of thousands and lose it again in seconds. So you have to have that shit in your head constantly. And it’s all soulless fake bullshit. Except it can kill you. It can literally mean life and death for other people around the world, and for you or your family if you would even have one if you stay a few years in it. And it is ALL completely fake. It’s just a big, fat, rigged game and you are probably better off gambling in a casino.
Did you know that they tried an experiment some decades ago. They had a guy throw darts at the financial page every day and he would buy or sell whatever he hit depending on the day. He outperformed the so-called top firms. Probably because humans still made decisions back then.
Just reading the Gold and Dominion guy I linked to above, I enjoy his writing, but if I try to imagine trading using that information, that is, needing to be aware of and following that information, my skin literally crawls. I get a sense of some kind of intellectual claustrophobia.
I mean, i worked in a traditional sense, going to an actual office and doing stuff for a grand total of about 14 or 15 years. The rest of the time I kind of did my own thing, writing, selling computers, and even when I worked “officially” I was always freelancing. The idea of going back to an office now is unthinkable. Honestly, I think I would prefer robbing banks, risk and all. If such a thing was even possible anymore today, which frankly, it isn’t.
I think being so preoccupied with material wealth robs a person of his soul. It is not about hard work, fear of anything, or even having the intelligence to do it. I can outwork most men half my age, out-think most people, and I haven’t been afraid of very much since about age 16 or so.
It’s just that, at the end of it all, when it’s all said and done, I know, I have always known, the journeys, emotions, risks and adventures my heart took, takes and will continue to take me on, are, and have always been, far, far, far, more important than any amount of wealth.
At night now, sometimes, I have a little time to look up at the sky again, as I used to do as a child. And I remembered, and then started to feel again, that sense of absolute wonder. What I wouldn’t give to see those many stars, the planets around them. See the teeming lives that I know exist throughout our Galaxy.
And I am frustrated by the thought that there is indeed not only all that adventure out there, but that the technology to go there already exists. And has for a long time .
And if only all of you reading this and everyone you know and everyone they know would know it as clearly as I do, well… maybe we would all have a chance to go and see those planets around other stars.
I know it’s not for everyone. Maybe not for most people really. But man… just imagine it. That would be a thing. And no amount of money would compare to it.
But I am curious how many of you agree with me. Not just in theory. But in real life. If you had the opportunity and the choice.
This post was originally published on my Substack. Link here
