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Probably, because everything would collapse if everyone was an "investor" and fewer people did actual work to keep the world going.
by alxmdev 11mo ago
Probably, because everything would collapse if everyone was an "investor" and fewer people did actual work to keep the world going.
- RealStickman_ 11mo agoThis type of investing isn't about day trading following the latest hype. It's about putting some surplus money to better use for when you need it in 10-20 years.
- array_key_first 11mo agoThat's even worse, because the entire point of the stock market is supposed to be that investors choose where to put their money based on how the company is performing and what they're saying. I.e., you vote with your wallet, and the market therefore punishes bad behavior and rewards good behavior. If everyone is passively investing, that no longer works. Then it's not even a market. We don't even know, for sure, if that works.
- RealStickman_ 11mo agoInvestors are obviously bad a choosing where to invest. See any widely overvalued company
- array_key_first 11mo agoRight but those wildly overvalued companies become that way because millions of passive investors just mindlessly dump their money into them. If you use big index funds, you're the primary people contributing to Nvidia, Tesla, and openAI. You didn't start it, no, but you certainly propelled that ball forward like a bullet. And, well, that's fine, because we cant expect anyone really to actively invest. The problem is we don't know if this works. This definitely has the potential to blow up. You have to realize that what we're doing here is undermining the stock market at a conceptual level.
- TeMPOraL 11mo agoIt's gambling and we're already there. Hardly anyone cares about what any company does when investing in it; all that matters is whether it grows and whether you can time a jump elsewhere before it drops.
- koakuma-chan 11mo agoThere are people who don't invest? Do they just keep their retirement savings in cash? I imagine for most people either the government or their employer invests for them.
- linhns 11mo agoYou’ll be surprised by how many people fear the term investment.
- loloquwowndueo 11mo agoFor most people it’s “what retirement savings?”
- whoooboyy 11mo agoIncredible HN post. I'm hoping it's because you are from a country where people are generally well taken care of. Yes, there are people who don't invest. Where do they keep their retirement savings? 40-50% of Americans, at least, simply have no retirement savings! Most people in America aren't earning enough to put away a meaningful amount for retirement. It's going to be grim as boomers and millennials hit retirement age and have to keep working.
- koakuma-chan 11mo agoAnd it doesn't occur to them that they will need money when they're old and can't work? Incredible.
- czottmann 11mo agoI am very certain it does occur to them but they simply have no financial means to do anything about it. Which must be soul-crushing to them. Rest assured it usually isn't their choice.
- koakuma-chan 11mo ago> Rest assured it usually isn't their choice. People choose to marry, have kids, and buy a house.
- triceratops 11mo agoIf everyone was an "investor" it means they aren't blowing all their spare cash on goods and services. Demand drops and you need fewer people to work to provide said goods and services. It kinda balances out.