Time - Value

It is disappointing to have a divide between what I am learning about Finance and the real world situation.  At this point, interest rates are dismally low. I am earning perhaps .3% on my savings. While I hear this is a borrowers market, it is not a savers - I haven't anything for which I would need a loan quite yet.  Thus I stare at my bank account and sigh.  It is hard to save for the future when the future prospects of tying up capital are this pitiable.  Interest rates MUST go up from here, and I must wait for them to recover. Interest rates are based upon perception, and investors have been burned by the economy of late.  Those in charge of the federal interest rate are in a tight spot because the crisis caught our economy while it had low interest rates already.  Usually, lowering interest rates is a measure that allows an economy to recover, as cash flows are encouraged through investment in assets and expansion.

I dream of a 5% interest as illustrated in class. But, events are not allowing for this.  This reminds me of what a small, infinitesimal speck I am in the vast floods of people in the world.  Dave Barry once gave the illustration of an ant on a tire:  "The ant is aware – on a very basic level – that something large is there, but he cannot even dimly comprehend what this thing is, or the nature of his involvement with it. And if the truck starts moving, and the tire starts to roll, the ant will sense that something important is happening, but right up until he rolls around to the bottom and is squashed into a small black blot, the only distinct thought that will form in his tiny brain will be, and I quote, ‘Huh?’…"  This was concerning the relationship of men and women, but the scale feels the same between me and the vast complexity of our economy.

I know friends who play the stock market, but I don't trust its workings.  There is a reason why stockbrokers have a full time job - it is the ability to read trends, understand human behavior as different groups, comprehension of timing, size, and risk, as well as a knack for self-control for when to stop.

Anything can become addictive, I hope to be habitual on in proper behaviors.  I know that I overthink things, overdose and obsess over having everything available when I start.  I have a great desire for control over my life, and it scares me when that illusion is ripped apart at the seams-that-be (alternatively: seems-to-be).  I haven't a great amount of control, but what little measure I am given, I must learn to handle correctly.  For life doesn't halt for anyone, time is not reclaimable, and entropy only grows larger over time.

For each decision, there are consequences. There are probability trees to estimate the likelihood of an event occurring, but they are just that: educated guesses.  The variation depends on decisions made by others in similar veins to your own, as well as reactions to your decision from other people.  There are three types of people: Proactive, reactive, and refrainers.  The first two are initial motion and reaction, the last is the a conscious choice not to act. Oh how complicated things can be, it delights and confuses my mind.

God in heaven may look down at us and smile - how entertaining to watch us weave the patterns of life with the gifts and talents he gave us.  May I not squander the freedom and abilities I have, cultivate, and am learning to appreciate.