I came across an episode of Love, Death, and Robots recently and I found out that this particular episode that I have watched describes the investing world rather accurately. Spoiler alert, this episode titled Jibaro, was trying to explain how 2 predators are interacting with one another in a rather cruel world that we live in. The warrior who was in search of gold was part of an army that eventually perished under the spell of the Siren’s powers in the lake. Cursed by her purpose of luring people to death, the Siren was intrigued when her powers and presence did not lure the warrior to his death as he was deaf. Eventually, both characters’ desire and curiosity led to the death of the warrior leaving the Siren stripped of her dignity (the gold and gems on her). Why this is related to investing is because every participant in the market is equally predatory towards one another. As such, the majority of people are often hurt in the process by no actual fault of others just like how the Jibaro and the warrior were both equally guilty and innocent at the same time.
No investor is truly innocent
I draw our attention to the similarity better this ancient legend with modern market traders because we often fail to understand that the market is made of characters who are mainly self-interested and have no thought for the rest. Nothing wrong with that but I feel that we all need to be aware that we are involved in a rather treacherous world when we trade. Perhaps some of us think we are innocent because we meant no harm to anyone else but the absence of intention however might not spare us completely from all the terrible things that the market does to the rest of the world. I have mentioned this several times because basically investing is not productive in nature. All we are doing is exchanging our capital for shares of a company whose employees are working in. Though the company’s performance will influence our desire to invest in them, little or none of the money that we put in actually reaches the employees. Therefore, the next time when you think you are contributing to a company via investing, do not make the error of thinking that your money has a direct link to the company’s overall capital used for its operating expenses.
What about the mindless predators in the market?
Well, even the apex predator is not spared when the market turns on them at some point in time. The fantasy of some naive and greedy individuals normally ends terribly just as they think that they have outsmarted the market. Surely there will always be anomalies every now and then but those cases are insignificant, to say the least. The point that I am trying to point out is that we should always stay humble and grounded when investing otherwise we might fall into the same category of predators who are all out for blood.
How do survive in this harsh reality?
Whenever you are taunted by the market to make a move, stay focused on your overall strategy because that should be the basis of all your decisions. Like the warriors who were tempted by the gold ingrained in the siren’s skin, walk away as soon as you are unsure about what is to come because such ”adventurous” behavior is far from sustainable due to the overall predatory nature of the market. Instead, stick with what you are confident about and execute strategies according to sound logic and reasoning.
Closing Thoughts
Go check out this particular episode of Love, Death, and Robots if you have the chance to see if you can see any relation between us and them. I am sure that we are all partially aware that we are dabbling with dangerous forces in the market the moment we start seeing losses mount. Even so, we should not make the mistake of thinking that we are able to do the impossible and outdo the rest because of our own wit and so-called “talent”.
