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THE POOR AND THE RICH, IN THE BATH THEY ARE BOTH EQUAL
There's a Yiddish expression, "Orem un raykh, in bod zaynen zey beyde glaykh." (The poor and the rich, in the bath they are both equal.)
U. S. News & World Report asked, "What's your investing personality?" Based on a 2007 survey of more than 2,000 over-50 investors, they found that they fall into "fir" (4) distinct investing groups: venturers, adapters, anchors, and pursuers.
Mark Tier (ipp@marktier.com) wrote, "The simplest way to become a better investor-- and make money--is to discover and focus on the investment style that suits you best... He has identified 3 different investor archetypes: The Analyst, The Trader and The Actuary. Note: If you think an actuary is a home for birds, stop reading NOW!
To analyze, in Yiddish, means "funanderklaybn." (Think Warren Buffet, who carefully thinks through all the implications of an investment before putting a dime on "der tish"--the table.)
The Trader acts primarily from unconscious ("farkhalesht") competence. Think George Soros, who acts decisively often on incomplete "informatsye." He trusts his "gut feel."
The actuary deals in numbers and probabilities Think Benjamin Graham (1894-1976), the influential economist and professional investor. He's recognized as the father of value investing.
Graham illustrates the lemminglike behavior of the crowd with this story:
"Let me tell you the story of the oil prospector who met St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. When told his occupation, St. Peter said, "Oh, I'm really sorry. You seem to meet all the tests to get into heaven. But we've got a terrible problem. See that pen over there? That's where we keep the oil prospectors waiting to get into heaven. And it's filled--we haven't got room for even one more." The oil prospector thought for a minute and said, "Would you mind if I just said four workds to those folks?" "I can't see any harm in that," said St. Pete. So the old-timer cupped his hands and yelled out, "OIL DISCOVERED IN HELL!" Immediately, the oil prospectors wrenched the lock off the door of the pen and out they flew, flapping their wings as hard as they could for the lower regions. "You know, that's a pretty good trick," St. Pete said. "Move in. The place is yours. You've got plenty of room." The old fellow scratched his head and said, "No, if you don't mind, I think I'll go along with the rest of 'em. There may be some truth to that rumor after all."
Mark Tier offers a 26-question Investment Personality Profile. Question 11 reads as follows:
11. If you'd bought stock in Widgets Inc. at $2 per share and it's now worth $1 per share, what would you do?
What would the writer do?
Rabbi Summit tells a wonderful midrash story in which Rabbi Aikiba poses a math problem to his students. He said, "If you have a thousand dinars [a monetary unit] and you give away three hundred, how many do you possess?" "Seven hundred, his students answered." "No, you truly possess only the three hundred you gave away. Anything could happen to the seven hundred you have." You could be robbed or lose them in a business deal. But no one can take from you all the good you've done, all the people you've helped, the pleasure and fulfillment and meaning of the money you've given away." The rabbis understood that while money was powerful in itself, it meant very little. Money is only meaningful to the extent that it can be used to have a positive effect on the world.
A second story by Rabbi Summit:
Once there was a famous rabbi who rode a train ("tsug") to visit his many followers. The rabbi was renown for his learning and revered for his kindness. He was unassuming and modest and insisted on being inconspicuous and dressing simply. So he sat in the train compartment and it turned out that his fellow passengers were two very "raykh" (wealthy) couples, dressed very fancy, who totally ignored the rabbi during the ride, turning up their noses, making comments about him as if he wasn't there and simply treating him rudely. When the train arrived at the station, there was a huge crowd of the rabbi's followers waiting to meet the train and give him an appropriate welcome to town. When the two fancy couples saw how important the rabbi was, they were mortified that they had treated him so badly. One of the men approached and said, "We are so sorry. We had no idea who you were." The rabbi replied, "Don't apologize to me; you can't even apologize to me. You weren't wronging me. You had no idea who I was. Apologize to all of those people who you thought I was, the "little people" who you thought didn't merit your sensitivity, kindness, respect or attention. Those are the people you need to find and to whom you need to apologize." Having money doesn't make us any better than people who don't...
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Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe agrees with Dave
Barry
("Dave Barry Money Secrets") that
Women's Top Ten Financial Priorities are
1. Shoes
2. Food
3. Shoes
4. Clothing
5 Shoes that go with clothing
6. Shelter, defined as "a place to keep shoes"
7. Jewelry
8. shoes that go with the jewelry
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