A few lessons and thoughts on the Gamestop debacle. A short explanation here about how this stock went from $20 to $483 a share in two weeks, and why it was important.
Invest, don’t gamble. This was speculation. In other words, guessing. The name of the Reddit group was WallStreetBets. When you put money in the stock market, don’t “bet.” When you invest in the long term (as FF2 students know, low cost index funds), you are riding the rising tide of the American economy. Do that. Don’t gamble your hard earned life energy away. When you bet, the house always wins.
Stop paying attention to “the narrative.” The story was “the little guy” shoving it up and killing “the big guy.” From what I’ve read, one hedge fund lost over $2 billion on their short call. But 75% of the gains went to 9 rich people or other hedge funds. As the stock crested and fell, the small investors, the little guys, lost all the money. Because they were “invested” in the narrative of beating the big guy, they bought high and stayed in when there was no financial rationale for the inflated price anyway.
Side note: it was little guys and big guys. Studies show that men “invest” more recklessly, thinking they are “smarter than the market.” They inevitably lose. Women earn a higher return, because they don’t do irrational (frankly stupid) things like this. (Their problem is they invest less because they earn less money and they are less trusting of investing generally) The people who lost money in GameStop were overwhelmingly young, white males, novices in financial markets. The people who made money were overwhelming older, white males, experienced in financial markets. A novice poker player would never think they could bring down a table of World Series of Poker champions. But here a bunch of young men threw money in, thinking they could.
If you’re learning about it in the news, you’re too late. In FF1, one of the major lessons is to stop living in the news. In terms of investing, following news trends means you’re a follower. Following a trend almost always means losing money. I’ve learned this myself: dot com bubble 2000. Housing bubble 2004-2008. If you’re getting in because you “don’t want to miss out,” you’re too late. To get concrete, I bought a condo in 2005 because I was afraid I’d never be able to buy property if housing prices kept going up. I had to foreclosure on that house in 2010. Biggest financial stressor and lesson of my life. If you’re buying at the point when people, who have no professional knowledge, are talking about it, you’re probably going to lose. (Famous story here)
I think why so many people are afraid of investing is they confuse betting with investing. They hear stories of people losing everything when they bet. But the likelihood of losing money in investing is tiny, if you commit to a long period of time. It’s a commitment. And it’s letting go of the short term in favor of the long term. All of personal finance summed up right here: a long term perspective and commitment.