by Raj Suresh | 29 September 2020
The way the market’s operating right now feels so shaky.
I can feel the rollercoaster rattling as the sleeper tracks crack. I don’t know if you feel it. The points are ticking upwards but I have an eerie and uneasy feeling from talking to people. It feels like we’re on stilts, American-Ninja-Warrior-Salmon-Laddering our way up to a precipice with no backup and just the hope that the muscle doesn’t tire. We’re all looking upward with no idea that there’s just water down below.
I can feel the rollercoaster rattling as the sleeper tracks crack.
We live in a strange world where cruelty is rewarded.
There’s always business terms that describe efficiency, productivity, margins – but (as aloof as this sounds), where’s the soul?
And, how the fuck does a person dodge some shit like that?
A long-range vehicle – like real estate, seems like a safe parking device. It’ll barely grow, but it won’t die easy. Everyone needs a cave and a fire.
Here’s the thing – we’ve got insane innovation coming that will rattle industries. So it’s tempting to buckle up and ride upwards with the momentum. In my last piece, I wrote about transitional shifts I think are on the horizon in terms of resources like energy and water. I think that’s still coming. I think automation – where global transport networks will rely on driverless, satellite driven tech is a feasible future, especially when it comes to supply chain focused transport. I think electric fueled, human-centric last-mile delivery will make a big splash (hello WKHS). I think cashless payment will be all the rage and it’ll supplement cryptocurrency’s growth.
I don’t know enough about Bitcoin; I do know that the people that believe in it, swear by it and that they’re generally smart people. They smelled this coming long before most of us knew how to spell cryptocurrency.
Stocks aside, it smells like fear. Doesn’t it? Is that just me?
We’ve got seismic societal shifts occurring; a pandemic crushes the globe, yet anti-vaccine clots of human beings are forming. Learning is now online. Romance is now distant. Mental health issues are skyrocketing.
People have never been so entrenched and yet so removed from how normal emotion feels.
It will trigger, I think, responses that have financial implications many of us will not see coming primarily because they haven’t occurred in forever. Secondly, because this here is a society built for and enforced by a select few.
Control of that paradigm is paramount to said individuals. And they’ll hold that sinking ship in place until the lifeboat is built, jacuzzis are added, and then they’ll jump – offering a handful of tickets to the highest bidders.
Just look at the tobacco industry; lobbying daily to keep menthols in the mouths of teenagers, yet the moment vaping took over, budgets were reallocated. Look at oil. Look at bottled water. There are companies that sell cans of air right now.
That’s a business. Canned air.
And people will buy it because all too often, getting and then spending money is a tiny exercise that allows people to feel momentarily powerful, versus just staying mindful.
What I am saying is that if you can resist the urge to feel powerful in desperate times and do incredibly boring shit, you’ll live to fight another day.
It doesn’t matter what level you’re playing at; whether you’re buying a yacht or fall decorations, if you don’t need it and it doesn’t drive true, long-lasting value, this is the wrong time to sink money into it. We’re not close enough to the bottom. Not yet.
Unless you have rich, loaded motherfuckers around you, keep those eyes peeled. They own the boat you’re saving and the raft that’ll let them sip mimosas until a new boat is built.
Note from the editor: We’re trying to change the narrative around money but change can’t happen with a one-sided conversation. Send us an email and let us know what you think. And remember, the nav.it money app offers you free tools for checking in and managing your money moves. You can download it at Google Play and the Apple Store.
Raj Suresh is a standup comedian and while he understands human behavior decently well from time spent on stage across the states and a few countries, you definitely shouldn’t take any financial advice from him.
It’s honestly wild that any self-respecting publication would consider letting him write a monthly column.
Follow him on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
His debut album, “Semi Famous”, reached #2 on the iTunes comedy charts and #12 on Billboard.
Find it here.
