2020 has been a terrible year.
In Australia, we have had the bushfires and now the onset of the coronavirus crisis that may only be just beginning.
On a personal note, my family and I have had to deal with utter devastation.
I saw all my cash, over $550,000, from the sale of two properties wiped out from trading on my expectation that the stock markets would drop. I then maxed out two credit cards to pour into the markets. When the drop came I actually lost money. I was wiped out from my short dated put options and their high implied volatility and the wild swings.
It was unfathomable. I spent my nights crying and kicking random objects in a rage after losing on my trades time and time again. I prayed and found no solace.
In addition, my sister was crying from potentially losing her job. We both have no money and we are stressed and aging due to the stress and psychological impact of our financial losses. We are in the middle of attempting to sell two homes in the middle of the virus crisis, which could negatively impact prices. I got arrested by the police, I crashed my car into two other cars, one of my investment properties got flooded, I lost my social and dating life due to virus fears and being forced to live at home from a lack of money, and my eyes are so sore from looking at the screens trading.
This has been extremely difficult to take.
Yet, I take comfort in my ability to remain reasonably healthy physically during these trials. I eat healthy. I am happy to be with my family during this difficult time. My family has a little money to get by. I am relatively able and I am expected to have many years of my life ahead of me. I take heart in the fact that I would have probably lost all my money at some point trading if I didn't withdraw my winners.
---
During these times, it is worthwhile to realise that life is a progression of cycles. I have suffered from bad times. As always, good times usually follow bad times and bad times follow good times. This is especially so for me during my good times. I was unprepared for the bad times. It pays to be alert when you have had a good run and be perceptive to any warning signs that good times may turn.
Cycles apply to my personal life as well as to human experience and nature in general.
Economically, the world has experienced a bull cycle, with credit growth expanding significantly over the past 50 years. This will be followed by a bear cycle where credit deleverages. This is natural. It will be painful for many people. I was fully expecting a pullback to occur, yet I lost this bet by taking on too much leverage and being a few months too early.
Birth and death are recurring phenomena. So too are pandemics, recession, and war. These are recurring features of history. As a child, you are often unaware of the realities of life. As a young person, you don't see divorce, financial ruin, death, and illness. Encountering such events change your perspective and priorities in life. This current generation of young people has been shielded from reality and have never experienced true crisis. The next decade looks set to be a testing period, reminiscent of decades in the early 20th century.
We enter the world with nothing and we leave with nothing.
In recent years, people complain when they in fact have it well off. Generally speaking, people in first world countries have had no lack of basic necessity. In times past, the lives we live today would be seen as luxurious and it was considered fortunate to survive with simply the clothes we wear.
In Australia, we have had the bushfires and now the onset of the coronavirus crisis that may only be just beginning.
On a personal note, my family and I have had to deal with utter devastation.
I saw all my cash, over $550,000, from the sale of two properties wiped out from trading on my expectation that the stock markets would drop. I then maxed out two credit cards to pour into the markets. When the drop came I actually lost money. I was wiped out from my short dated put options and their high implied volatility and the wild swings.
It was unfathomable. I spent my nights crying and kicking random objects in a rage after losing on my trades time and time again. I prayed and found no solace.
In addition, my sister was crying from potentially losing her job. We both have no money and we are stressed and aging due to the stress and psychological impact of our financial losses. We are in the middle of attempting to sell two homes in the middle of the virus crisis, which could negatively impact prices. I got arrested by the police, I crashed my car into two other cars, one of my investment properties got flooded, I lost my social and dating life due to virus fears and being forced to live at home from a lack of money, and my eyes are so sore from looking at the screens trading.
This has been extremely difficult to take.
Yet, I take comfort in my ability to remain reasonably healthy physically during these trials. I eat healthy. I am happy to be with my family during this difficult time. My family has a little money to get by. I am relatively able and I am expected to have many years of my life ahead of me. I take heart in the fact that I would have probably lost all my money at some point trading if I didn't withdraw my winners.
---
During these times, it is worthwhile to realise that life is a progression of cycles. I have suffered from bad times. As always, good times usually follow bad times and bad times follow good times. This is especially so for me during my good times. I was unprepared for the bad times. It pays to be alert when you have had a good run and be perceptive to any warning signs that good times may turn.
Cycles apply to my personal life as well as to human experience and nature in general.
Economically, the world has experienced a bull cycle, with credit growth expanding significantly over the past 50 years. This will be followed by a bear cycle where credit deleverages. This is natural. It will be painful for many people. I was fully expecting a pullback to occur, yet I lost this bet by taking on too much leverage and being a few months too early.
Birth and death are recurring phenomena. So too are pandemics, recession, and war. These are recurring features of history. As a child, you are often unaware of the realities of life. As a young person, you don't see divorce, financial ruin, death, and illness. Encountering such events change your perspective and priorities in life. This current generation of young people has been shielded from reality and have never experienced true crisis. The next decade looks set to be a testing period, reminiscent of decades in the early 20th century.
We enter the world with nothing and we leave with nothing.
In recent years, people complain when they in fact have it well off. Generally speaking, people in first world countries have had no lack of basic necessity. In times past, the lives we live today would be seen as luxurious and it was considered fortunate to survive with simply the clothes we wear.
No comments:
Post a Comment