Memories and Thinking Critically

To start this post on a personal note, it was exactly 50 years ago today, Saturday 22nd April, 1967, that a very young Cassini made his first trip to Selhurst Park to see Crystal Palace beat Birmingham City 2:1. A memorable day, and one that has influenced my life hugely ever since.

Now if only they would bring back those elegant claret and blue kits!   

James had a comment for me:

I guess that one day Cassandra... I mean Cassini is going to correctly call an election. ;)

I find it disheartening that someone like Jordan Belfort (whose only record of 'success' is a charge sheet) should now be a motivational speaker.

What on Earth does he teach, Crime 101?

And what are the imbeciles parting with their money think they are going to learn? How to run a pump and dump operation? How to scam people? Well, they are learning that with hands on experience of scamming themselves out of their own money.

The web is a powerful research tool and yet the majority of its users prefer to go to forums and ask dumb questions or sign up for a course. Not once do they think, "Maybe I can research my question through a search engine to find a balanced answer" or "I can check out this person promising me a beach lifestyle".

The more simple you expect life to be the harder you make life for yourself.

My post yesterday appears to have caused some confusion, with comments on Twitter such as this one from Trevor ( @whatatrevor ):

Terrible article @CaanBerryTrader if u r full time trader not allowed to invest ur money or run any other business?

Deepak Kumar replied with:

Blogger is really talking about bullshit. I always invest in stock and mutual fund some part of winning. And its working great for future.

I certainly never intended to tell anyone not to invest. This blog has always said the exact opposite, and to start early in life. Deepak Kumar has it right, although he didn't mention low-cost index tracking funds.

The post from Dan Solin was included to illustrate the point that people tend to form opinions, and despite evidence to the contrary, are reluctant to subsequently shift their positions. As James says in his comment, the web is a powerful research tool, but too many users lack the curiosity, or perhaps the ability, to carry out their own research. It was in no way intended to deter anyone from investing in their future.

Back to James' opening line about my political betting record, it certainly had a poor 2016, but not too bad before that, although 1992 was a disaster.