Adding Value/ What do you feel best

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J_
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Post by J_ »

Adding value is rewarding, and it looks so natural that we are allways striving to do it. {Governments like adding value too because it easy taxable (sales tax, value added taxes)}
To discuss I have made following categories of adding value
A You add value to yourself by absorbtion insights from others (eg Jacobs book) and then applying it by doiing. Learning, walk the talk.
B Mending/Maintaining things, so that its value will stretch over a longer periods. Tending your health belongs to this category
C Advising others? Works only if the other is allready seeking the same ideas. Raising children belongs also to this category
D Creating litteraly new values: construct something from scratch, creating a (vegetables) garden, making clothes, writing a book, making/playing music yourself etc
E By working for others you add value to them, and it can give you a good/neutral/bad feeling (sometimes it adds also value to yourself) as you exchange a part of your (limited) lifetime for money
F (D2) By investing your money in stocks/deposits/bonds/precious metals you expect/hope those things are adding money to your investments, but (to me) it don’t feels you are adding value.
I suppose I am overlooking categories (please add).

But what I want to discuss is which one gives you the most satisfaction.

For me its D followed on a distance by A and B


FI Fighter
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Post by FI Fighter »

A, C, and D probably bring me the most satisfaction.
I like learning and growing as an individual. Learning from others who have been there, done that is most invaluable (A). They show you the door, and then you decide to walk through it.
Creation, innovation and new ideas are what make life exciting. I think this is the essence of the human spirit - to improve upon yesterday. To continually get better, and hopefully make the world a better place (D)
Passing on your acquired knowledge to the next generation, to me, would be most rewarding. Some skills take a lifetime to build up, so having moved up the ranks to the point where one is deemed adviser, consultant, or expert would be most humbling. If I am ever fortunate enough to reach this pinnacle, I think it would be my duty to reach out, touch, and inspire as many people as I can. I work in engineering, and it would be the greatest feeling ever, to have a hand in molding, say, the next Steve Jobs. (C)


jacob
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Post by jacob »

As for D2 ... With investing you're essentially transferring value from the present into the future---deferred consumption=>investment. (You have the money, so you decide the priorities of the money you have(*).) This makes the future a more valuable place. Also other people may be transferring risk (uncertainty) to you and if you're more capable of accepting risk, it makes the present world a more stable place.
(*) There are two human-centered ways of managing the world. Money and politics. Politics relies on talking. With money there's no talking and one's impact is directly proportional to how much money one has.
Let's consider the much reviled 1%. How do they spend their money? Much of it gets invested in the primary market which means that goes directly to business owners (in IPOs) so they can create jobs. It may also be used in the secondary market in which case someone who has a stock sells it and is now able to spend the money on something else. It also gets invested in the fixed income market where it's taxed heavily (3% of the entire amount per year thanks to inflation). Finally, it gets spent on consumption. It may be that this consumption is not in line with the preferences of the general population: For instance, this particular consumption may create jobs for golf club makers, luxury yacht builders, and personal chefs instead of aid workers, social workers, or even automakers or pizza delivery guys.
In general however, the system is such that money only signals an intention (even if it's kept under the mattress, it will have an intention---in this case deflation) for the economy to go in a particular direction. Once the intention has been made clear, the money has been transferred and it's up to the recipient to signal the next intention, etc.


J_
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Post by J_ »

@Jacob: thank you for clarification category F ( I had it wrongly numbered D2). I never felt that I was transferring value from the present to the future by investing my money in laddered deposits other than stashing my money untill the time comes I need it.(And get (a little or some more) compensation for inflation).


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