Although it has always strongly implied in the articles and topics covered in Vorpal Trade, an underlying motive for writing this blog is to share with others some of the knowledge and tricks that are useful for obtaining financial independence. Of course, it's hoped that it's useful for anyone with an interest in investment, psychology, or philosophy, but the theme that is in my head is that I want readers to get rich and be independent of the financial influence of others.
There are several ideas that follow. First, I'm interested in giving you tools to become wealthy enough that work is optional. At the very least, this means helping you to retire comfortably. It could mean supplementing your income in later decades or retiring very early, or becoming independently wealthy. But even if none of these are immediately possible, I'd hope that some of this material allows you to attain enough saved capital that you have a sense of independence from your employer. Capitalism belongs to everyone, not just those who fit the stereotype.
Second, it is implied that these strategies are primarily for the benefit of independent investors. Meaning, sometimes I will write about investment strategies that institutional investors can't use, are prohibited from, are disinclined to use, or are offended by. A classic example is index investing. I once wrote and delivered a presentation on how to beat professional investors at investing. It is quite possible to do it through indexing, and part of the mission of VT is to allow you to beat the average professional. This is not to say that some won't benefit from financial planning advice, which encompasses many more financial areas than I have covered or intend to cover here. If you have a need for advice on estate planning, insurance, inheritance, retirement cash flow, Social Security timing, or taxes, by all means please secure an expert. It may be a long time before any related wisdom might appear here.
Third is finding and warning about hazards in investment. Aside from the traditional scams, which I assume that most of us are aware of, there are internal psychological hazards to be avoided. These include problems of focus, awareness, distraction, emotional attachment, non-objectivity, and habit. The behavioral economists have figured out only some of these. Others are common sense, but since we are human, we may not be using all of the common sense we have, so reminders and exercises are useful from time to time.
Fourth, economics is fascinating and sneaky, and it intrudes on political affairs, so I'm interested in political economy because it affects the long term investing landscape. To be successful, we have to get out of our investments more than we put in, and society can put obstacles in the path of business that strongly affect whether it's worthwhile to make an investment in the first place. This is often where I'll wind up using the words "normative" and "objective", because what is a wonderful normative thought for someone else may make an investment objectively a bad idea.
Finally, this blog is about the richness of the possibilities of investment and life in general. My bias is towards optimism, finding solutions, increasing wealth and living standards, and exponential growth. And perhaps not just in dollar terms, but in fulfillment, happiness, exploration of the world. We don't keep score with dollars because the score that matters; it doesn't. We measure dollars because that measurements objectively shows what works and what doesn't, and we delight in experimenting and learning about things that work. 10,000 years ago people lived day to day finding sources of food. We are doing the same, just with different tools.
These themes mean I rarely will write negative stories, philosophy for the sake of philosophy, or opinion pieces designed to forward an agenda. I may write against an agenda that is counterproductive for society, but usually even these will contain objective, neutral data or observations about the problems of the agenda being proposed.
I may sometimes write articles or book reviews that seem somewhat removed. These will be several layers below the surface of investing, serving as foundations on which other ideas and mechanisms lie. Why? Exactly. Because I am still always asking "why?", and the asking often does not stop until I get to the deep layers. Once we have traveled through all the layers, though, we will have a profound sense of understanding and confidence that cannot be bought any other way.
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