Subject: Re: Welcome!
Manlobbi,

You're not trying to sell anything, nor I. You're just a guy who loves to invest and who hopes others share your passion, and you've taken upon yourself the work of creating a forum where that might happen. Kudos. Now come some realities, and to make things a bit less personal, let me switch the topic from learning to invest to learning to build a boat, because the same sorts of numbers prevail.

Over the years, as I've put in on a lake with one of my wooden prams, or even when the boat was on the roof racks and I'd pull in to a gas station, people would wander over and always ask the same question, "Did you build yourself?" It's beautiful. I wish I could do that."

I'd always take the time to explain how easy the process was, how little the materials cost, and I'd point them toward sources where they could learn more. The more ambitious would take photos, and I've even given some my home phone number. Over the years, at docks, in parking lots, and on the water, I've made my pitch to maybe a hundred people, but not a one has followed up. Not a one, and many of these people were fellow fishermen who wanted/needed exactly the boat they were seeing: a one-person, light-weight, car-toppable, beach-launchable, easily-rowed boat that could be put on the water --complete-- for $150.

Same-same with trying to get people to help themselves get ahead by learning a bit about managing their money better or learning how to make their money work as hard for them as they had to work to earn that money in the first place. There's always genuine interest when I make my pitch to family, friends, co-workers, or anyone who'll listen. I don't think they're just being nice. They really would like to learn. But almost never is there any follow-up. I don't know why. But that really is the case, and I suspect that will always be the case, because that's exactly where Wall Street and the financial planners and the financial newsletter writers want things to be. They don't want there to be a well-informed, self-directed, investing public who doesn't need their "services".

Right now, for reasons we could argue about, America --and the world-- is in a recession that's only going to get worse. But the governmental and public reactions have mostly been denial and increased credit expansion, not retrenchment and reassessment. You've heard the numbers. A huge number of American don't even have $400 savings and if faced with an emergency, wouldn't have the cash needed to solve the problem. The numbers for them close to retirement are just as bad, and old-age poverty is going to increase in this country as costs continue to rise. As you know, none of that has to be. But it is going to be if the usual pitches are made about "the need to accumulate early, so later distributions can be made later".

I don't remember the proper economic term. Something about 'time-preference'. But if that's the audience we're dealing with and if their time-preference is short-term, then that's the playing field we have. Fortunately, there's some gimmicks we could use which I'll detail in another post.

Charlie