[frontfor]

Some might object to this analogy, but I view life like investing in an index fund. It’s a diversified bet across many aspects of life and many projects (akin to how an index fund is a diversified bet across companies, sectors, geographies). Many of the bets will fail (much like many companies in the market will crash or delist), but some will deliver so much return they carry the rest, but you don’t know which ones and when ahead of time. It will be volatile, but if you persist and survive in the long run the expected outcome tends upwards.

[zigman1]

Not trying to be rude towards you, but I am always a bit shocked and a bit sad hearing people take their life as an investment strategy. I understand your point of view, but life also needs to be lived, not experienced as a constant chart moving up and right. My brother was/is like that, who is calculating profits and opportunities when hanging out with his friends, and will stay friend with someone as long as he will get something out of that himself. I find it a bit weird.

However, I understand if you are coming from a poor background, most of your life resolves around how to improve it, so me not knowing anything about you, I am not judging you for this, just find it different.

[OJFord]

That seems like a very different take on life than GP describes, that just happens to use the same analogy on the surface.

[quuxplusone]

frontfor described "life as an investment account" and recommended a long-term strategy investing in index funds. zigman1 described "life as an investment account" and gave anecdotal evidence that a short-term "day-trading" strategy could be a bad idea.

They're both saying the same thing... although zigman1 didn't seem to realize it. (Perhaps through being unfamiliar with jargon like "index funds" and how that differs from day trading.)

[ElevenLathe]

"Variety is the spice of life" translated into neoliberalism.