The price of the future

How often do we stop to ponder and ask the most basic stuff? 

I believe we tend to just assume and go with the flow, as asking is seemingly inconsequential to our daily activities.

One of those questions is: what is money? Of course, the first common answer that comes to mind fast could be something along the lines of: a medium of exchange, the product of our work, or the paper we use to buy stuff.

See, what’s the point in asking?

The problem is that the previous answer comes from an almost instinctive part of our brains, or as Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman would frame it, our “System 1” thinking, which is fast, automatic, and intuitive.

We rarely ponder with our “System 2”, which is characterized by a more slow, deliberate, and analytical thinking.

In that same question, “What is money?” 

We can deep dive into the history of money, why coins and bills, what role did gold play, and how and why did barter evolve?

Learning to ask the right questions.

The point of asking those questions is not just to have a nice intellectual stimulation, but to be able to better our life in some kind of way.

Socrates, the ancient Greek philosopher who pondered on many topics such as ethics, morality, and the nature of existence, was known to teach by asking questions.

It is accurately known that if you want better answers, you should ask better questions.

This, of course, applies to all areas of life but for today, we shall use it to better comprehend our current understanding of time-money-freedom.

Understanding our current circumstances

If we see how much money exists in any developed economy in the world right now, we can track the money supply with simple M1 – M2 data. Will we see that it has dramatically increased over the years? 

Yes.

If money supply is increasing, meaning governments by printing, overspending, and then having to print more are by default “diluting” all of the “fiat holders”?

Yes.

Wage growth has not increased at the same rate that the money supply has increased, therefore making life more expensive to all wage-workers, correct?

Yes.

I think you get the point that I’m making here.

We are having to ever work harder and harder (as wages aren’t keeping up with inflation) for a currency that is getting weaker and weaker (as it is being printed to infinity)

How does this make any sense at all? 

I believe Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company said it years ago:

“If people understood the banking system, there would be a revolution tomorrow.” 

                                                        Henry Ford

This points out the low knowledge overall of the intricacies of economics and the banking system in the general population.

Think about it.

How would the reaction of the whole country be if they were told:

“Hey, your wages will stay the same for the next 8 years and oh by the way, your money is being worth less and life seems to get more expensive every day because the government is printing to infinity to fund their own interests”

Not so good, I would guess… Huh…

Money is not everything

The truth is I’m not advocating to devote your life to learning how to save, invest, repeat the cycle, and become obsessed with accumulating more, which ironically is something that happens at the other end of the spectrum.

 I like to think about the phrase: “I want money so I don’t have to think about money.”

If you are or ever have lived paycheck to paycheck, you know it’s not a great feeling. Every single cent is precious, and you are tight because any unexpected expense can put lots of stress on you.

The mere fact that financial education is not taught at schools is very telling.

I mean, you can’t argue that there is no time, or that there are more important subjects. You literally spend freaking hours a day for about 20+ years!

Also, I would be happy to take the bet that most don’t remember even a tiny percentage of the “important subjects.”

 It’s no coincidence; banks, credit institutions, and many other companies and industries benefit from consumerism and workers. 

We want Joe the accountant to spend the day working at the company for a measly pay, and then for him to buy his Starbucks, and get home to watch Netflix and pay some more bills.

We don’t want Joe moving to the countryside after successfully managing to invest, create a business and diversify, to then pursue his love for painting.

There is a movie called “In Time” that depicts the feeling in a very good way. They all live in a society where time is the currency, people get paid in time and spend with time.

The lower classes are mostly running on a “24 hr budget,” meaning they have to work or else they`ll die, meanwhile the ultra-rich have years and decades on end, so they have the luxury of doing and buying what they want and not being in a rush for practically any reason.

Dont get lost in the way

Basically is getting to the realization that understanding money is the way to freedom, and freedom is a unique opportunity to explore your life and purpose.

Remember the end purpose, and do your best to avoid getting “goal hijacked” in the process.

No one really wants “money”, they want the experiences, the things, the security, the optionality and all that it can provide, but some people get “hijacked” by the goal of accumulating money that they forget why they were doing it in the first place.

They don’t even want to spend it later on, isn’t that crazy?

Remember to always share and help other people after you “hacked” your own path to fixing your problems, you would be surprised 😉

Keep learning, Keep enjoying, till next time

Zifush.