I have a confession to make. Confession about something I never thought I did, but ended up doing it a lot many times.
Judging people!
That is what I have done. Judging people who had a different investment philosophy than me, judging them if they did intraday trades (stock market), judging them if they invested in a way that I dint like, judging them for investing hard earned money on borrowed conviction, judging people who are motivated only due to monetary reasons, etc.
Another confession is I have done almost all of the above activities atleast once, the activities I judged others for doing. Ex I have traded stocks, invested on borrowed conviction multiple times, etc.
The interesting part is I have judged people who I hardly know well. Which means I don’t know their net worth, I don’t know how much they invest, no clue about what experiences they have had in life especially money related.
Our experience with money like how much we had growing up, how our parents spend, what lifestyle they could afford, what level of debt they have shapes how we think about money, and as a result how we invest, and act with our money.
Makes me think hard on the concept that Morgan Housel talks about
“We judge others based on their actions yet we judge ourselves based on our intent, and not actions. That’s how we justify what we did, even if it was wrong and irrational “
Now, I appreciate the above line a little more, helps me in being more empathetic rather than jumping to conclusions. I must admit it is difficult to be empathetic, but once you get there you can better appreciate what a person has to say, and on a deeper level learn from his/her experience. What this does is broadens your worldview. Another line from Morgan Housel
“Your personal experiences with money (in my view-with everything in life) make up maybe 0.00000000001 percent of what’s happened in the world, but maybe 80 percent of how you think the world works.”
Meditate on the above thought. As we( I definitely do) struggle to deal with people on a daily basis being more empathetic would make is easy for us. That’s my confession and my message.
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