Noble Virtues Of Poverty Are No Substitute For Cash
The Age
Saturday August 16, 2008
WALKED out of Southland shopping centre this week and holding me up in the narrow but long walkway were a mum and dad and their two children, one on either side.
Mum was about five foot two (157 centimetres). Dad about five foot eight. Cute. Their sons appeared somewhat out of place. They were both well over six feet and not just tall, but big. Massive. Big units.It was quite a spectacle. The boys were clearly young, holding hands with mum and dad, and with that youth came the realisation that these oversized lumps were relying entirely on their diminutive parents for food.The parents were obviously doing a good job, but you couldn't help but sympathise. Rather than a couple of cute kids suited to their ability to provide, their two lads were more akin to cuckoos in a blue tit nest crying: "Feed me, feed me." It hardly seemed fair.We all have responsibilities and expectations. For me, at least, happiness comes from the successful fulfilment of those responsibilities and the meeting of those expectations.But sometimes life does not always deliver what you expect. For some of us, a 29.5% fall in the sharemarket, a 39.8% fall in the bank sector and an unimaginable 46% fall in National Australia Bank (and its peers) have turned expectations to dreams and added weight to responsibilities that we may no longer be able to meet happily.And so it is that things have become quite serious out there. How do you retain faith in long-term investment when your school fees fund, the super fund, the renovation fund or the holiday fund are down 29.5% to 46% and the mortgage as a percentage of the value of you house is rising?It ceases to be funny, especially if you are not so young, with diminished earning capacity, have dependants, commitments, and the expectations of others and now face the prospect of communicating lower expectations to the people who depend on you as well as to yourself. It is a recipe for unhappiness.What can you say? Telling people to have faith in the long term is all that's left. But for some even that is wearing thin as well.But if there is one thing that has ensured the survival of man it is our ability to assess, adapt and progress and if you have been squeezed by the recent market drop, the path is clear. Look at the numbers. Accept them and plan how to progress from here.I've met a few rich guys and without doubt, money and happiness bear no relation.One in particular expressed the opposite. He had trouble raising passion. He envied people with four children, a mortgage and school fees. To him they had purpose and passion. They had the parental drive to deliver.To him the more financially disadvantaged (than himself) were lucky.They had something to live for, a direction, a focus, an excuse to exercise the brain, to develop, to succeed. That made life challenging, interesting, exciting and provided the catalyst for innovation, competition and enterprise.He wanted that feeling of striving and achieving, for the family; simply put, the challenge of an everyday life.OK, so it's bollocks. The noble virtues of poverty are no substitute for cash. But, hey, it was worth a shot. We're all out of magic wands here.Marcus Padley is a stockbroker with Patersons Securities and author of the daily sharemarket newsletter Marcus Today. For a free trial, go to www.marcustoday.com.au
© 2008 The Age
