Why invest?

The tl;dr - Invest to avoid inflation.


American Media loves to give bad news. Someone's been murdered, the stock market has fallen for 5 weeks in a row, a big chain is laying off 21,000 employees. I never hear about babies being born, the stocks rising for 5 straight weeks, or new companies looking to hire (all of which happen quite often) but that's besides the point right now.

This post is about not stuffing money under your mattress. True, the mass media isn't scaring everyone to seem useful; the US economy actually isn't doing that well these days. That doesn't mean you should liquidate everything you have and put all the cash in a giant safe. If you're looking for some way to save for the future, stick to investments.

Why invest instead of hoarding them Ben Franklins? Simple. Remember when candy cost five cents? No? Okay, remember when your grandparents used to talk about candy costing five cents and retro/vintage-themed stores full of 10 Cent coca-cola posters? That you probably do. Inflation happens. If you had stashed away a nickel so that you could buy yourself some candy in the distant future, well... the only way that could work out now is if it turned out to be a Buffalo Nickel.

Seem far-fetched to you? I hope not... most of the readers of this blog have barely hit their 20s so retirement isn't setting in for at least 40 more years. When was candy five cents you ask? Well... Before World War II i suppose... (That was 60 years ago. Oops?). Still, things are going to cost more in the future. Unless your $100 bills turn out to be the holy grail of future coin collectors (bills aren't coins, don't hold your breath) saving a few of them isn't going to buy you a Playstaton 17 in the future. I mean, look at the NES! "The Control Deck retailed from US$199.99 (equivalent to US$406 today) and included the console itself, two game controllers, and a Super Mario Bros. game cartridge." That was 1985. See how 20 years passing has doubled the cost? (Lets ignore the fact that you can get this for $40 something on Ebay for now).

So I think we've figured out the answer to the question "Why Invest". Invest that nickel because a penny stock now could be worth 25 cents in 60 years, meaning you still get your candy bar. Invest because putting away $199.99 now means you can have whatever Nintendo puts out in 20 years and have $150 to spare. Invest to protect America from commies!

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