Investment
I would like to bring something in finance back to basics. Money is a tool, not something to strive for in and of itself. If you see yourself as an investor, someone with money that can be put to good use and to grow, this one is for you.
Investment isn’t gambling with money. It isn’t putting money into stocks or currencies to “make more money”. Investment is putting your money to work to help make actual useful products that help people live better, more healthy, more fulfilled lives. In other words, invest in the real economy, in production and distribution of real, useful products, in services that make people more healthy, that help them lead a happy and fulfilled life.
What passes as investment today is actually gambling with money. The stock exchange should be re-named as the stock gambling facility. Speculating is not investing. It is gambling with money, hoping that the stocks of some company or the relative value of a currency will go up, “appreciate” or go down, “crash” so you can cash in on the differences. That kind of activity does nothing for society. It is only re-distributing pieces of the pie from one “investor” to another, from one pool of money to another. That is not economy, it’s gambling just like in a casino.
If you have money available to invest, be sure to recognise the difference between gambling and actual investment in the real economy.
Choose to support human efforts and civilisation by putting your resources – both the money and your mind – in an activity where they can support life. Useful products, delivered to the people who need and appreciate them. This could be food, tools, conveniences, but it could also be art. If you choose to invest in art, find an artist who’s still alive to support. Give them a hand to be able to produce more of whatever art they are producing. If you want to do something for the environment, do something that respects the earth and what it so freely provides for us but above all, think for yourself. Learn the ins and outs of human society, respect the other life forms that share the planet with us, and abstain from things that do harm.
Let your money support life, not some dead idea, not a gamble.
I guess that’s enough of a rant and I am sure you got the idea. Perhaps let it sink in for a while before you decide what to invest in. Don’t fall for what today poses as “investment advice”. Do what brings you pleasure and what supports our beautiful home, planet earth and the creatures that share it with us.
Sepp Hasslberger
Terceira island
September 2025