When investing in a market where asset trading is ongoing, persistent, and prices are constantly fluctuating, the most important factor is the perception and attitude toward “time.” Here, time refers to a defined “period,” a concept that encompasses the “past,” “present,” and “future.” Knowing the future can make us wealthy. All we know is the “past,” but in reality, even the past is often not fully understood. That is, we must admit we lack complete knowledge about the past, present, or future. In this state, we must conduct business and invest. The attitude toward business and investing is to focus on judging the “trend” by applying the concepts of differential and integral calculus simultaneously. Differential weather (e.g., morning and afternoon of a day) is easy to predict, but long-term future weather cannot be forecasted even by supercomputers. However, by accumulating knowledge of the past and analyzing it integrally, it is possible to predict the trend of the distant future to...
What I spend is someone else’s income. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs discussed every morning at breakfast with his family about buying a set of Miele washing machines and dryers from Germany for two weeks. Why? Of course, it was to teach their children about economics and to illustrate a lesson about opportunity cost, a common trait among wealthy people. If you buy this washing machine, you cannot buy that one. That is the opportunity cost. It’s a form of relative value, based on the idea that choosing one option means sacrificing another, so the value of each can be compared within those limits. Wealth begins with training in understanding even trivial opportunity costs. To succeed in business, you need to learn how to measure opportunity cost first, rather than just how to make money. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”