Joseph's "Just My Thoughts"

Stock prices fluctuate constantly. There are several reliable ways to mitigate stock price volatility: trading short-term gap price differences, buying and selling with momentum, or holding high-quality stocks for the long term until volatility averages out. When stock price movement is mathematically differentiated by time, the instantaneous price emerges—but humans cannot act in microseconds. In contrast, computers, with enhanced performance, can now trade at these speeds. Furthermore, by using artificial intelligence to analyze stock data, computers can reduce mistakes and trade algorithmically, unaffected by emotion. Still, even computers are limited if humans incorrectly input trading rules. Humans are not suboptimal investors due to a shortage of information or knowledge, but because they often fail to follow the necessary rules in each situation. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Liquidation Value: All valuations consider present and future values. Value is generated over time. It begins in the present and extends into the future. This ongoing value is referred to as continuing value. Countries, corporations, households, and individuals set current values based on the belief that the present state will persist. What happens if it does not continue? It loses its future value. This state is known as the liquidation value. For example, this occurs if you quit your business. Almost all investments involve buying and selling assets based on their future worth. If you buy at a price lower than the liquidation value, you make a significant profit. If you buy at the liquidation value, you pay a fair price. If you pay more, you risk overpaying or buying a bubble. Value depends on time. Continuing a process is key to valuation. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Meaning of “Non-existence”: In mathematics, the number “0 (zero)” can signify both “does not exist” and the transition of a filled unit to a higher one in the decimal system. The first meaning is connected to ontology, while the second explains how, when one decimal unit is full, the total shifts to the next unit, and a zero indicates this shift. In this system, zero marks that the next higher unit is present. Philosophically, the concept of “nothing” is viewed in the West as “non-existence,” but in the East, it can signify a transformation to the next level after being filled. So don’t be discouraged if you don’t have anything. Your “disappointment” also comes from the fact that other areas have already been filled. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Money and Morals: Mencius is regarded as a saint who spoke only of righteousness, but he mentioned a lot of economic issues. Among them, it has been said that humans must have a steady livelihood so their righteousness can also be maintained. According to Mencius, it’s hard to follow human morals without a certain income. To be wealthy, you must have a small, but regular income, which is better than an irregular one. In business, the ‘bottom (seed capital)’ is very important. You need a foundation to start a business. No matter how much capital-less startups are, the fact is that the founders’ labor costs are being consumed. In other words, this means there is a bottom, and nothing is free. Creating a consistent income in life cannot be overstated. If you are struggling due to financial hardship, make sure to have a steady income, even if it’s small. That small, steady income makes the future predictable, turning uncertainty into certainty. Businesses and investments are profitable whe...

Market and Salability: The value of a commodity cannot outperform the market. For example, no matter how high a stock’s price may be, it will eventually converge to the overall stock market index. After creating an ETF, which is a financial product that tracks the stock market or a specific industry’s stock index, the ETF was introduced into the stock market, and this is a fact that humanity has only recently recognized. The fact that individual stock prices cannot outperform the stock market. It’s a market adaptation, not market research. Market research is not conducted to beat the market, but to adapt to it properly. It’s about understanding your products or services to adapt to the current market rather than solely focusing on product or service quality. If you align with the market rather than oppose it, you will ultimately achieve success. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Money and God: The Bible draws a comparison between humans’ tendency to worship money above all else and the sin of not worshiping God. This comparison arises because money, like God, represents a concept of infinity in human terms. Money shows the value of each unit as a number. Although it is just a paper bill, the number on it indicates its currency value, called the nominal value. Yet, even if many bills are present, the real value is only the cost of paper and printing, making the intrinsic value insignificant. However, if society recognizes it, the nominal value of money can theoretically be limitless despite its negligible intrinsic worth. This potential for limitlessness mirrors human greed, which also knows no bounds. In contrast, when God revealed Himself to humans, He said, “I am that I am.” This statement emphasizes God’s true infinity. What could be a better way to express God’s infinite nature? - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Olfactory: Charles Spence, the world-renowned scientist who invented gastrophysics, explains that although aging diminishes all human senses, most people believe they would miss sight the most. However, according to quality-of-life indicators and suicide rate data, losing the sense of smell is actually more harmful than losing sight. Even if we lose sight as we age, we can still find comfort in hearing the voices of loved ones and recalling memories. In contrast, when we lose our sense of smell, there is no way to recreate those experiences, and memories of scents cannot be imagined or recalled in abundance. To enrich our lives, we should focus on increasing our scent experiences, as the ability to smell is a key contributor to happiness. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Volatility: Expectation and despair arise from our reactions to change; they stem from the common root. Some argue that despair comes from failed expectations, or that we expect because we despair; however, even fulfillment often disappoints. Both are responses to volatility—how we perceive shifts in circumstances. A positive (+) change is expectation; a negative (-) one is despair. Since volatility dominates our world and nothing is static, the magnitude of change matters more than permanence. Understanding volatility is crucial for navigating life successfully. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Volatility and Investment: The phenomenon where an asset’s price fluctuates over time is called volatility. Owning and reselling this volatile asset is known as an investment. The concept of buying and reselling an asset often causes us to overlook the fact that this process involves a trade-off between low-volatility and high-volatility assets. Cash is less volatile than stocks, and stocks are relatively more volatile. In other words, investing involves exchanging low-volatility assets for high-volatility assets and then switching back to low-volatility assets. Meanwhile, surplus profit is generated by the price differences caused by volatility. What would happen if we traded only highly volatile assets with each other? We would probably hesitate to exchange assets and might refrain from investing. In investing, there must be both low-volatility and high-volatility assets. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Pantone: Color cannot be monopolized. However, Pantone earns money with this color. How could Pantone monopolize the color industry? The answer lies in a subtle difference: Pantone does not monopolize the color itself; it monopolizes its description. To reproduce a specific color, there must be criteria (classification and combination data) and a description. This is where Pantone’s unique approach comes in. Pantone developed the “Pantone Matching System (PMS, criteria)” and monopolized the description of how printing inks should be formulated to reproduce that color. The resolution was so systematic that it eventually became a global standard. As a result, if you cannot monopolize the essence, it is better to monopolize the additive factor. In this way, business, legally, is the act of strengthening monopoly power. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Nominal Value is the price assigned to an item, such as a book priced at $15.50. Real Value is the adjusted price, considering factors like inflation and depreciation, so the used price of the book reflects this Real Value. Intrinsic Value refers to the worth of the book’s content, which can far exceed its Nominal or Real Value depending on the reader’s ability to understand and apply it. Merchants profit from the gap between Nominal and Real Values, while wise individuals gain by recognizing and utilizing Intrinsic Value. Recognizing and leveraging these values is essential for building wealth. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Mirroring and Maturation: Mirroring is a psychological activity where you observe yourself as if seeing your reflection, allowing you to gain self-awareness separate from your current reality. By creating this mental ‘mirror,’ you can see yourself as others might, which is a form of self-objectification. Adequate mirroring facilitates more accurate reflection on and correction of mistakes, ultimately leading to improved actions and decisions. Over time, this process helps you become more mature. Practicing self-objectification can also make others feel comfortable with you and may increase their reliance on you. This process is also known as self-reflection. Everyone has a mental mirror, but many neglect to keep it clear through regular self-examination. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Occupy and Move: These concepts are the key to wealth. Here, ‘occupy’ means owning goods, and ‘move’ refers to transferring ownership through exchange. Wealth is built by accumulating possessions. For accumulation to occur, a good must first be owned by someone else and then transferred. The transfer of ownership is what I call the movement of goods. To transfer, a payment is made to the current owner, usually in currency. Currency simplifies exchanges, as it is easier to move and issue than physical goods. Today, currency moves electronically, accelerating transactions. Had goods always been exchanged directly for other goods, exchanges and wealth accumulation would progress more slowly and inefficiently. The economic system now manages prices by adjusting the money supply, controlling the value of goods relative to currency, since money is easier to manage than goods. Business and investment outcomes depend on whether wealth is stored in money or in goods. If you emphasize goods, pat...

Connectivity and Opportunity: Opportunities come when you uncover connections that others haven’t seen. Humans create events, which then feed back into the world and cause change. By interpreting and discovering interconnected elements more quickly or differently than others, we open doors to progress. For example, people realized that a multiplex cinema’s competitor was a theme park, not just another cinema—showing how movie theaters and outdoor theme parks were connected. Another case is Lego: while sales were declining, they initially blamed computer games. However, they later discovered the real issue was a shift in children’s play culture. These examples illustrate how recognizing invisible connections boosts your chances of staying competitive. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

The Trap of Compound Interest: Many view compounding as beneficial because interest earned is reinvested to increase profit. However, for those who are in debt, compound interest can increase the burden, leading to even greater losses. This effect disproportionately harms poor people, who often pay higher costs and face greater opportunity costs than the wealthy. While compounding enhances gains for those profiting, it intensifies harm for those losing money. This structure benefits the powerful, as the rules are designed by those in power. As a result, the desire for power can drive people toward questionable actions. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Storytelling: Life revolves around storytelling. Both business and investment depend on it. Every story has a context that should be clear through common sense and logic. Stock prices mirror the story behind trading volume. If you learn to understand these stories, it gives you a benefit in stock trading. The restaurant industry is about storytelling related to service, while sales on Internet shopping sites tell a story about product distribution. Good storytelling can grab people’s attention, entice them, and evoke their emotions. Novels and dramas offer many valuable lessons on how to build wealth, as storytelling is a powerful way to connect with the world. Humans learn and understand through storytelling. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Value of Quantity: A phenomenon where the quality of a system changes once the amount of a single element surpasses a certain threshold. For example, if a restaurant that can normally serve up to 50 guests per day consistently has 100 customers daily, the capacity limit expands, and the quality of service improves. Of course, if they respond poorly, the service quality can decrease, but the outcome depends on the restaurant’s internal capabilities. Success or failure hinges on how we manage the excess amount beyond our capacity. Stock prices also depend on trading volume. Stocks tend to change their behavior only when a specific trading volume is reached. The good news is that stock prices can spike abruptly, but if the volume isn’t high enough, they can quickly fall. A person who reads 100 books has a different literacy level than someone who has read 10,000. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Profits and Rewards: While profit and reward may seem similar at first glance, they are distinct concepts. Profit is more practical than reward and has a genetic basis. Reward, in contrast, offers comprehensive benefits and is aligned with life. For example, if a company promises to give stock options to its employees, that is a reward; however, if the stock option is officially recorded by a resolution of the shareholders’ general meeting, that is a profit. Profit reflects the realization of rewards. Our genes seek profit more than rewards. Nevertheless, rewards also help sustain life. An example illustrating the difference between profit and reward is seen in loss. Gambling and drugs may offer us emotional rewards, but they also show how we can experience diminishing returns by wasting our resources. Profits and rewards are clearly different. Many people confuse the two, which can harm relationships. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Chain Reactions and Links: A phenomenon where one event continuously influences subsequent events, connected by a common link. For example, when the central bank raises the base rate, interest rates at private banks increase, which raises the cost of loans for citizens and leads to higher prices. Interest from central banks, interest from private banks, interest on loans from citizens, and increased production costs are all interconnected, so a change in one part affects the entire system. This is a chain reaction. A decline in one area can cause missed revenue opportunities because everything is connected. The link creates this connection. In the example above, the link is the act of borrowing money, which is essentially a loan. To stop the chain reaction, you must identify and break the link in the chain. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

When you go to the supermarket to buy vegetables, the prices are displayed. The final indicator of all the factors involved in growing the vegetable is its price. That price acts as a signifier. However, the price often changes. What causes the signifier to change? The reason could be the farmer, the climate, the distributor’s situation, or one of these factors might contribute. However, in today’s complex systems, another variable unrelated to vegetable cultivation could also affect the price, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The result of the interaction of these variables is the price. A change in the previous price points leads to a singularity in the ecosystem. Understanding what that singularity is and why it occurs can help us see the world differently. Depending on the analysis, we either take profits or identify the cause of losses. We should focus on singularities that alter the state of equilibrium. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”