The most important rule in investing is not to lose your initial capital. Making money comes later. If you lose 50% of your principal, the loss rate is 50%, but to recover that principal, you need a 100% return. This is because the baseline of your return—the principal—has already been halved. Many people tend to think that if they’ve lost 50%, they only need a 50% return to break even. However, this is a misunderstanding of the starting point. In investing, the baseline is always the original principal. The principal after a loss is no longer the same; it’s already in the past. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”
Debt inevitably incurs costs: the interest and the usage fee . Borrowing means using someone else’s property as if it were my own. When the purpose of borrowing is achieved, or when the agreed time to return it arrives, it is returned to another person’s possession, and the borrowing cost is no longer incurred. Costs also serve as the basis for production and are the consideration for almost all debts, regardless of the borrowing purpose. The frightening aspect of debt is that it incurs costs and requires repayment of the principal. Originally, the principal was not mine. Thus, spending with other people’s money exposes you to significant risks, especially when you spend on perishable consumption that disappears after use. If you spend someone else’s money without differentiating between production costs and costs for extinction , you are on the fastest path to destruction. Therefore, luxury can ruin even the rich. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”