Eventually, we need to stop searching, and take a step forward.
Our quest for information, and the fear of “doing it wrong” can combine to cause “analysis paralysis.” We are so flooded with data, that we cannot move forward. This gets us nowhere except tied up in our own knots. But there is a way out.
If I read books and blogs, and watch videos, eventually I will have encountered most all financial advice that I could ever want. There is rarely any new things under the sun.
But What About …?
Yes, there are new hypes and buzzwords all the time. For the same reason every product in the supermarket screams “NEW!” It is meant to catch our attention, and to try to motivate us.
Now and Then
Nowadays the latest buzzword in AI (artificial intelligence). Lot of money gets thrown at it. Some people will benefit, others won’t.
In previous years and over many decades, the hype machine rotated around all sorts of words. Some include: cryptocurrency, omniverse, metaverse, singularity, convergence, the dotcom boom and crash, beanie babies, office of the future, personal computers, transistors, television, radio, autos, railroads.
Not everyone these days would know that RCA was the hottest tech stock of the 1920s. RCA stock appreciated from a low from $5.825, and topped out at $114.75 in 1929. As a result, many millions were made, and lost, speculating on the then-hot stock.
Every few years or so, some new thing becomes hot, attracts money and investment, and enriches a few, and impoverishes some.
So What?
That is one way to avoid getting lost in the FOMO aspects of what is hot. When something new hits the hype fan, I ask “So what?” If I was running a business and needed to decide how much to invest in the latest technology (for example, artificial intelligence), my question might be different. I would need to hedge my bets. There may be innumerable choices, but available money to finance expansion is limited.
Not To Say
This is not to say that AI won’t have a large effect on the world in the near term. We have already seen how AI often lies, misunderstands, and hallucinates. This has not stopped its “progress” of capturing mindshare. Undoubtedly AI has already become the “next big thing.”
Some companies will benefit. Look how the recent history of the price of Nvidia stock. Some people are making serious money. But I need to remind myself that stocks won’t and don’t grow to the the sky. Things always eventually come back to earth.
Have you ever been caught in the Hype machine? Let me know here.
The graph of the Nasdaq Composite Index from 1994 through 2005, showing the dotcom boom and bust in early 2000. Released in the Public Domain. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
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