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Economy
Consumption
INVESTMENT AS A CONDITION
The title of the article indicates the need for the existence of Investments, as a prerequisite for the life of a modern person. Recalling the universally recognized assertion that "Life is a movement", we can say that "Investments are the movement of life into the future."
Investments - originally an economic term that defines the allocation of capital for the purpose of making a profit. Capital is defined as resources that provide economic activity with the aim of obtaining surplus value.
This article is limited to considering Investments, the source of which is a person, and further used concepts of Capital and Investments go beyond the scope of economic theory, and are understood as Personal Investments and Personal Capital.
It can be argued that every adult independent person has personal capital, that is, a set of his own resources, which he spends according to his own understanding. Human resources include: the time of his life and his health, his property, his intellect, talents, physical strength, abilities, skills, experience and knowledge. These resources are spent for the most part on ensuring the current life of a person and solving the urgent problems of his existence. The second smaller part is defined as personal investment and is directed to the future well-being of this person, his offspring and society.
Investments are long-term investments of their own resources in order to maintain or improve their financial situation in the future. Investments are assets that are used or will be used to achieve the goals set, to overcome the expected difficulties and possible problems in the future. In general, an investment can be called any productive purposeful activity that has preserved, improved, or will improve in the future, a person's own material well-being. Investments are deliberate restrictions, independently imposed by a person on his current financial situation and freedom, in the name of his own future well-being. Investment is the successful acquisition of future goods at today's current price, that is, with a significant discount. The period of waiting for the acquisition of these benefits depends on the end of a certain or indefinite cycle of events, at the end of which the benefits increase their value, since they become the present good, and the investor ultimately receives income, which "then" was a discount, the size and value of which he learned in the future that has become the present. And the size of this discount can be significant, large and even huge, depending on the personality characteristics of the investor, his "agility and dexterity".
Thus, we can say that investing is a manifestation of the mind and foresight of the individual, based on the analysis of his current position, forecasting his future and future in common. Investing cannot be thoughtless, like doing a repetitive job or doing a job for money, housing and food. Investment is the selection of a certain package of assets, part of which is in constant rotation. The composition of the asset package and its volume is an independent choice of a person (investor), which he makes on the basis of his and others' experience, knowledge gained, his own interests, confidence in his mind, analysis of the current situation and foreseeing its change. The investor is solely responsible for the results of the decisions and actions taken in relation to their own investments. The smart investor is almost always the winner, and the winner is the real one, not the "painted" winner or the "cardboard" triathlon. Investments, by their definition, are always successful, and differ only in the size of the desired results obtained. Investments that did not give the expected results, collapsed by insurmountable objective circumstances, were initially wrong, due to the incompetence of the investor and any other similar reasons, should be attributed to losses, waste, sad lessons ... but not to investments. Losses should not upset a thinking person who will not give anyone away not only his investment victories, but also defeats, which are often more valuable. It is precisely the reasonably used experience of failure that is the basis for success and the achievement of a new adjusted goal.
Personal investments are based on their own personal experience, analysis of the current situation, forecasting their future and the future of the human environment itself. The personal investments of a reasonable person are divided into two unequal parts, and their proportions are purely individual and are justified by a specific person, as well as the current state of a person and his affairs. The first part is the creation of assets for receiving passive income from investments made: purchasing profitable shares and receiving dividends, placing a deposit and receiving interest income, purchasing housing and renting it out, acquiring intellectual property, including copyrights, and so on. ... The second part is investing in property that is used for personal purposes, investing in yourself, your family members and those close to you. This separation can be defined as external and internal investments. External investments (first part) are characterized by limited types of assets, as well as changes in their liquidity and value for objective reasons (conjunction, technological progress, socio-political transformations, fashion, etc.). Also, the success of external investments of a particular person depends on his competence, on timely decisions made by him related to tracking current processes that affect the value of his assets, etc. Internal investments (the second part) - this is what is inalienable or as close as possible to a person, is under his influence, direct and constant control. The assets of a person's internal investment include investments in their education, intellectual development, vocational training, the creation of favorable conditions for work and rest, as well as participation in similar expenses for their children, relatives, friends, and people close to them. Internal assets are both independently or jointly created objects of intellectual property, developed successful investment projects and ideas, tangible and intangible means of production that ensure creation, development and creativity. Also, internal investments should include the expenditures of their own resources to take care of the improvement and fair use of the territory of their residence on a local or global scale (street, settlement, district, region of the country, the country itself and, ultimately, the planet Earth). The division of investments into external and internal, implies a comparison of their significance for a person, as a means of ensuring his confidence in the future, in his strengths and capabilities. Unfortunately, but rather quite the opposite - for the good, there is no preference for one over the other, and it is this state of affairs that ensures the existence and development of man and humanity.
A person who believes that he does not have the resources to invest is mistaken. Investment is the expectation of an increase in the value of assets, which is based on a reasonable selection of these assets at the start of investment. For each person, his first and main asset is himself. At a minimum, a person has the time of his life, a significant part of which he spends stupidly - on useless activities or idleness. To understand this statement, let's give an example from life: two people worked as watchmen from year to year, at some point one of them began to study programming at work and successfully mastered it, thereby changing himself and his life. Each of us can be put in the place of a reasonable watchman, where we have given up, for example, mindless watching TV or aimlessly surfing the Internet, and have begun to implement any useful activity that we may have postponed forever. The next affordable investment option is taking care of your health, which is much easier. For example, it is enough to stop completely using tobacco and beer, and reduce the intake of semi-finished products and alcohol by two to three times. And rest assured, your life will change radically, both today and in the future. You will have "extra" money, your health will improve, life will cease to be so complicated and doomed, and your health will be preserved for future useful deeds. An essential aid to ensuring a meaningful, creative life is the experience and reflection of others, and a good book, in any quantity, is invaluable here.
Each person can analyze his current life and find a rational use of its part, for the sake of his future and the future of his offspring. Particular attention should be paid to one of the basic and inexorable human assets - this is his reputation, and the best reputation is an impeccable reputation. The reputation of a knowledgeable specialist, responsible employee, honest, fair, responsive, competent, decent and just a good person is a significant asset. Obtaining such an asset and maintaining it is not easy, but it is possible for everyone.
The result of successful investment is a decent life with the greatest possible independence of the individual from anyone or anything. A person who does not invest in his future is definitely indifferent to it and to himself, he just lives his short and often meaningless life. Investing requires from a person enhanced mental activity, creative thinking and practical actions, searching and sorting through all sorts of options for his future, recognizing and analyzing what is happening, personal aspirations for the unknown tomorrow, its prediction and, ultimately, participation in creating this future.
In addition to the practical meaning, investments contribute to the emergence of other meanings of life, as they force and teach to look for answers to questions that begin with the word "why".
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2020.08
2021.02
Article in ORIGINAL language HERE
