This Is Not Financial Advice

In the IWS (Infiltrate Wall Street) movement, “this is not financial advice, i am not a financial advisor; take what i have to say with a grain of salt because this is just my opinion” has become a catch phrase to avoid legal responsibility for advising people when someone recommends what they do with their money. Free will actually does matter to the movement, and we can think about reasons why, despite being annoyed by cliches.

There are different styles of ape method trading for sure. “Catching a falling knife” can be the same as “buying the dips”. Some apes chase rising prices while others dont risk being the “last idiot buying” (as Vanguard recommended against in a public response to ‘Wall Street Bets’. “Bag holders” can be “investors”. Buying while others are selling is the Buffet way, having people doing both gives some equilibrium balance to the market. There is a reason we say “this is not financial advice” because not even professionals should be telling other people what to do with their money, and there is a fine line between cheering, suggesting, and bullying in a sea of changing emotions that is society.

It is totally fine to be involved in the IWS movement with zero shares. It might mean their motivation is more social than financial. My motivation is about 50/50 and always has been because i write utopian economic theory and critiques of the system. I hold an average of 600 shares since January, it is enough risk for my threshold so i can hold easy enough. Someone with zero shares in here might be really sad secretly because they had to sell a ton to pay the funeral costs of a dead child or cat, and they might buy more shares in memory of them later idk.

Here is how a Facebook group administrator addressed this issue in an ‘AMC Holder’ group post –

“Respect other apes’ financial freedom – i dont want to tell other people who have not asked me about their finances what to do with their money; private personal recommending or calm kind general advice is different. There are different ways to trade. I recommend ape method for AMC, but those with more shares and smaller budgets are going to be the most stressed, and they may have bills to pay or whatever and i really dont want other apes bullying others to sell or buy, or when to do it. Those bullying others about money or shares or anything need to be banned, because this is a group for cheer leading and support, not telling other people how to handle their own finances. When we share what we are doing, we lead by example. Good job everyone helping others. I am less stressed the less shares i have for sure, and it may help sustain my involvement in this group. I hold most of my shares in AMC not because i have many shares, but because i chose to practice ape method of trading with AMC. ‘Buy and Hold’ is a method, when and how long is really up to individuals.”

This might be financial social theory, but I am not selling any product or service here. – Drogo

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“Vanguard Insights Jan.28.2021

When stocks get ahead of fundamentals – Commentary by Greg Davis, Vanguard chief investment officer

At Vanguard, we’ve always emphasized the value of a low-cost, long-term, diversified investment philosophy. I’ve recently watched with concern the phenomenal price appreciation of a handful of stocks, despite no meaningful change to their fundamentals—the typical gauge of a company’s health and future value.There is a distinct difference between investing and speculation. Investors take the long view with the hypothesis that a company’s stock price will increase based on improvement in its fundamentals, such as earnings and cash flow. With speculation like the kind we’ve seen in the past few days, the buyer is betting that someone will buy the investment from them at a higher price. It’s called the Greater Fool Theory.The markets have historically rewarded those who take a long-term view. That’s one of the attributes of Vanguard’s Principles for Investing Success, along with setting clear investment goals, ensuring that portfolios are well-diversified across asset classes and regions, and keeping investment costs low. Speculation has destroyed many more fortunes than it has created. The shares that have risen so spectacularly will find their equilibrium. In time, they typically—and sometimes painfully—correct. It’s no way to invest your retirement savings, or the money you’ve set aside for a home or a child’s education.Tune out the noise and stay the course—two time-tested Vanguard investment philosophies that continue to serve investors well.”

After this message, the vanguard twitter host repeated only one segment for us to read –

“stay the course” and that is what caught Trey’s eye as being apish sentiment.

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Inflation / Deflation Types

Economic Inflation-Deflation Price or Rate Value Types

1. Worker Wages (average income of masses, minimum wage, etc)
2. Cost of Living (housing, staples – food, drink, social tools etc)
3. Banks & Bonds (stable interest yield on loans and savings)
4. Stocks (risky investments and bets for and against companies)
5. Monetary value (currency liquidity, stability, rate of exchange)

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When people say “inflation” they rarely talk about deflation or even what type of inflation they mean in relation to the other types of value fluxations which are aspects of our economy that affect each other. Our middle class has been destroyed by the relation between these economic factors. Most people are struggling to afford basics of living, and losing their property as the 5% upper class get richer.

Worker wages have not kept up (or inflated) with cost of living inflation.

Banks and hedge fund companies have being extracting trillions of dollars from our economy and hoarding it. The Federal Treasury gives banks loans with 0% interest, then upper class bank owners loan to the lower classes for a profit from interest rates (credit card interest being the highest rates). Meanwhile average people’s savings accounts with banks and US bonds earn very low interest. So as a result of savings deflation, most of our retirements are now dependent on the stock market.

Corporate banks use our money to gamble with on the stock market, so we take more of a risk with less money, and they take no responsibility because when they go bankrupt their personal assets allow them to join or start another company later while living in slightly reduced luxury. Corporate insiders are usually allowed to trade and manipulate markets benefited by political corruption, without legal penalties. The stock market is usually considered always inflated, relative to minimum wages and the cost of living; but the current problem is that our stocks are the only thing making up for the difference between wage and cost of living price rates.

US monetary value is inflated due to our military and political importance in the world. Without waging constant war our dollar value would deflate relative to other currencies based on a stable standard. We went off the gold standard decades ago, and use fiat currency now which is based on bonds aka faith in the system that makes the currency. Dilution of monetary supply or over-minting (printing) deflates monetary value, which leads to inflation of market prices; because money is worth less, so it takes more money to buy things.

‘Supply & Demand’ are the most basic trade factors that affect Monetary ‘Inflation & Deflation’. Low supply but high demand usually leads to inflation; where prices for products increase (seller’s market), and the value of money decreases because it takes more units to buy products. Low supply and low demand typically means economic stagnation or low trade volume. High supply and low demand means deflation, which is considered a problem for manufacturers and collectors, but increases monetary buying power (buyer’s market) for sales potential in the future (if successfully marketed). High supply and high demand means massive profits, if sales are controlled by higher prices; if sale are not increased to match demand (restricting supply) then the supply can get too easily plundered too quickly, and the market becomes flooded and consumers will not buy at high prices (deflation) because demand will go down.

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