I have returned to blogging after a long period of way too much to do. In this economy, working ten times harder than anyone else is the only way to get back to square.
I had lunch with a local banker a few weeks ago and he provided me with some words that I have taken, refined, and made my own. As a banker, people constantly opine as to whether things are “getting better” or “getting worse” or otherwise. His response was much more nuanced. He said, it is neither. Things are not getting better or worse, he said. They are getting different. The problem with that, is that nobody knows what different is.
So that is how I am going to look at everything in the next year. I’m looking for signs of different, what is the new normal, what is the new buggy whip, what is the new I-Phone. And that’s not just for an investment or a few statements of wisdom. Its in everything from politics to real estate, to ideas that were brilliant (and are now just plain dumb) to maybe, possibly, that one notion, comment, person, philosophy, dream that turns it all around.
I may not be richer, wiser or saner for the mayhem of the past 3 months, but I am slightly more improved, and that’s a good start in a new world
The most dangerous words in the English language (especially when used by a financial advisor): “this time will be different.” I’m going to go see “2012″ and read a few chapters from “Dow 36,000.”