Over the course of my life, I have come to the realization that my mother, an ardent Catholic, is actually a closeted or would-be Buddhist. She'd never admit this, but I can't deny it. Time and time again, as I've immersed myself in the world of Buddhism in the past few years, I've had the thought: "Oh, yeah, just like mom says."
Some of the Buddh-ish knowledge my mother has imparted to me from an early age:
- "Give over to it." (my mom's take on "Go with the flow.")
- "If you're angry at someone, ask yourself what's going on in YOU."
- "You don't know what's going on in another person's life."
You probably nodded your head as you read through the list. Perhaps you received similar advice from your own mother or father or loved one--closeted Buddhist or not.
I think this is partly a reflection of how broadly the Buddha's 3,000-year-old ideas have permeated our Western culture. My mother, as a Boomer, came of age in the 60's, when Eastern ideas were being discovered and embraced throughout the Western world. No doubt my mother's developing brain osmotically picked up on some of this (even in the rural, remote community she grew up in).
And these ideas continue to resonate in our culture, perhaps more now than ever with mindfulness being all the rage (which I think is a huge boon for humanity). My mother, like millions of people, reads books by Eckhart Tolle and Pema Chodron and integrates these notions into her worldview.
Why are these ideas so sticky and enduring? I think a lot of it comes down to their inherent practicality. It's just good, solid advice that one can apply to so many of the challenges of life. My mother's wisdom has helped her navigate her 70+ years on this planet and her advice helps me do the same as I crest the hill in my own life.
These ideas are so good and so useful that they transcend religion and other ideologies that we use to define ourselves as humans. My mother doesn't see a problem with flipping between Christian and Buddhist ideas when she's talking me through the latest mini-disaster playing out for me.
All of this to say that Buddhist ideas can be applied far outside the realm of religion and spirituality. They have spilled out of these realms into the rest of the life anyway. I wouldn't be writing Substack otherwise.
Money management and investing are integral parts of life in our modern world. Buddhism is practical advice for life, whoever you are and whatever your religious beliefs, investing styles, etc.
What would my mother, the Closeted Buddhist with no investing experience, have to say about the next, inevitable stock market crash? [I'm not sure actually, but I'll be sure to ask her next time.] She might say "You never know how things are going to go," advice she has given me when other things have crashed in my life.
And this would be true. We never know what's around the corner. Life pelts us with one curveball after another. Despite this, we are all constantly obsessed with figuring out what the future holds, what that next curveball will be. This is particularly true in the world of investing. Speculation is a trillion-dollar industry. Fortunes can be made when it is done well with luck.
But fortunes can be made by 'giving over to it' too--by accepting the inherent unpredictability of the market. It will go up and it will go down as it has always done.
Here are a few ways to ‘give over’ with your investments:
Plan B fund: Embracing this truth allows us to plan for it. One way to embrace it is to create an emergency fund (or "Plan B fund" as the eminent Rob Carrick has taken to calling it). Morgan Housel is big on this. In 'The Psychology of Money' he revealed that he keeps up to 20% of his assets in cash in the event of an expected, but unknown catastrophe. This cash could be used to cover unexpected costs (illness, death, take your pick) or to capitalze on a down market.
Just Keep Buying: Another way is to embrace the uncertainty is to "just keep buying." This is the mantra of financial blogger (and, I suspect, another would-be Buddhist) Nick Maggiulli, whose blog ‘Of Dollars and Data’ I recommend you check out. By continuing to buy (say by dollar-cost averaging) in the face of a market downturn, you are firmly embracing the uncertainty of life and, in the process, likely getting a deep discount on whatever you're buying (unless it's ARKK or PTON or...).
“Passive” investing: And yet another way (and my preferred way) to 'give over' to the market's uncertainty is by investing in low-cost, broad-market-tracking index funds. Index-investing (or 'passive investing' as it is sometimes derogatorily called) is a clear-eyed and humble approach to investing in the stock market. It is premised on the 'radical acceptance' of the fact that the market will go up and down (but generally up in the long-term) and there will be many winners and losers (anyone's guess who though), so you might as well own the entire market. I'd say if the Buddha were alive and investing today, he would be an index investor for these reasons.
So, all this to say: listen to your mother, the would-be Buddhist and investment advisor.
Take care.
The Buddh-i$h Investor