Ever since I have taken part in the stock market, my life has changed a lot. Especially the way I look at money and jobs.
Working a job is a dead end if it is not a professional job you love
I have worked in more than 15 jobs in different fields over the past 10 years… From car washer, dishwasher, bank clerk, hospital clerk, admin clerk, fast food shop worker, server, electrician trainee, salesman, and even making dumplings in the local market, and so on.
One thing I’ve found is that I have never been satisfied. I had been searching for my life meaning, or in better terms – what do I want to do in my life that makes me feel fulfilled. Therefore, I tried it all out. I didn’t want to have only one profession, because that meant I needed to dedicate a lot of time and effort, at least years to just one field. It is rather limiting as to what you can do later on. And I don’t want to commit to that.
Investing is a fair game, you can be a dishwasher and still make millions
The world we’re living in rewards specialist. We just want the best in one field. Professionals will get higher pay over the years of experience they have accumulated. People like me are your average Joe, we do work anybody could do, and get paid a lot less serving plates. Which is a bit looked down upon I suppose?
However, I found the edge that I have, is exactly the experiences I gained in those jobs. I have a better sense of how, why and which kind of people work in their workplaces. And that provides me with a better view of the society we are living in. Which leads to a more realistic understanding of how the world works in all parts. It is very beneficial to investing because the stock market is essentially a reflection of how the world is performing.
Value investor Peter Lynch found his way by buying stocks from companies that people generally enjoy the products. So, you can observe what people are using and talking about in the restaurant you are working in, don’t waste the precious information you can get every day!
How I view money differently after investing
Investing has drastically changed me by knowing the possibilities it brings. I could physically do nothing and still make a few month’s worth of a professional’s salary in just a month. It means that a job is not as important as it used to be given that you made the right decision.
So, I don’t care as much about which job should I do now. Not because I know it is possible to make more money in the stock market than working a job, but because I realized that a job really is not a tool to make wealth. It should only be for sustaining yourself and for the money you save, it could provide you the options to use these tools to make wealth. It was never about which jobs you do. It is about how you make wealth.
The edge of starting out having nothing
Having no loan and debt burden means that one can survive with minimal needs. I can work less than the others, study more and plan better for my trades. Or work more to have bigger capital. The reward system is not as straightforward as working a job, but the potential gain is greater**. Risk tolerance is much higher because we have nothing to lose. And in the investing world, higher risk usually means higher rewards.
Summary
Average Joe can make big money in the stock market because it does not require you to be a professional. It gives everyone a fair shot. It is a great way to build wealth. That being said, the potential losses are also great and can be hard to manage, which is why we need to treat it with caution.
