Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Did I cause the depression?

Though my income is small, I try to invest a small amount every month. Mainly just to form a habit. And as it goes from my bank account automatically I don't really even notice that I have less money to use. I don't keep track of my personal finances as carefully as I should.

But lately I've been wondering, am I doing the wrong thing. Did I cause the depression?

Cause I don't really know, but I imagine, that I put my money to fund that employs a fund manager. The manager invests in things he think are good deals and that comply with some predetermined principles and rules that fund has. So in my case the fund invests in Russia.

But what are the incentives that I give to the guy who actually does the investing. His salary is probably dependent on how well the fund does. His incentives are not the same as mine. He wants to find high earnings to get bonuses and stuff. If the investments fail, as they did in 2008 he doesn't lose his money, he loses his job and my money. And he has almost no incentive to be prepared for any black swans. So people investing like me really caused the bubble and the depression.

I probably don't make much sense, but this is the kind of thinking that my limited and deranged ideas about economics and investing produce in my head. I just wanted to share.

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