Magical thinking…

Jarod

Jarod

Well-known member
Contributor
There is an epidemic of magical thinking in this country.

Reality and data are not relevant anymore.

Two examples….

An attorney I know, Trumpper, bought a $120,000 car. He is not wealthy so I asked him how he could afford it, he said that he had a big trial coming up. When I asked what would happen if the verdict didn’t cover it…. He said it had to, because he already bought the Maserati. He got a 0 verdict and sold the car at a $30,000 loss.

Another guy I know recently bought Royal Caribbean stock on margin, something like $80,000 worth, but when it dropped I asked him what would happen, he told me it would come up, because…. He could not afford to sell it! Don’t know where it is now, but either way, insane reasoning.
 
Jarod said:
There is an epidemic of magical thinking in this country.

Reality and data are not relevant anymore.

Two examples….

An attorney I know, Trumpper, bought a $120,000 car. He is not wealthy so I asked him how he could afford it, he said that he had a big trial coming up. When I asked what would happen if the verdict didn’t cover it…. He said it had to, because he already bought the Maserati. He got a 0 verdict and sold the car at a $30,000 loss.

Another guy I know recently bought Royal Caribbean stock on margin, something like $80,000 worth, but when it dropped I asked him what would happen, he told me it would come up, because…. He could not afford to sell it! Don’t know where it is now, but either way, insane reasoning.
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But enough about Walt and the terrible state of his financial health.

BTW, not a current event.
 
Jarod said:
There is an epidemic of magical thinking in this country.

Reality and data are not relevant anymore.

Two examples….

An attorney I know, Trumpper, bought a $120,000 car. He is not wealthy so I asked him how he could afford it, he said that he had a big trial coming up. When I asked what would happen if the verdict didn’t cover it…. He said it had to, because he already bought the Maserati. He got a 0 verdict and sold the car at a $30,000 loss.

Another guy I know recently bought Royal Caribbean stock on margin, something like $80,000 worth, but when it dropped I asked him what would happen, he told me it would come up, because…. He could not afford to sell it! Don’t know where it is now, but either way, insane reasoning.
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The latter example is why you let a professional handle your portfolio.

The first is just plain stupid. Don't spend money you haven't got yet.
 
Jarod said:
There is an epidemic of magical thinking in this country.

Reality and data are not relevant anymore.

Two examples….

An attorney I know, Trumpper, bought a $120,000 car. He is not wealthy so I asked him how he could afford it, he said that he had a big trial coming up. When I asked what would happen if the verdict didn’t cover it…. He said it had to, because he already bought the Maserati. He got a 0 verdict and sold the car at a $30,000 loss.

Another guy I know recently bought Royal Caribbean stock on margin, something like $80,000 worth, but when it dropped I asked him what would happen, he told me it would come up, because…. He could not afford to sell it! Don’t know where it is now, but either way, insane reasoning.
Click to expand...
Being optimistic is not the same thing as what you are saying here.

I agree that "magical thinking" is a problem. I disagree that buying a Maserati because you are optimistic about a near future is "magical thinking". Magical thinking would be him keeping it until they took the thing rather than realistically taking a loss and selling the vehicle.

It is not insane to wait until a stock regains its value before selling it.

Your examples suck.
 
Damocles said:
Being optimistic is not the same thing as what you are saying here.

I agree that "magical thinking" is a problem. I disagree that buying a Maserati because you are optimistic about a near future is "magical thinking". Magical thinking would be him keeping it until they took the thing rather than realistically taking a loss and selling the vehicle.

It is not insane to wait until a stock regains its value before selling it.

Your examples suck.
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I agree with you, my point about the Maserati was that this person felt buying it would make a larger verdict more certain to happen. Somehow, he felt buying the Maserati made his case stronger.

I’m all for optimism, I believe in it, even though I often have a hard time, forcing myself to be optimistic.
 
Jarod said:
These people somehow believe that needing or wanting something makes it more likely to happen. They also seem to believe that saying something is true, makes it true.
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They think they are gods chosen ones

That is what they think Donnie (looks like a bag of donuts) gives them

Gods unconditional love and favor
 
Jarod said:
I agree with you, my point about the Maserati was that this person felt buying it would make a larger verdict more certain to happen.

I’m all for optimism, I believe in it, even though I often have a hard time, forcing myself to be optimistic.
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My daughter constantly calls it "manifesting"... It's optimism with some skin in the game. You "believe" it into existence.
 
Jarod said:
I agree with you, my point about the Maserati was that this person felt buying it would make a larger verdict more certain to happen. Somehow, he felt buying the Maserati made his case stronger.

I’m all for optimism, I believe in it, even though I often have a hard time, forcing myself to be optimistic.
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Work hard to get what you want

But thinking success is guaranteed creates bad planning
 
Damocles said:
Being optimistic is not the same thing as what you are saying here.

I agree that "magical thinking" is a problem. I disagree that buying a Maserati because you are optimistic about a near future is "magical thinking". Magical thinking would be him keeping it until they took the thing rather than realistically taking a loss and selling the vehicle.

It is not insane to wait until a stock regains its value before selling it.

Your examples suck.
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That's the very definition of magical thinking. Spending money you don't have yet.

And waiting to sell isn't the the point of the example, the impulsive buy is.
 
Jarod said:
I have always thought manifesting meant, doing the work to make it happen, mentally and physically?
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Nah, manifesting, as it is currently used, means "believing" it into existence.

You want a new job, act as if you already have it, it will come true...

That kind of thing.
 
Damocles said:
Being optimistic is not the same thing as what you are saying here.

I agree that "magical thinking" is a problem. I disagree that buying a Maserati because you are optimistic about a near future is "magical thinking". Magical thinking would be him keeping it until they took the thing rather than realistically taking a loss and selling the vehicle.

It is not insane to wait until a stock regains its value before selling it.

Your examples suck.
Click to expand...
The magical thinking things seems to work for Trump, he is widely known to believe saying something publically three times makes it true. I think it works on himself, he clearly is able to believe things that are clearly not true.

It works for him. The political world is one of the few places I think it works. I think it somehow helped Trump to get financing for his businesses, somehow pretending got him better terms on loans.
 
Damocles said:
Nah, manifesting, as it is currently used, means "believing" it into existence.

You want a new job, act as if you already have it, it will come true...

That kind of thing.
Click to expand...
If that is true, I think it's silly. If believing something will happen affects your behavior toward making it happen, then maybe.

Appearing to believe things has helped Trump to hypnotize a lot of people into following him. Why is he so successful if he is wrong?

Him saying, "they are eating the dowgs" very decisively got a lot of voters to believe it was true.
 
Jarod said:
There is an epidemic of magical thinking in this country.

Reality and data are not relevant anymore.

Two examples….

An attorney I know, Trumpper, bought a $120,000 car. He is not wealthy so I asked him how he could afford it, he said that he had a big trial coming up. When I asked what would happen if the verdict didn’t cover it…. He said it had to, because he already bought the Maserati. He got a 0 verdict and sold the car at a $30,000 loss.

Another guy I know recently bought Royal Caribbean stock on margin, something like $80,000 worth, but when it dropped I asked him what would happen, he told me it would come up, because…. He could not afford to sell it! Don’t know where it is now, but either way, insane reasoning.
Click to expand...

Geeze. Great illustrations of how smart people often do stupid things.
 
A great thread highlighting how a lawyer's education may not have been a wise investment.
Maserati ranks right up there with Jaguar's SUV, Tesla S, and Alpha, as the fastest depreciating automobile currently being offered.
 
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