Layout:
Home > Letters to dad

Letters to dad

October 7th, 2009 at 05:40 am

Stock market talk.

So, my dad is trying out this internet technology and he had me email him. And since I'm so pre-occupied with trying to figure out the stock market, I suppose it was inevitable that I would try to email him about it.

My dad's a smart man and he also holds individual stocks, but his primary interest isn't so much as stock trading or even investing, but rather, he just wants to retire. Can't blame the guy. Big Grin

But between his interest being largely casual and our language barrier, I found myself trying to explain my stock market thoughts in very simple terms so that he can understand it.

And then, something funny happened along the way. By having my words be held personally accountable to my dad, and being forced to use simple terms, I suddenly found myself... I don't quite know how to articulate this....

Well, most of the time, I'm just lost for words. Big Grin Anything that is too complicated or is highly speculative, I had to throw it straight out the window. The rest had to make sense in such a way that any reasonable person on the street can understand it.

In other words, my theses had to be simple, clear, and convincing. And I tell you, there wasn't a whole lot to say when I was done. Big Grin

But just the exercise helped me so much to clear my own thoughts that I began writing additional emails to him, just for my own sake.

This is an amazing technique! I think I'm going to keep doing this exercise from now on, even if I don't actually email him some of these, because like I said, a lot of the theses simply fell apart, and I don't want to send him those.

So... thanks dad!

4 Responses to “Letters to dad”

  1. LuxLiving Says:
    1254890662

    I found the same difficulty in trying to express to young adult men at home why they wanted to open Roths. It taxed me! Big Grin

    Understanding why or how it works does not always equate in being able to explain it to someone with little to no financial background.

  2. baselle Says:
    1254894340

    Fantastic - your technique is an amalgam of 2 other ones:

    1. You never fully learn something until you try to teach it to someone else.
    2. Never invest in something you don't fully understand.

  3. creditcardfree Says:
    1254923831

    Exactly. I like how you said it, too, baselle!

  4. zetta Says:
    1254948403

    Publish your letters here! It would be a great education for many...

Leave a Reply

(Note: If you were logged in, we could automatically fill in these fields for you.)
*
Will not be published.
   

* Please spell out the number 4.  [ Why? ]

vB Code: You can use these tags: [b] [i] [u] [url] [email]