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is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.”
- David Foster Wallace
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Common Sense
The Progress
Editorial
June 10,2021
From the Staff
Don’t rush into risky investments
regardless of the headlines
If you looked at the national business
headlines recently, you’ve seen plenty of
stories of Average Joes making a fortune
in the stock market. A daily deluge of
news has heralded little guys using a free
app and social media group to stick it to
the big guys on Wall Street.
Yahoo News last week had one of the
typical rags to riches stories, AMC The
atres ’ Surprise Stock Winners: Meet the
Pizza Delivery Guy Who Turned $800
Into $65,000.
Everyone likes to read about someone
doing well, even better when they out
fox elites, but don’t be fooled into think
ing this is typical or easily copied.
It is hard to follow, much less explain,
how meme stocks and crypto became the
rage and to understand how complex
“shorts” and other stock plays produce
such big winners.
But even casual observers may now
have some familiarity with advanced in
vesting strategies and know what the
Robinhood investing app does and find
themselves occasionally checking how
the meme stocks fared that day.
It very much creates an illusion that
everyone is suddenly getting filthy rich
sitting at home with their free app spec
ulating not just in normal stock pur
chases, but buying options and dabbling
in Bitcoin.
And in many cases it really does hap
pen. For example, due more to social
media confederations than business fun
damentals, AMC Theatre stock has gone
from barely above $2 a share early this
year to more than $50 depending on
when you look. The stock is so volatile
its chart looks like a graph of shock ab
sorbers’ on a JeepFest trail - up, down,
way up, way down, back up.
Similarly, Gamestop was sitting at just
above $17 a share when 2021 opened,
and it had been there for most of 2020.
Some critics doubted the video game re
tailer with brick and mortar stores would
avoid bankruptcy. But as one expert said
due mainly to “social media sentiment,”
(hence the name “meme stocks”) the
stock surged to more than $480 a share.
If you had parked all your stimulus
money in Gamestop shares back in Jan
uary and unloaded anywhere near the
peak, you’d be trying to decide which
color Ferrari looked best in the driveway.
And thanks to the Robinhood app you
don’t need a stock broker to make it all
happen.
But it’s important to remember that
just because one person won a fortune on
a Fantasy Five ticket, it does not mean
you should drop your whole paycheck on
scratch-offs this week.
As a counter point to the sensational
headlines of common folks striking it
rich, consider this, the Morning Brew
sponsored a Fantasy Investing Competi
tion at Wealthbase.com - a game that
was targeted at savvy investors, you
could pick a full range of stocks and
crypto currencies. More than 10,000 peo
ple entered the most recent game and
sure enough there were some strong per
formers with portfolios more than dou
bling in game value.
But, the average of all 10,000 in
vestors was a minus 3.6 percent return re
ported by Morning Brew as the game
was ending. The average player had lost
value.
We’re certainly not offering or cau
tioning against any particular stock pick.
Heck you might make a bundle.
But we do want to counter the por
trayal that common guys with no invest
ing experience are striking it rich
jumping on the latest trends.
In the longrun financial experts coun
sel that steady, diverse and mostly con
servative investments pay off well over a
lifetime. There are plenty of qualified
sources (including local financial plan
ners) to help you manage for retirement.
Do not go it alone. If you don’t under
stand what you are doing be cautious. As
the contest shows, there are also losers.
Saving for the future is always a solid
idea, do so with solid fundamentals that
suit your level of risk, not by social
media speculation boom investments that
are hard to understand.
Tell us your thoughts with a letter to the editor. E-mail to news@pickensprogress.com
See letter submission guidelines on the Letters to the Editor page or call us 706-253-2457.
Ponderings of a Simple Man
Py Caleb Smith
The Road
Worrier
Leaving my home office
and returning to working in
the real world is a strange
feeling for sure. Getting up
earlier, wearing actual pants,
eating lunches not prepared
by my wife all seem odd after
this long. But that’s not the
only thing that seems differ
ent.
As I make my 40 mile trip
up and down 515 I have to
ask the drivers of Pickens
County one simple question:
Have y’all lost your ever
loving minds?
North Georgians have al
ways treated traffic laws
more as loose suggestions
than actual requirements, but
lately y’all are driving like
you’re hauling a load of shine
and Boss Hogg is on your
tail.
Snowman isn’t your
wingman, slow down.
It’s astonishing how many
cars I’ve seen slip through
traffic like they’re at the Indy
500, swerving around other
drivers with literal inches to
spare. Tail-gating also seems
like it’s at an all time high.
I’m sorry if my driving 10
miles over the speed limit
isn’t fast enough for you but
I assure you, blinking your
headlights and tapping your
hom is a great way to get me
to go 10 miles under the
speed limit.
To some of the men: I un
derstand your truck is jacked
up taller than most single
story houses but you don’t
lose man-points for using
your blinkers. Your Y chro
mosomes will still remain in
place if you come to a com
plete stop at stop signs, I
promise.
With so much attention
being paid to the national
debt lately, I believe I’ve
come up with a good way to
pay it back within a month.
Set up state patrol officers
every couple of hundred feet
from here to Canton. Only
have them write tickets for
people going over 20 miles
over the limit or cutting off
other drivers. The United
States would have a budget
surplus in record time.
Maybe I’m being too
whiney. I’ve certainly been
accused by my fair share of
people of driving like a ‘blue
hair’; that is to say, an old
person. Chalk it up to a cou
ple of bad accidents in my
teen years and a heavy re
spect of how much damage
two tons of steel can do to a
person at highway speeds.
I’m pretty fond of the life
I have right now. I’m not in
terested in risking it because
I can’t leave the house at the
right time. Better to take it
safe, enjoy the view we’ve
been blessed with in these
foothills, listen to my favorite
tunes as I move from point A
to point B.
I could be wrong of
course, I’ve always been a
worrier. Driving is no differ
ent.
[Caleb Smith is a longtime,
award-winning, columnist
for the Progress.]
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Publisher/Editor
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OTHER VOICES
Is age really just a number?
There’s no question we all do not age at the same rate.
Just go to a high school reunion and look around.
By Mary Migliaro
Contributing Writer
How old is too old to still
be working? Should there be
a mandatory retirement age
for everyone? Shouldn’t 35
be too young to qualify to run
for president of the United
States? What does our age
say about us?
Age is just a number, as
the saying goes. But that’s
not really true. Age is at least
two numbers - your chrono
logical age and your biologi
cal age. Chronological age is
the one you count with birth
day candles.
Biological age is trickier
to pin down. Think of it this
way: We are all on a journey
toward frail, worn-down, ill
ness-prone bodies, but some
of us are getting there more
quickly than others. Our bio
logical ages differ, some
times by a lot. There’s no
question we all do not age at
the same rate. Just go to a
high school reunion and look
around.
In 2021, biological age is
more than just a feeling - it’s
a science. Researchers are
developing new ways to
measure it. They also are
working on ways to slow it
down with drugs, dietary reg
imens, and other approaches.
They don’t expect to cure
aging, “but what we’d like to
do is change the rate at which
that happens so that, in 20
years, you might age 10
years,” says Steven N. Aus-
tad, a distinguished professor
and biology department chair
at the University of Alabama
at Birmingham.
“There are a lot of studies
that show about 25 percent of
how healthy you remain and
how long you live is due to
genetics, which you can’t
control,” says Austad. “The
rest is due to environment,
much of which you can con
trol.”
As we grow older, we ex
perience an increasing num
ber of major life changes, in
cluding career transitions and
retirement, children leaving
home, the loss of loved ones,
physical and health chal
lenges—and even a loss of
independence. How we han
dle and grow from these
changes is often the key to
healthy aging.
Focusing on physical,
emotional, and psychological
health will go a long way in
increasing your longevity.
We all know that diet and ex
ercise is important. A recent
Swedish study found that ex
ercise is the number one con
tributor to longevity, adding
extra years to your life—even
if you don’t start exercising
until your senior years.
But it’s not just about
adding years to your life, it’s
about adding life to your
years. Exercise helps you
maintain your strength and
agility, increases vitality, im
proves sleep, gives your
mental health a boost, and
can even help diminish
chronic pain. Exercise can
also have a profound effect
on the brain, helping prevent
memory loss, cognitive de
cline, and dementia.
There are many good rea
sons for keeping your brain
as active as your body. Keep
ing your brain active and
maintaining creativity can ac
tually help to prevent cogni
tive decline and memory
problems. The more active
and social you are and the
more you use and sharpen
your brain, the more benefits
you will get. This is espe
cially true if your career no
longer challenges you or if
you’ve retired from work al
together.
Keeping your brain active
can involve challenging
yourself by playing new
games or sports. Find new
recipes to explore. Try to
work in something new each
day, whether it is taking a dif
ferent route to work or the
grocery store or brushing
your teeth with a different
hand. Varying your habits
can help to create new path
ways in the brain.
Above all, remember that
age is mainly just a number.
Your attitude towards aging
can also determine how well
you age. Pay more attention
to how you feel, and not what
number is on your next birth
day cake.
[Mary Migliaro, M.Ed. is an
educator and parent mentor.
She contributes regular fam
ily and parenting columns to
the Progress.
She may be contacted at:
maiymigliaro@aol.com.]
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William Dilbeck
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