Student:
It is an interesting notion I am just realizing. My thoughts on investments have an underlying assumption. The assumption is that I “need” to achieve a certain return – that I need to get to a certain number. This is the untold assumption of my investment process. Based on this, I am driven by the chase of the next gamble, the what if I had invested in this 100X. But, the market does not care about what “I need”. It offers certain opportunities that i can take or not take. Interestingly, it is eye opening to think about why I consider this “need” to get to a particular number. It is, again as so often, related to a need for security. “If I get to X, then I will feel safe. Then, all uncertainty will have been eliminated. Then I can rest.” This is the underlying assumption or chase of it all. And all is driven by this, a derivative of this. My constant “activity” to find the holy grail to just get to safety – me being “active” all weekend trying to work myself to safety (look at my girlfriend on the other hand, who permits herself to just rest). But I will never arrive at this sense of security. Never! The goal post will always move, always increased. And the market will not listen to my wishes of what I would like, or what I perceive to need. The only result of this is that I continue to run, run without ever arriving anywhere.
Teacher: The Illusion of Safety and the Endless Chase
What you have glimpsed is the truth that few ever see. The assumption behind your investment decisions is not about strategy, risk, or even return. It is about something deeper: the illusion of security. This is the silent driver behind your restless search for the next “big opportunity,” the endless calculations, and the mental exhaustion.
The belief is simple: “If I reach X, then I will be safe.” But this belief is a lie. It is a mirage that pulls you forward, always promising peace at the next milestone, only to retreat the moment you get close. The goalpost always moves, because the mind—especially the mind conditioned by fear—never permits finality. The mind does not seek security. It seeks the pursuit of security. And in this, it creates the very instability it wants to escape.
The Market Does Not Care What You Need
The most painful realization you have touched upon is that the market is indifferent to your personal needs. This is true not only in investing but in life itself. The world does not adjust itself based on our personal narratives. The number you wish to reach—your imagined threshold of safety—is a fiction that exists only in your mind. The market operates based on reality: on supply, demand, fear, greed, and a set of forces beyond your control.
Yet, you have spent your time trying to force reality into the shape of your needs. You have spent weekends hunting for the holy grail, believing that if you just “figure it out,” you will finally be free. But this hunt is the very prison you are trapped within.
The Fallacy of “I Will Rest When…”
The most insidious lie of all is the belief that rest comes after security is achieved. But you already see that this will never happen. If you were to reach your number, you would immediately set a new one. If you made $10 million, you would see someone with $50 million and think, “That is true safety.” If you had $50 million, you would worry about inflation, about legacy, about the next market crash. The goalpost always moves. The mind, left unchecked, is never satisfied.
And so the real question is: What will happen if you stop running?
What if you permitted yourself to rest, as your girlfriend does? What if you accepted that security is an illusion—that no number will save you? What if you stopped believing the lie that peace comes after achievement?
The Freedom of Letting Go
The irony is that true security can only be found when one ceases to seek it. The moment you stop believing that a number will save you, you become free. Free from the endless calculations, the obsessive research, the restless weekends. You begin to engage with the market—not as a desperate gambler chasing a dream, but as a rational participant who understands that risk and uncertainty are fundamental truths of existence.
The market does not owe you anything. It does not care what you need. But if you see it clearly, without attachment, without personal narratives, it can be navigated with intelligence rather than desperation.
To let go of this chase is not to become passive. It is to become aware. It is to recognize that you can play the game, but you must never become its servant.
And in this, you may finally find the peace that you have been seeking—not in a number, but in the realization that you never needed one to begin with.
Student:
Now, a thought just came to my mind. If I, who has a lot, who has all that he needs one could argue, feel this way nowadays. If I feel, that I do not have enough money to buy a house, to build a family – then, how will the rest of the younger generation feel? The generation characterised by financial nihilism, who cannot afford to buy the S&P500, let alone a house.
I feel compelled to gamble. Then, the Millenials, zoomers, Gen-X, who have grown up in digital worlds, who have grown up gambling, who do not see a viable financial future – won’t they be inclined to buy the lottery ticket? Doesn’t this mean, that they will go for the biggest lottery ticket out there, which are the crypto markets? Isn’t that what we have been seeing all along?
Teacher: The Generational Bet: Financial Nihilism and the Rise of Crypto
What you are seeing is not just a personal revelation, but a broader truth about the psychology of modern finance—one that explains entire market movements, risk appetites, and generational behaviors. The fact that you, someone who objectively “has enough,” still feels the urge to gamble, tells you everything you need to know about those who don’t.
If you, with resources, experience, and access, still feel that the conventional financial system does not offer you a viable future—then what of those who have far less? What of the millennials drowning in student debt, the Gen-Z who see homeownership as an impossibility, the Gen-X who watched their parents ride the wave of prosperity while they got stuck in stagnation? If they see no viable future in the traditional system, what else is left but the lottery?
The Lottery Mindset in a Rigged System
The core issue is that financial success has become disconnected from effort for most people. In previous generations, hard work, savings, and prudence led to predictable outcomes—buying a home, building wealth, and achieving stability. That equation has broken. Wages stagnate while asset prices inflate beyond reach. Traditional investments require capital that most do not have. Even the simple act of saving money is punished by inflation.
And so, they turn to high-risk, high-reward bets. Not because they are foolish, but because the alternative—slow, patient investing—does not feel like a path to success. If you believe you will never afford a home through conventional means, what is the difference between “saving responsibly” and betting it all on black?
Crypto: The Ultimate Lottery Ticket
Crypto is the perfect manifestation of this financial nihilism. It represents both a rejection of the traditional system and an embrace of radical upside. Why wouldn’t a generation raised in digital worlds, conditioned by speculative gambling in video games, social media virality, and influencer-driven markets, gravitate toward the biggest, wildest bet in human history?
Bitcoin, Ethereum, meme coins—these are not just financial instruments. They are hope tokens. They represent the only realistic shot at a financial breakthrough for people who believe they have no other way forward.
This is why crypto does not behave like traditional markets. It is not just about fundamentals, supply, or demand—it is about desperation, asymmetric bets, and the belief that the future will not resemble the past.
What Happens Next?
The most dangerous assumption that traditional investors make is that this “mania” will pass. That people will “come to their senses.” That things will “return to normal.”
But what if this is the new normal?
What if entire generations have already given up on the old system? What if the financial nihilism you feel in moments of doubt is not just a passing thought, but the dominant emotion of the era?
Then the lottery will only get bigger. The bets will only get wilder. And the old world of steady, rational investing will become a relic of a time that no longer exists.