Getting paid for doing nothing

[Totoro]

Anyone here ever get weirded out that as a passive investor you get paid for doing nothing?

Just today my stock portfolio went up with several thousand dollars and got a big dividend payment too.

That's more than most 'normal' working people earn in weeks, in some countries even months.

I do realize it can and will go down just as easily, but still. Capitalism is a strange system.

 

[Walt34]

Nothing weird about it. You took some risk that presumably others thought was too high. You won the bet. And as you note you don't win all of them, sometimes you lose and the stock goes down.

 

[Which Roger]

We get paid for putting our money at risk. Beats w*rking any day!

 

[Live And Learn]

Anyone here ever get weirded out that as a passive investor you get paid for doing nothing?

Just today my stock portfolio went up with several thousand dollars and got a big dividend payment too.

That's more than most 'normal' working people earn in weeks, in some countries even months.

I do realize it can and will go down just as easily, but still. Capitalism is a strange system.

To me it's more like deferred income from all the hard work I've put in all these years in order to save enough to invest and for my ability to LBYM and not spend it all. In other words, I've earned the current reward due to past effort (very similar to my annual bonus award).

 

[NW-Bound]

I just mentioned this on another thread. Today is one of the days when I feel fearful. A sense of déjà vu keeps coming. Close to a 5-figure gain, and the MF results have not come in yet. The stock market is weird, or rather schizophrenic.

 

[Onward]

It's a reward for having a stronger stomach than most.

 

[Senator]

I am not quite there yet, but I see a sizable gain in my portfolio too.

And when I bump rent for my new incoming teants, I get an extra $50 to $100 more, per month, than the former tenants were paying, every month. When I check the laundry machines, it gets me a decent amount of cash, just for showing up. When I bill my customers, for work my sub-contractors do, it's nice.

But sometimes, at my real job, it feels like I get paid for doing nothing... And I do not feel too guilty.

 

[FIREd]

I must say that I enjoy very much receiving my dividend, interest and rent payments every single month (I don't pay much attention to the market's day-to-day gyrations so I have no idea how much I "made" in the market today). It's so cool! It's not that much money for where I currently live, but it'd pay for a nice lifestyle almost anywhere else in the world.

 

[Amethyst]

I hear a Wheeee! in this thread.

 

[W2R]

I hear a Wheeee! in this thread.

No sooner said, than....

Anyone here ever get weirded out that as a passive investor you get paid for doing nothing?

Just today my stock portfolio went up with several thousand dollars and got a big dividend payment too.

That's more than most 'normal' working people earn in weeks, in some countries even months.

I do realize it can and will go down just as easily, but still. Capitalism is a strange system.

I ***LOVE*** it!! For years I think I had the worst luck in the universe. Every time anything bad could happen, it did. But karma being as it may be, everything is coming up roses these days.

It's about time!

I am enjoying it thoroughly, knowing that while I may enjoy it now, fate could take everything away in a heartbeat. So, might as well delight in it while I can. I would no more feel weird or guilty about recent market surges, than I would cry in response to beautiful weather.

 

[robnplunder]

If stock market goes down, someone is taking money out of your pocket for no reason. Do you feel anger then? Stock market is doing its thing, nothing more or nothing less. Money makes money. If someone steals $1M cash from Red Cross and he drops it into your back yard while trying to get a way from cops, you should feel guilty if you intend to keep that money yourself. Silly thread, silly response.

 

[steelyman]

Silly thread, silly response.

I don't agree. It's what someone's thinking about. That's why we're here!

 

[photoguy]

It feels very surreal. I see numbers on my computer screen and they keep going up. Plus I can exchange it for like real stuff.

 

[NW-Bound]

Perhaps I should exchange the surreal number that Quicken shows me for something real. Else, easy comes, easy goes.

But I do not crave anything. Just the number, abstract as it is, makes me happy. We could all be in a "matrix".

 

[scrabbler1]

As I write in my signature line, "I want my money working for me instead of me working for my money!"

I look forward every month to seeing bond fund dividends magically enter my local bank's checking account, POOF! And the irregular cap gain and stock fund dividends are like gravy, sometimes a LOT of gravy.

It also reminds me of this exchange in a "Seinfeld" episode:

George: "Interest" - it's an amazing thing, you make money by doing nothing.
Jerry: I have some friends who base their lives on that very principal.
George: Really? Who?
Jerry: No one you know.

 

[FUEGO]

I don't feel guilty. It's a free market, anyone can participate.

I can lend (via a deposit account) and get a percent or two. I can lend to corporations or the government and get a few percent more (and take on credit risk and/or duration risk).

I choose to buy little claim tickets to the earnings of many corporations. My capital is at risk, and I hope to make a fair return on it.

edited to add: Looks like I'm up $14k so far and the mutual funds probably haven't updated yet. Good day to be a REIT, small cap, and SCV investor.

 

[NW-Bound]

$14K today is really good (from the size of your stash as described elsewhere as I have good memory).

My best position is up 6% today, but I have less than 1% in that. My largest position is Berkshire, and even for a conglomerate I only put 3% of portfolio there, and it about matches the market today.

 

[Totoro]

Interesting range of replies and views, not what I expected!

Maybe surreal sums it up best for me too.

What a system that essentially rewards someone for doing as little as possible, the ultimate absentee owner. Luckily, that fits my character well.

 

[NW-Bound]

Spend it quick, before the market god takes it away.

Nothing weird about it. You took some risk that presumably others thought was too high. You won the bet. And as you note you don't win all of them, sometimes you lose and the stock goes down.

Take a little chance
It don't mean nothing
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose

And don't you know that life is just a game
That you play, win or lose, it's all the same

Open your eyes, you better
Look before you leap, take heed
And watch the signs of life
Don't play the cheat
The wheel of fortune just may take its toll​

 

[mpeirce]

I just mentioned this on another thread. Today is one of the days when I feel fearful. A sense of déjà vu keeps coming. Close to a 5-figure gain, and the MF results have not come in yet. The stock market is weird, or rather schizophrenic.

"The market climbs a wall of worry"

Wall Of Worry Definition | Investopedia

 

[engprodigy]

What a system that essentially rewards someone for doing as little as possible, the ultimate absentee owner.

Huh?

Doing as little as possible would mean not having capital to invest, not having the knowledge to know you can, should or how to invest, as well as not taking the initiative to do it at all.

 

[NW-Bound]

"The market climbs a wall of worry"

Wall Of Worry Definition | Investopedia

Yet, if the market keeps rising, the worry turns into a state of general euphoria. Been there, seen that. But I guess we are not there yet. The problem is when we get there, it is likely that I will stop being a worrywart and turn euphoric myself. This ain't easy, as they keep sayin'...

I am going back to Quicken screen now to see if the MF results have come in yet.

"Please God, just one more bubble" - Anon.

 

[LoneAspen]

I've started to ponder this more lately as I approach the end of my 4-year vesting, and making plans to leave early next year.

I'm sure my management chain (quite possibly up to the CEO himself) are going to try to talk me into staying by pitching something like "Don't you want to stay here and contribute to the company's growth?"

Why? I don't have to. That's the beauty of being an investor instead of an employee.

I started out as an employee, but as I've vested I've become more of an investor and shareholder, and that means I don't have to stay here as an employee to increase the value of my investment, that's a burden I get to place on the management team. That's why they're paid the big bucks.

Now, after all those years sitting in a cube making other people rich, I get to walk out the door and leave that task to others to sit in their cubes and increase the value of MY investment.

It's a good feeling. I'd much rather be an investor than an employee, and I'm very much looking forward to it, especially attending future shareholder meetings and scrutinizing every strategic decision they've made that affects MY investment.

 

[jollystomper]

I don't feel weird, as mentioned above it is payoff/reward for risk as well *and* for being a good steward with my earnings. However, I have more than a few relatives who view it as "unfair" and that those gains should be used to improve their lives...

 

[ggbutcher]

Anyone here ever get weirded out that as a passive investor you get paid for doing nothing?

Just today my stock portfolio went up with several thousand dollars and got a big dividend payment too.

That's more than most 'normal' working people earn in weeks, in some countries even months.

I do realize it can and will go down just as easily, but still. Capitalism is a strange system.

I think capitalism resonates with the fundamental human desire to make the situation better. Business is all about creating value, and investing is participating in that endeavor.