The importance of diversification in the MS Economy
It frustrates me when I see one of the many, many, many threads about how people have lost mesos due to some new feature of the game.
Example: I saw one thread today with a person ranting about how all their time and mesos were invested in buying/building an obscene number of Arcglaives.
As a successful investor in the both the real world and here in MS, I can assure you that the principles of investing in the real world apply here in MS. And the fundamental underline principle is [b]diversification[/b]. (Not keeping all your eggs in one basket). "Day Trading" (aka spending countless hours scouring the FM for good deals) is profitable, but the amount of effort is staggering, and the risks can be high. Instead, long term, diversified investment is a sure-fire way to become rich enough to afford whatever you may realistically need in MS.
Here's the key- Just like how in the real world you want a healthy mix of stocks, bonds, and commodities, a nice exposure to various markets and industries (Energy, Utilities, High Tech, US stocks, Gold/Silver, Copper, Emerging markets like China/Brazil, etc...), you want the exact same thing here in MS.
Stockpiling a single item you THINK will go up is setting you up for massive losses. Yes, you may make an obscene profit. Just like the people who invested in pets.com in the 90s thought they'd make a huge profit. For every google that goes up 500% from their IPO, there's thousands of companies that fail. The same thing applies here in MS.
There are so many forces beyond our control- Nexon updates, hackers duping items, etc... It's impossible to know what the future holds, so don't try to predict it. Simply acquire nice items across a variety of classes. Acquire a mix of scrolls and mesos. Use the MTS to transform wealth into NX, and keep that NX stockpiled for when mesos inflation hits. You don't see both NX AND Mesos increase drastically over time- it's like gold and dollars.
And that's an analogy I love- Gold and the Dollar.
Think of NX as gold, and mesos as the dollar. When Obama's absurd fiscal policies screw up the economy, the dollar looses value, but holders of gold get obscenely rich. When a tight fiscal policy increases the purchasing power of the dollar, gold drops.
Smart investors have ample supplies of both!
Following this advice will make you wealthy in real life when you're at that stage of life. In the meantime, following it here in this game will ensure you never lose money, despite what hackers do. In the long run, you'll always have a cache of items that is currently in high demand.
Oh, and the same goes for security purposes- Diversify your wealth across accounts and across PCs that you access each account with (so if 1 is compromised, data thieves only get the accounts that log on from that PC). That way no hack can strip you of everything you've earned.
Enjoy!
9 Comments • Newest first
I like your thinking and I agree that diversification is important.. to a certain extent. This is the part when people start being biased and account their actions to own their success. The rule will not apply for everyone, and they should know that whether or not they want maximum output for minimum effort is up to what they choose to invest with their currency. Either way, everyone's story has a moral.
[quote=ThiefOliver]Apart from the jab at Obama, sound advice.
Though I do offer this quote:
"Behold, the fool saith, "Put not all thine eggs in the one basket" - which is but a matter of saying, "Scatter your money and your attention"; but the wise man saith, "Put all your eggs in the one basket and - watch that basket!"[/quote]
Not a jab at Obama the man, the father, etc... But very much a jab at his economic policies.
[quote=PraisedAura]You sound like my former Econ teacher [/quote]
Yup, that's because it's pretty basic stuff. You just have to realize that it applies directly here in MS, and can serve as a great foundation for building wealth.
@myrdrex:it was being transferred to a fm mule though, but i get your point
[quote=Sengarasu]does losing all your stuff in storage count?[/quote]
Not keeping all your stuff in storage, on a single account, is what I'm talking about.
Diversification serves 2 core purposes:
1) Minimize losses
2) Ensure you have exposure to any skyrocketing market, so you'll capture some of the profits.
In your example, diversification (not keeping all your valuable items in storage) serves to minimize losses.
I agree, but still, people would rage if they lost money.
does losing all your stuff in storage count?
You forget this is maplestory most people don't understand what goes on a real life economy or a maple economy. Both can be quite unpredictable, however I like your points but once again I doubt your thread is going to change anything. Kids stock up items hoping that with every update things stay the same only to fine out things have changed sometimes over night.
Apart from the jab at Obama, sound advice.
Though I do offer this quote:
"Behold, the fool saith, "Put not all thine eggs in the one basket" - which is but a matter of saying, "Scatter your money and your attention"; but the wise man saith, "Put all your eggs in the one basket and - watch that basket!"