Carl,
1) Where would the sage -- you specifically -- get the 20K with which to produce the $5.55 daily on which to travel and live?
One would have to work for a period of time to save the money. 20K isn’t that hard to save when you’re survival costs are low.
2) What would the sage -- you specifically -- do in 5-10 years when inflation reduces the $5.55 to $2.76 (or so)?
One would hope that the gradual increase in the stock portfolio would counter-act the affects of inflation. And a well diversified portfolio should be able to achieve this.
My strategy is putting a large amount of money into Canadian Real Estate Income Trusts. My reasoning is this – Canadian Real Estate shouldn’t feel the affects of the US slowdown because the country is not of the same size, our dollar is not suffering from inflation to the same degree, and our financial system has many more regulatory checks and bounds established to prevent an occurrence like the sub prime mortgage crisis in the States. That is why I’m putting much of my money in smaller cap income trusts because they have a lot of growth potential, and the growth should counter-act the inflationary affects of the Canadian Dollar. Smaller cap trusts also give a higher dividend yield.
Also , a trend that could affect Canada is China will soon begin to give birth to a middle-class work force, and perhaps even a democracy. And as personal wealth combined with personal freedoms is achieved in China, then you’ll probably see many Chinese people move to smaller populated countries such as Canada, and they will also be pouring new capital into the stock market. And these affects will probably drastically raise the price of many Canadian Stocks, especially real estate. The combination of an inflow of new citizens and new investors could have this affect. However, this is merely speculative.
My other speculation for choosing Canadian Real Instate Income Trusts is that in 2011, the Canadian government will drastically change the tax code on Income Trusts to treat them more like corporations than trusts. The affect is that trusts will not be exempt from all the taxes they are now, and therefore they will not be able to give their shareholders the same high dividend yields that are now experienced. However, the government also announced that Real Estate income trusts will be the only trust to be exempt from this law, and so in 2011, you could see millions of trust investors selling off the trusts in the other industries to get on board with real estate income trusts. So anyone that builds up a portfolio of Real Estate Income trusts now could see their portfolio drastically increase in price, if the above speculation is valid.
3) What would the sage -- you specifically -- do in 5-10 years when inflation reduces the 20K principal to 10K buying power, and you've been out of the 'rat race' so long that your zero credit rating and ancient work history tends to preclude you buying a vehicle, securing an apartment, and getting a decent job?
Well, my portfolio will primarily be paid in Canadian dollars, which doesn’t have the same degree of inflation as the United States. Canada is a smaller country, population-wise, government wise, budget wise, military-wise. Everything is on a tinier scale in Canada, and so one would expect that the degree of inflation won’t be as intense as in the United States. And as for getting a job in concerned, most employers are understaffed in Canada, and very desperate for new employees so finding work isn't all that difficult. I have never had a problem finding a job when I needed to work, most times employers don't even do a check on your resume, so you could resort to dishonesty about the qualifications if you really needed to, especially if you are just working a low end entry level job. Employers will try anyone because their turn over rates are so high.
In rare instances, I also have a pragmatic skill of being able to adapt to another's personality, and befriend people if I really need a place to stay, or something to eat, it is very easy to get what you need from people if you ask the right way. You just be polite, nice, agreeable, non-confrontational, inquisitive-into their lives, jokey, throw out some relevant small-chat with a bit of theatrics, an interesting story, while avoiding being too philosophical and truthful, and people will love you. Be yourself (Sage) and people will despise you. In person, I only tend to be truthful to the degree that the person I'm speaking to can handle it, so my interactions are usually quite relative, and more based on what the other person is capable of, rather than what I am capable of. GF is one of th the only environments that I can totally express full complete thoughts of what I believe a non-attached masculine mind entails.
I see interactions with others as a very relative phenomenon, and so one could ask the ethical question: Is it unethical for an intelligent man to manipulate a fool as a means to temporarily gain basic survival necessities? One could argue that a fool is only capable of foolish social interactions, so why not use that to ones advantage if the situation warrants it? he will never know the difference, he is in affect a fool, and the intelligent man will continue on his marry way. What I have learned about humans is that you can manipulate them easily by allowing them to pleasure themselves, and allowing them to express the prideful image they have of themselves. Friendship for most humans is measured by the degree by which two people will allow each other to strengthen and re-affirm their ego-habits, ego-images, and ego-identifications.
That is why women are so successful at controlling men. Women are listeners, and because they lack judgment, by listening, they allow a man to enslave himself to his own vanity, egoism, and identifications. Initially, she seems like a slave because she humbly listens, but she is actually an all-powerful master because the man has become addicted to his own vanity, and her face is the only outlet to his expression. She knows this, and she intuitively uses his addiction to her to get what she wants.
So basically, if an intelligent man is in a tight spot, all ethical rules break down, and the world becomes a sage's playground. This is the tactic Diogenes deployed on occasion, but it seems Diogenes became addicted to some of his own techniques, and perhaps he displayed a bit of immaturity within his character. However, it is the same principle, the fool can be easily manipulated by simply allowing him to pleasure himself. Basically, it is like providing a pig with the mud to roll in, and while the pig is rolling around in the mud merrily, the intelligent man simply cuts a piece of bacon off his rump, and continues on his marry way. The pig never knew the difference, and since he will always be a pig, what is the difference? No suffering was inflicted, and it is only the intelligent man that is even aware that he deployed a manipulative tactic to gain nourishment or shelter.
