The dilemma of trying to push someone up

Put effort to pull or push someone up in life

or

To leave people where they are.

The Dilemma occurs when you really want someone to succeed and want to push them to achieve things but they are not that serious about it and you are left wondering is it worth the time and effort to do this.

Real options and Real life options

In finance, there is a concept of Real option valuation. It is a choice that a business may gain by undertaking certain endeavors. For example, by investing in a particular project, a company may have the real option of expanding, downsizing or abandoning other projects in the future.

The property of the real option is that they generally increase in value the more uncertain the values of the underlying variables. They generally increase in value the longer the time an option can be deferred.

Real life options are somewhat different. Real life options have many interdependent variables associated with it. And hence, unlike a real option, its value increases the more shorter the time duration of its expiry.

With a three/six month or 1 year real life option, it is very difficult to plan for medium term goals and perhaps even long term goals.

Investing Dilemmas

The basic dilemmas before buying a stock are:

Will it go lower or should I buy it now?

The classic dilemmas after buying a stock are:

If you are making profit, will it go higher or should I sell now?

If you are making loss, is this a dud stock and should I sell out? Else, will it go lower or should I average it now?

Other dilemmas:

I bought this stock for a long term basis, but it has shot up so fast so soon. Should I sell it now or keep it for long term?

At what price should I average it? At 5% below previous buy, or 10% or 20% or some other number? I obviously cannot keep averaging it at a lower price as it would affect portfolio and sector concentration.
What amount should I keep in cash waiting for opportunities to buy that may arise in the market?

The complexity of investing

Recently, somone asked the Oracle of Omaha (Warren Buffet), what was his opinion on Gold?

He replied in his usual characteristic simple way: "You could take all the gold that's ever been mined, and it would fill a cube 67 feet in each direction. For what that's worth at current gold prices, you could buy all -- not some -- all of the farmland in the United States. Plus, you could buy 10 Exxon Mobils, plus have $1 trillion of walking-around money. Or you could have a big cube of metal. Which would you take? Which is going to produce more value?"

This is the ultimate dilemma of investing and human life. How do you value anything? What we value today highly can be totally disregarded another day. Remember how a baby takes so much interest in a colourful spinning plastic "thingy" atop its cradle? Or how much we appreciate the 100 or 1000 bucks which was the first salary and later that amount just doesnt even excite us years later. How we value the last few minutes of the death bed of a loved one but never valued the hours we spent during the lifetime knowing very well that everyone will pass away someday.

All value is relative in life, and humans need to value millions of things in their life. Coming back to investing, most of the things in investing is based on what you believe and what you value. On the other hand of Buffet, we have another equally great stud, Mr.Jim Rogers, who has always believed in commodities and will always lobby for buying commodities. That is because he believes and he has his reasons to believe in it.

So at the beginning (and probably the end) of the day, what are you going to believe?

Justify anything a.k.a/via Contradictory proverbs

Its real funny, surprising and amusing that you can always reason out why you want to do something or why others should do something. Like for example: if you prefer to do something patiently and with a lot of thought and carefulness, and somebody asks you why are you doing it so slowly, you answer back "slow and steady wins the race". On the other hand if we were the other person getting bugged by the slowness, we argue "time and tide wait for none".

It is surprising that almost every proverb we know has an opposite proverb matching it.

Once we see the other side of things and appreciate the logic, you will come to the only conclusion "There is no real one right thing for anything"

Go ahead, read these contradictory proverbs:

All good things come to those who wait BUT Time and tide wait for no man.

The pen is mightier than the sword BUT Actions speak louder than words.

Wise men think alike BUT Fools seldom differ.

The best things in life are free things BUT There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Slow and steady wins the race BUT Time waits for no man.

Look before you leap BUT Strike while the iron is hot.

Do it well, or not at all BUT Half a loaf is better than none.

Birds of a feather flock together BUT Opposites attract.

Don't cross your bridges before you come to them BUT Forewarned is forearmed.

Doubt is the beginning of wisdom BUT Faith will move mountains.

Great starts make great finishes BUT It ain't over 'till it's over.

Practice makes perfect BUT All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Silence is golden BUT The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

You're never too old to learn BUT You can't teach an old dog new tricks

What's good for the goose is good for the gander BUT One man's food is another man's poison.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder BUT Out of sight, out of mind.

Too many cooks spoil the broth BUT Many hands make light work.

Hold fast to the words of your ancestors BUT Wise men make proverbs and fools repeat them.

Nested dilemmas

if (whatever I study in mba be useful in my job == no) { if(is the grade really important == no)

{

if(is the grading fair and square == no)
   { if(is there a need to study too much than required to pass == no)
       { then, why am I having a problem despite coming to this nested if section? }
       }
   }
}
The answer is: guilt conscience, my legacy haunts me... The reason not to compete for studying gets stronger when I see undeserving people get more grade, less hard working people get more success, parasites beating the hosts. Such is life.... I need to find a motivation to study well.