Infinite Games

“Do you really want to live forever? Forever, and ever”, sang Bob Dylan in the 1970s. After 42 years away from the stage, André Heller, Austrian artist, poet and singer performed with the “Best from Vienna” in Hamburg this March. In his version of the song, it sounded like this: “Sure you'll be here while the world's still standin', and the world'll be standin' forever and a day.”

I'm probably the only one who thought about the stock market when I heard the cover song. But I truly do wish for the stock market to exist forever. I like the idea of perpetual markets where people can exchange their worldviews and opinions in hard currency. 

Success on the stock market is not granted to everyone, of course. And as with everything in life, achieving your goals requires sacrifice. Competition among market participants creates an extreme distribution: there are a few huge winners and a great many who must cope with losses or even drop out entirely. The market is a complex organism of thousands, even several million participants, all seeking profit. 

Markets are like an infinite game without beginning or end. Unsuccessful players bow out over time. Mainly because they lose faith and cannot weather the challenging environment. Even the successful ones eventually step away. After all, none of us lives forever. 

For me, the stock market is a fountain of youth. I won't be solving Sudoku puzzles every day in old age to stay mentally sharp. Instead, I see myself reading annual reports, listening to management interviews, or even conducting research on site. 

Because that means traveling to where the respective company operates. And yes, perhaps investing in places like the United States, Japan or Italy, for example. Anyone can go on vacation, but I can call it work or a research trip. I will meet other investors and discover new solutions to the ever-changing Sudoku that is the market. 

In that sense, perhaps that’s a path to staying forever young as in Bob Dylan’s song. At least, that’s how I choose to see it.