GFC – not enough of a crisis?
For some people, the Global Financial Crisis is exactly that – a crisis.
It’s a crisis for for economists who have seen the sudden collapse of financial systems and institutions they thought were very strong. And it’s such a crisis that governments have been pumping billions of dollars into economies to prevent them from stalling.
And it’s also a crisis for retirees and those close to retirement who have suddenly seen their retirement savings disappear almost overnight, or their retirement plans placed on hold indefinitely.
For these people, their whole lives – their worldview – will have changed dramatically.
But for many others, it’s hasn’t really been very much of a crisis…
Oh sure, some of us may have been fearful of losing our jobs, or have even lost jobs. It’s a crisis on that level – but it’s not actually been a very great crisis in the end.
Because those of us who are still relatively young and marketable, we believe we still have a long time to build up our wealth – we are not really all that worried!
You see, our world really hasn’t changed very much. In reality, many of us will still trust in wealth! In a few years many of us will still be investing feverishly like we were before. In a few years many of us will still look eagerly for the stockmarket to again increase our wealth inexorably. Once we know our jobs are secure, many of us will get right back into looking for that next promotion to take us higher and further in our careers.
In the end, the Global Financial Crisis will not have shaken our same basic trust in wealth. Yes, it will have been an inconvenience – it may have put our plans on hold for a few years, and it will definitely mean higher taxation for many years to come!
But for most of us, the GFC won’t really have taught us that wealth is unreliable…
10 Whoever loves money never has money enough;
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.
This too is meaningless.Ecclesiastes 5:10 (NIV)
