Financial Nihilism!

Demetri Kofinas came up with the term Financial Nihilism in 2019, describing it as a philosophy that treats the objects of speculation as though they are all intrinsically worthless.

Financial nihilism according to Demetri represents an ideological standpoint that questions the value and legitimacy of financial systems, markets, and even the concept of money itself. It doesn’t involve a simple disregard for fundamental reality but a contempt for all fundamentals. The point of view is that the entire system is a scam, and you should thus only view financial markets and prices as a casino.

The rise of meme stocks like GameStop and cryptocurrencies are symptoms of this point of view, where pumping financial products in a zero-sum game has become a style of investing for many of millennials who view it as a way to get rich in an essentially meaningless world.

John Authers argued in Bloomberg that, the latest bout of speculation, and especially the extraordinary excitement at GameStop, unlike prior bubbles has a different emotional driver: anger.

In today's video Patrick explores what got us here and how might this idea affect society.

 
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[georgeweller]

An interesting departure from your usual rap-based content.

[TheLexikitty]

I can’t blame people for wanting a little bit of revenge on financial institutions, especially when the government seems to care more about them than its society.

[__Dave__]

Financial nihilism is mostly an outgrowth from being told when growing up to get good grades in college, work hard, and save your money, then ending up saddled with 50k student loans, an offshored labor market, and a continually debasing currency. I’m not one of these nihilists but I 100% understand why they feel this way.

[SorryBones]

That’s what GameStop gets for giving me like $6 for two dozen PS2 games in 2003.

[LucianoFaricelli]

"We come from nothing, we go back to nothing. What have we lost? $20 billion" - Bill Hwang

[emptiester]

Im so thrilled to have been raised right by imperfect dedicated parents. Thanks mom and dad. Love you.

[nates]

As a Costco member and shareholder, I felt personally attacked around ~20:00. I would die for those $1.50 all beef franks.

[jaritsu]

By that meme stock definition (which I feel is a good one), TSLA is like the OG meme stock, cause their value has always been divorced from reality.

[jonnyjazz]

This video clarifies an unconscious bias that I think most older millennials feel, including myself. This is one of my favorite vids Patrick. Thanks for the amazing content

[joshuasmith]

I've spent almost 10 years being reasonably frugal and saving large portions of my decent paychecks and still feel like I'm no closer to owning a home or any form of financial stability. At this point I've pretty much given up, but there's many like me who would never buy a meme stock or crypto that just feel hopeless.

[philenglish]

I think we all agree that the real return on GameStop was the friends we made along the way

[mfanakithi]

Patrick this is one of your finest videos dude. The perspective shared here has broader impact then just financial services, I touched how we (millennium) look at life. Nothing is real

[Ethelgiggle]

I like the more cultured- centric writing in this episode! It's really interesting to have more qualitative aspects in a story too i think

[TayneBetaSequence]

Don’t usually comment on videos but this was amazing Patrick, you distilled down societal and younger generational woes and drew parallels to Simulacra and Simulation and brought it back to investing and wealth all within 20 minutes. Great work!

[bjhoope]

I'm a member of the most boring investment community, the Boglehead, and my reward has been the boring joy of just watching value pile up predictably over time at the lowest possible expense. Now, where can I get my Vanguard hoodie or maybe a VTSAX tattoo?

[JTS-ul]

3:00 Financial Nihilism sounds like a critique of a particular retail investment strategy; however, the definition excludes the hedge fund strategy of nihilistically destroying companies.

[brianontiveros-kersch]

Using The Plain Bagel for the Lambo photo is just *chef's kiss*

[Vicaria]

Patrick deserves 7mil subscribers. His videos are understandable and funny. I literally would know nothing about finance without him.

[markgouthro]

This reminds me of the blue and green politics of Byzantium. For those that don’t study Medieval history. The city became divided into factions. But the factions had no meaning. You were a green or a blue with no other connection.

[jacobparker]

ive spent my entire life seeing those who work hard and follow the rules rewarded with nothing, while the worst people imaginable cheat their way to success.
At this point the system only exists to optimize success for sociopaths.