Investing as a Form of Addiction: The Thrill of the Chase

During their recent episode, Taylor, Carlisle, and Bares discussed Investing as a Form of Addiction: The Thrill of the Chase, here’s an excerpt from the episode:

Jake: I think Viktor Frankl had this great quote about, “When a man can’t find, or woman, I guess, can’t find meaning in their life, they’ll seek to fill that hole with pleasure.”

Brian: Yeah. People end up finding meeting in a bottle or in a shooting something in their arm or going to Vegas and doing the wrong things or whatever. And so, I just think that the oldest answers are probably the right ones, which are to voluntarily accept more and more responsibility in your life. Like, Jordan Peterson says, “Pick up a load, move it from here to there and see if that doesn’t solve most of your problems.” [Jake laughs] It’s like, just start working hard on something.

I just happened to find a business that I really enjoy. I’ve been talking about this recently, which I think is, I haven’t heard it elsewhere, but I think investing is like fishing, in that its variable intermittent rewards. The dopamine snacks that you get from finding the next potential compounder are very similar to getting a strike on the line when you’re fishing for muskie in Minnesota or whatever.

And so, I think there’s this variable intermittent reward aspect of our business that keeps me coming back that I really enjoy. That is a psychological, call it, addiction. I’m sort of guy that probably wouldn’t let other people manage my money. And so, I’m going to do this for the rest of my life anyway. I might as well do it with a team of people that I really like and respect and with a group of clients that is, I’m privileged to have entrusted me with money.

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