Nearly 37 million passenger air flights took to the sky in 2017. How many made it back down?
"HatTip" is written by Nick Lincoln, IFA
{I also ramble on about the theme of this blog in Episode 19 of the "Money Hat-Tip Podcast", so do give it a listen!}
All of them. Every single one. In 2017, every single commercial jet passenger air flight took off, flew around a bit, and then landed. There was not a single commercial jet passenger air flight fatality in 2017.
Just let that sink in.
It is nothing short of astounding. It is an incredible achievement, one of the most remarkable bits of news I have heard in a long, long time.
It should be "hold the front page" news. It should be celebrated, lauded, revelled in. We should be reading paens to the wonders of free-market capitalism; the Enlightenment; property rights; the advice of science, reason and logic over fear and superstition, and all the other good stuff that we in the West take for granted.
The trouble with Adam Smith's "invisible hand of free-market capitalism" is that it is, er, invisible. And there are none so blind as those who cannot see. There has been remarkably little coverage - relative to the enormity of the achievement - of the safety of aviation in 2017. What news coverage there has been has focused as much on the potential downside of air travel as much as the upside.
None of the coverage makes reference to free-market capitalism as being the only way this could possibly have happened.
If you would like to get more regular drivel like this then simply Google “financial advisers who send out pointless monthly market updates”. You will find literally hundreds of them. Take your pick.
Remember though:
- what happens over a month is utterly irrelevant if you are investing over decades
- no one knows where markets will be next week, next month, next year or beyond
- no one really knows or understands what moves markets
- no one knows where markets will be next week, next month, next year or beyond (I know, I know, but it is worth repeating).
Life is too short to worry about things you have no influence over.
Concentrate on what you can influence, not on what you cannot. If you find yourself checking the BBC Business page every few hours you need to get a hobby - now.
And if your Financial Adviser is reinforcing bad habits by constantly telling you what the markets have been doing, get rid of your Financial Adviser. Find someone who will put education about investing at the core of their relationship with you.
If you can’t control the markets why let them control you?
{The above is not specific financial advice aligned to your unique circumstances and requirements. If you act on this article without first reading your own body weight in Key Features Documents, personal illustrations and fund fact-sheets then you may well be struck down by lightning.}
© 201 Nick Lincoln
