Lend Hoping Nothing Podcast

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lendhopingnothing.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lendhopingnothing.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lendhopingnothing.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lendhopingnothing.substack.com

Three Modern Functions (Plus One)* Medium of Exchange* Unit of Account* Store of Value* Established by Convention/LawAccount of Money* Necessity of exchange* Commutative Justice* Equality in exchange* How many shoes is a house?* Money enters as a measure of diverse goods* measure of human need or desire* Measure must contain that which it measures* Law - measures human behavior (definition of murder)* time - measures motion (clock)* Established by ConventionAristotelian Causes* Final Cause - Faciliate exchange (medium of exchange)* Formal Cause - Measure of value (unit of account)* Material Cause - Something valuable (store of value)* Efficient Cause - Legislator or Community agreeementImplications* In order to be money, a thing must be valuable* cigarettes are valuable before they become money* USD is valuable as a tax coupon* Bitcoin is not valuable and is a waste of time and energy* acts as money only as a sort of similitude* money as measure of human desire, but desire can be irrational* see podcast on economic value* Good Money - Final Cause* needs to be stable* needs to be apt to receive the form* easily divisible and transferable* Bank accounts* securities in themselves, but are not USD* Anything valuable in principle can be money* Money is not a different sort of thing, but a way of using things* All exchange is fundamentally barter This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lendhopingnothing.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lendhopingnothing.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lendhopingnothing.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lendhopingnothing.substack.com

Nota BeneI am not a financial or tax advisor. Take everything I say with a grain of salt and do your own research and find professionals for additional help.FactsOptions for retirement* 401k* Employer sponsored retirement account* Invest a percentage of salary* Typically involves an employer match of 3%-5% (https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/smart-money/average-401k-match)* Invest in small set of mutual funds* IRA* Individual Retirement Account* Invest your money* Depending on manager can invest in the whole market* Mutual funds, stocks, bonds, options, real estate, infrastructure, etc.* Different types of accounts - Traditional vs. Roth (https://investor.vanguard.com/investor-resources-education/iras/roth-vs-traditional-ira)* Tax advantaged accounts with eligibility and contribution requirements.* Traditional*  Deposit pre-tax, withdrawal as income tax* Advantage* Income tax bracket lower in future than today* Can use for a regular expenses* Have more money to invest sooner* Roth* Deposit post-tax, withdrawal tax free* Advantage* Can withdrawal for bigger expenses* Can also be valuable if you expect taxes to go up in the future or to be in a higher bracket* Limitations on when you can withdrawal and have minimum distributions after retirement* Other Accounts* Brokerage Account* Can invest in the whole market* No limitations on deposit/withdrawal levels or timing* Involves various capital gains taxes* Various bank accounts* Low profits, but limited riskStocks* Ownership claim in the company* Includes certain rights to the company* Voting rights at shareholder meeting - offer proposals, vote for directors, etc.* Rights to certain financial information* Limited rights to dividends - especially if board is unjustified in not holding reserves* Profits* Can gain cash dividends - there are companies specifically meant to generate dividends.* Some stocks can pay dividends as high as 9%Bonds* Debt obligations against company* As I've argued these are not usurious* Pay a lump sum and receive interest or "coupons" relative to the "face" and at the end of the term receive the face back* Paying for a series of payments* Similar to the medieval census contract* Very different rights* Generally don't involve rights over the company like stock* Can include certain obligations* In default, typically a hierarchy of seniority, more senior bonds are paid first while more junior bonds paid after, if nothing left after paying seniors then juniors may get nothingMutual Funds* Company that invests in a range of different securities* Various types of mutual funds* Active/Passive* Stocks/Bonds/Mixed etc.* Investing in fund not underlying assets* Investor does not own underlying assets* Investor owns shares in the company itself* Voting rights* Stock give you shareholder voting rights* A mutual fund investor doesn't own the shares, so never had the rights* However, some mutual funds are allowing investors a say in votingMoralityInvestment is a moral act and not merely technical* Need to consider not merely the return but also the moralityIs saving for retirement good?* Yes.* Similar to any other future planning we do.* Buy food to save for tomorrow, save money for expenses tomorrowBenefits of retirement savings* Prepare for future expenses* Share with family in retirement* Provide for living closer to children, supporting children in retirmentOther Moral Considerations* Vast Range Of companies to invest in* Money in companies do evil*  need to consider moral principles* Legitimate Cooperation with Evil Criteria* Cooperator’s act must not be intrinsically evil* Cooperator is motivated by good intention* Cooperator’s reason proportionate to (i) gravity of perpetrator’s wrongdoing and (ii) his proximity to wrongdoing* Principle of Double Effect Criteria* Act considered independently of evil effect is not intrinsically evil* Agent intends good and does not intend evil as an end or as a means* Agent has proportionately grave reasons for acting This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lendhopingnothing.substack.com

Performing Intrinsic Evils * Meaning of Catholic Podcast - https://www.youtube.com/live/q8VDT1jbKRA?si=Lw_ZiD9GJC-qWSD8&t=3079* “Just because something is intrinsically evil does not necessarily mean you can never do it.”New Polity Shareholding Essay - https://newpolity.com/blog/should-christians-invest-in-the-stockmarketDeclaration that money is evil or has the appearance of evil* Jacob Imam’s Dissertation - https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:c1dbc396-a8de-49ec-9f0c-3bfd8e89f4c8/files/d1c18dg33r* Note: In the video I said “royal courts” when the canon discusses courts of law. This does diminish the overall point that the Council is not declaring money evil or having the appearance of evil, but with respect to the behavior of the Franciscans especially in light of their vows. Almost nothing is said about the nature of money in conciliar statements. The most notable exception to this claim comes from the Council of Vienne in 1312. Determining a very special case of the Spiritual Franciscans, canon 38, stated that monks ought never have money on their persons, declaring money to be “evil” (malum) or having “the appearance of evil,” (quod speciem habet mali).Toward a Catholic Theolog of Money, 10* Council of Vienne - https://www.papalencyclicals.net/councils/ecum15.htmFurther, not only what is known to be evil, but also everything which has the appearance of evil, should be specially avoided by perfect men. Now, to be present in court and urge their case, when the law is concerned with matters of advantage to them, leads people to believe from external appearances that the friars present are seeking something as their own. In no way, therefore, ought the friars who profess this rule and vow, to meddle in legal processes in such courts. By abstention they will be thought well of by outsiders, and they will live up to the purity of their vow and avoid scandal to their neighbour. Indeed, the friars are to be complete strangers not only to the acceptance, possession, ownership or use of money, but even to any handling of it, as our said predecessor has repeatedly and clearly said in his interpretation of the rule. Also, the members of this order cannot go to law for any temporal thing. The friars may therefore not lend themselves to such legal processes, but rather consider them forbidden by the purity of their state, because these activities cannot be concluded without litigation and the management or administration of money. Nevertheless they do not act in a manner contrary to their state if they give advice for the execution of these affairs, since this advice does not confer upon them any jurisdiction or legal authority or administration with regard to temporal goods.Council of Vienne, 36Gospel Simplicity - Insurance is a structure of sin - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azINTDiFNuc&t=2471s* List of some papal statements in favor of insurance: https://twitter.com/LendHopeNothing/status/1724552930345226492Pius XI on Ownership and Justice - https://www.papalencyclicals.net/pius11/p11quadr.htmIn order to place definite limits on the controversies that have arisen over ownership and its inherent duties there must be first laid down as foundation a principle established by Leo XIII: The right of property is distinct from its use.[30] That justice called commutative commands sacred respect for the division of possessions and forbids invasion of others’ rights through the exceeding of the limits of one’s own property; but the duty of owners to use their property only in a right way does not come under this type of justice, but under other virtues, obligations of which “cannot be enforced by legal action.”[31] Therefore, they are in error who assert that ownership and its right use are limited by the same boundaries; and it is much farther still from the truth to hold that a right to property is destroyed or lost by reason of abuse or non-use.Quadragesimo Anno, 47Benedict XVI on shareholdersToday's international economic scene, marked by grave deviations and failures, requires a profoundly new way of understanding business enterprise. Old models are disappearing, but promising new ones are taking shape on the horizon. Without doubt, one of the greatest risks for businesses is that they are almost exclusively answerable to their investors, thereby limiting their social value. Owing to their growth in scale and the need for more and more capital, it is becoming increasingly rare for business enterprises to be in the hands of a stable director who feels responsible in the long term, not just the short term, for the life and the results of his company, and it is becoming increasingly rare for businesses to depend on a single territory. Moreover, the so-called outsourcing of production can weaken the company's sense of responsibility towards the stakeholders — namely the workers, the suppliers, the consumers, the natural environment and broader society — in favour of the shareholders, who are not tied to a specific geographical area and who therefore enjoy extraordinary mobility. Today's international capital market offers great freedom of action. Yet there is also increasing awareness of the need for greater social responsibility on the part of business. Even if the ethical considerations that currently inform debate on the social responsibility of the corporate world are not all acceptable from the perspective of the Church's social doctrine, there is nevertheless a growing conviction that business management cannot concern itself only with the interests of the proprietors, but must also assume responsibility for all the other stakeholders who contribute to the life of the business: the workers, the clients, the suppliers of various elements of production, the community of reference.Caritas in Veritate, 40 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lendhopingnothing.substack.com