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Shining in the Darkness... and the Markets
Published 3 months ago • 3 min read
Here's your weekly helping of interesting investing information and insights.
Opinion
"All the best games are easy to learn and difficult to master." — Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari
Around 1991, I was hooked on a SEGA game called Shining in the Darkness, a dungeon crawler. The concept was simple — go in, fight monsters, find your way out. But getting to the next level? That was a whole different story. I drew maps by hand so I wouldn't get lost making the same wrong turns twice. I compared notes with friends. I tracked down magazine articles with tips and tricks. And when I finally beat it, it felt incredible.
But there was nothing to show for it. Just the satisfaction of knowing I did it.
Then I found a better game: investing. The basics are easy to pick up — you have money, and you put it somewhere you hope grows into more. But the deeper you go, the harder it gets. I still get stuck. I still lean on people who've been playing longer than me. I still write down my mistakes so I don't repeat them. And sometimes, no matter how prepared you are, you turn a corner and find yourself low on resources, trapped in a dead-end corridor, face to face with a Kaiserkrab.
Click and meet the fearsome Kaiserkrab!
(SITD fans, you know.)
You can't always avoid those moments. But you can prepare better for them. That's what this newsletter is about — learning the game together, sharing what works, and hopefully helping each other not get wiped out in a dungeon we didn't have to enter in the first place.
Warren Buffett has said that what worked for him 50 years ago wouldn't necessarily work today. The levels keep changing. But the core gameplay never does. That part is simple. Mastering it? Probably impossible. And honestly — that's exactly what makes it exciting (and frustrating) and keeps us playing.
Now I want to hear from you — what was your favorite video game growing up, and does this whole "investing is a game" thing resonate with you? Drop it in the comments. 👇
What I'm Reading
If you invest in BDCs, this unlocked New York Times article is worth a quick read. BDCs lend to many of the same risky companies that private credit funds do, so when Wall Street starts throwing around words like "cockroaches" and "Wild West" to describe that market — it's worth knowing why the concern is growing and what the warning signs look like before they show up in your portfolio. [Link to article]
A deep dive on Nintendo from our friends at We Study Billionaires is a MUST listen for anyone who loves video games. I especially loved the history of the company and the future revenue shift.
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Each week you'll learn how to be a better dividend investor and follow the journey of a welder with a passion for passive income to $1,000,000 and beyond.
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