What's Your Existential Investment Strategy?

• Monastic religions tend to be “short” this world and “long” the afterlife.

• Hedonistic and materialist religions are long this world and short the afterlife. The goal is to be here now.

• Moderate religions are long this world, but “hold” stock in the World to Come—just in case. Or else, are long the next world, but hold stock in this one, just in case.

So you don’t believe in afterlife, OK. But do you care about the future of humanity in 3-4 generations? If yes, then let “heaven” and “hell” refer to the world you will leave behind for posterity.

Let’s expand Pascal’s wager a bit, and ask, where do you think there is greatest upside and downside? Do you think the present is undervalued or over-valued? How about the metaphysical realm? If you were an investor trying to hedge on these questions, what would a diversified existential portfolio demand? Are religions like Mutual Funds in their attempt to de-risk specific worldviews through bundling?

These questions are asked in both seriousness and jest.

You can measure the performance of a stock portfolio—see how it’s doing relative to an index. When it comes to existential investing there is no ticker-screen. Return on investment is subjective. You can’t know whether you’ve picked correctly, only whether you’ve picked honestly and whole-heartedly. There may never be a moment where you are ever vindicated or refuted. Yet no matter what you choose, you are betting your life on it.