u/BenneB23

There's something in my mind that I've had a hard time finding again and I'd really like to re-read it, so I thought I'd ask the question here to my fellow fantasy readers.

I once read a story inside a fantasy book, I think it was part of the Wheel of Time series, but I'm not 100% sure. It could have been from the Sword of Truth series as well. It was a backstory for one of the Aes Sedai if I'm not mistaken, where her father had a factory, but her mother was very stubborn and cruel, always complaining that her dad wasn't giving equal chances to all people and only giving jobs to people who had it good.

He was very sweet and caring towards his daughter, but they had a bad marriage and the mother was very much influenced by some sort of social network/socialistic party where she was always arguing with her husband about his capitalist ways. It all spiraled out of control when they had an argument at the diner table where the daughter at a certain age suddenly sided with her mom and forced her dad to hire a guy out of their socialistic party, even though he was not the right man for the job.

I remember something about her pouty lips throwing him off as that's exactly what her mom always did. He eventually caved and hired the guy and it was the beginning of the end for the company as they forced him to hire a bunch of other people not fit/right for the job and the company went under.

I thought it was a great depiction and commentary on a socialist system and how it doesnt work. I've never been able to find it again.

Does it ring any bell?

**UPDATE: Thank you so much guys!! I've been looking for this for years, lol. You guys are amazing.

At the end of last year I pulled all my funding out of ETFs because of the CGT/meerwaardebelasting and uncertainty around foreign brokers. I had a decent return from the last 2-3 years of ETF investing, but now I feel myself reluctant to buy back in.

Like many of you, I see the Fire movement as a means to become free and invest my time the way I please, no longer obligated to sell my time and headspace for money.

But I have become too obsessed. I will look at the ETF chart every day, often multiple times a day (even now without my money in it). If it goes down for a few days, I will feel down and depressed, my dream further out of reach. If it goes up, I have faith.

I don't like how much power it holds over my welbeing. Nobody knows what the future will bring and should the market collapse 20-30% due to global circumstances and take 2-3 years to rebuild I think it will affect me really badly. I understand this creates a new buying opportunity and the course is slow and steady, but I'm not sure if I have the stomach for it anymore.

The best investment I've ever done must be my house, which I bought with a low mortgage and has almost doubled in value over the last 10 years, but the best aspect of it I find is that there are no direct visible charts that go up and down and affect my mood. It's just money in the bricks that steadily rise over time and don't affect me on a daily basis.

I don't know what I'm trying to say really, I guess I'm coming for advice to see how you guys deal with this uncertainty. I want to invest, but I also don't want it to affect my daily mood anymore. I'm not able to just not look at it, I will always continue to do so.