Investors and the Odyssey
The final enemy for Odysseus was the suitors of Penelope, which represent inflation. Like the suitors, inflation eats away at your ‘substance’ or wealth when you are not looking.
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The final enemy for Odysseus was the suitors of Penelope, which represent inflation. Like the suitors, inflation eats away at your ‘substance’ or wealth when you are not looking.
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is probably one of the best films of the year. One of my favorite stories growing up, the Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus (or Ulysses to some), one of the Greek heroes of the Trojan War, and his journey home.
While it is an old tale, Nolan tells The Odyssey with a twist. Instead of narrating a collection of stories about the adventures of Odysseus, Nolan centers on a man ridden with guilt over a dishonorable trick that led to the destruction of Troy and the death of its people.
Beyond its political message, The Odyssey is a story that carries many lessons. I realized that there were several parallels between Odysseus and your typical investor. Odysseus was the king of Ithaca and a very wealthy individual.
The Odyssey is essentially the story of a man, his dream or desire to get home, and the time it took to make his dream a reality. In a similar vein, investors go through many “adventures” with their investments to reach their goals or dreams.
For some it takes a shorter time, while for others, like Odysseus, it can take a lifetime. What lessons then can the adventures of Odysseus offer investors who are on a similar journey?
A key lesson is that a prolonged war is a costly endeavor. The Greeks were already weary after a decade of war and morale had hit rock bottom.
To feed their army far from home, they would have needed to forage and probably raid other cities for resources. In contrast, Troy probably had stockpiles or access to other sources of food. Investors should do the same. When seeking opportunities in emerging and frontier markets, there could be long periods when liquidity and profitability can be scarce.
There could be days when there are no favorable winds to blow the sails, like what happened to the ships of Odysseus, which left them vulnerable to other dangers such as Circe and the giants.
A steady source of cash or a liquidity buffer, and its disciplined maintenance, is important to last through an investment that has a huge pay-off at the end but is uncertain over when the payback period will be.
This is similar to a zero-coupon bond, which offers no interest and you get your money back only at maturity. In the meantime, and as shown in The Odyssey, anything can happen during this period — including losing your ship and your way.
The most terrifying enemy of Odysseus was the cyclops. However, the cyclops’ weakness was it had only one eye, which was susceptible to blindness. Investors are blinded when they have biases. Always do your research and seek both sides of an investment thesis to remove your biases.
Another lesson that The Odyssey offers is that it is not just storms that can cause you misfortune. Financial storms are a feature of markets, and it is something you need to acknowledge as an investor. But they are not the only dangers that investors face. Just like the sirens, the Lotus-Eaters and Calypso, investors also face distractions that can carry them away from their investment objectives.
Whether it be investor ego, a herding effect brought about by other investors driven by the fear of missing out, or forgetting the investment philosophy or processes, investors can also lose their way and fail to achieve their objectives.
It is therefore important to remain disciplined throughout the journey — or the distractions will eat up the most important resource you have — time.
Lastly, the final enemy for Odysseus was the suitors of Penelope, which represent inflation. Like the suitors, inflation eats away at your “substance” or wealth when you are not looking. Inflation also affects your retirement and the next generation, which in Odysseus’ case, is his son, Telemachus.
This is why central banks try to anchor expectations and to prevent runaway inflation. Investors always need to be on guard against inflation.
The Odyssey is more than a tale—it is a lesson on staying sharp, learning from mistakes, and persevering through uncertainty.
As investors, we are not called to become Greek heroes like Odysseus. But like him, we may encounter storms, scarcity, biases, distractions, and inflation along the way. What matters is that we remain disciplined enough to keep moving toward the goal that matters most: protecting and reclaiming what we treasure.
