If you read books or watch movies about the Roman Empire eventually one of the groups they faced was the Celts. Typically they are seen as fierce warriors, if you want a reasonable movie think about the opening of the Gladiator staring Russell Crowe. The opening of the movie is a fight with the Celts. In The Roman Empire the Roman influence was some lines and outside of the lines were non Roman settlements. At the time of the Roman Empire the best writers were in Rome and they told stories from the Rome’s view point. The reality is sometimes a little different than the myth and in the book The Celts written by Peter Berresford Ellis published by Constable  Robinson Ltd, London UK, 2003 tries to bring the reality to the Celts.

The Celts were primarily farmers who engaged in advanced agricultural techniques using plows and wheels which relates to wagons. They were also great road builders and most of the roads through the forests of Europe were made by the Celts. The Romans were impressed by them and often improved them which is why people thought the Romans built them. Most of the words in Latin that relate to roads were borrowed from the Celts. An interesting observation is how Old Irish and Vedic Sanskrit (India) are similar and the close links are in terms of linguistics, law, social customs, mythology, folk custom and music. Celtic names can still found throughout Europe including the Danube River is named the Celtic mother goddess Danu and the Rhine River was originally recorded as Rhenus, a Celtic word for a sea way found in the old Irish rian.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, for generations people have been taught the Celts were not as advanced as the Romans and if you were Roman you would have brought your bias to your writing. After all you are taught the best of civilization is what Rome is about and why the Empire remains strong. The reality is other people have and can develop into strong civilizations. As an investor one of your jobs is to pick the best of the breed or the best companies to invest and grow with. After you have picked the company, there are alternatives to every one and depending on how much invested you have you may need to pay attention to the alternatives. This is called continuous learning, why are the companies the best? why do they keep their high margins to earn profits to pay dividends? Understanding we all have biases is good, but try to keep the bias to your family and expect everything else to have alternatives.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.