I was in the restroom of a local grocery store this afternoon, when I realized that one of the automatic faucets–the kind where you wave your hand under the faucet to turn it on, it dispenses water for a given time period then turns off–was just turning on every five seconds as if a phantom hand was waving at it. There’s no telling how long this had been going on or how long it would continue before someone fixed it. The automation intended to save water was actually wasting it.
Many things are useful to be automated in your financial life, because the automation serves to reduce decision fatigue and removes the common disconnect between intention and action.
BUT, the automation function should not be ignored. We should be paying attention to it, assuring it continues to serve us rather than becoming a source of chaos or waste or inefficiency.
The last thing we need is a phantom automation that does the precise opposite thing it’s meant to accomplish.
Meaningful Returns 