Included in this discussion are profits earned by businessmen and businesswomen who may not think of themselves as speculators, but whose decisions take into account the possibility of disasters. For instance, a prescient storekeeper may maintain a higher stock of certain items during hurricane season. Although high inventory levels usually diminish the business's rate of return (because of time preferences for money), the storekeeper anticipates that the value of these items may escalate in the rare event of a major storm.