While I normally write about markets and investments, I thought it was time I wrote down some lessons. I hope you find this valuable.
Invest in your relationships
In an epic, multi-generational study on happiness, it was found that the strongest (by far) correlating data point with those that lived long, healthy and happy lives was the strength of the relationships they had with others in their lives. Healthy, positive and life-long relationships matter.
Take time to see your friends. Make an effort to be part of your families’ lives. Your employees are human beings, treat them like that! So are your colleagues. Smile at that stranger on the street. You may not just make someone’s day better but you might actually make your life better.
Watch the short–but worthwhile–summary of this study here: What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness.
Time is more precious than money
As a human creation, money is actually infinite. We can just keep adding zeros to it. Central bankers have proven that they can just keep printing it. Billionaires and trillionaires have accumulated tons of it, but do you know what you have that they have exactly the same amount of?
Time.
Sixty seconds in a minutes, sixty minutes in an hour, twenty four hours in a day, a little over three hundred and sixty-five days in a year, and about seventy to eighty years in the average life.
That’s it. That’s all. That’s what we have, and no amount of billions or hustle or yachts or “likes” will really change this statistically probable outcome. Even for trillionaires.
I am practical and appreciate that there is a level of wealth that everyone should strive for (financial security, or whatever that looks like for you) but there is marginal diminishing returns beyond that point especially if it costs you increasing more and more time to achieve.
Get to the income level you want, save for the retirement (and the margin of safety) that helps you sleep at night, and then start seeking time over money. Time to see your friends and family, time to pursue your passions, time to look after yourself (and hopefully someone else).
Time is more precious than money.
Money is more precious than status
At first glance, money buys us what we need, and excess money buys us what we want. At first glance, that seems to be the point of it, and social media and advertising reinforce this.
But what if you considered money as the accumulation of time. All the money that you save is buying you “time in the future”.
Would you rather have a new car or retire a decade earlier?
If money is the accumulation of time, then the question when it comes to “status purchases” (let’s be honest, no one ever bought a Ferrari for its utility as a car) is how much is your time worth? Small luxuries might be worth it but big luxuries can steal years from us…
It sounds contradictory to say that time is worth more than money, and then to say that time is money. But savings are just you purchasing future time, so I stand by my contradiction.
I repeat: would you rather have a new car or retire a decade earlier?
Thinking like this changes your spending habits, changes your savings and investments, and changes how you spend your time.
I still drive a decade-old VW Polo, I have largely defended against lifestyle creep (while spending on my passions too because life needs joy) as I have worked hard to try to build up my income and, even more importantly, accumulate defendable savings and investments (this journey is continuing). But, in so doing, I have not sacrificed the healthy relationships in my life and I spend time with my friends, I see my family, and I have a wonderful partner. I have no intention of retiring soon (indeed, I hope to be an investor for decades to come!) but I am conscious that I am mortal and my first investment, my first allocation and my first priority is how I spend my time on this tiny planet.
Have a wonderful and safe festive period – spend your time with friends, family and yourself!
Kind regards