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7am Saturday

May 2, 2020

Good morning!

Today, I’m going to take a break from writing about the market and economy. The one market related fact I’ll mention is that April was a solid month for the market as the S&P 500 was up 12.7% in April…it’s best monthly gain since 1987!

The Best Thing I Read This Week

So, instead of the markets and economy, I wanted to point you to some timeless wisdom. Occasionally, it’s a great idea to step back out of all the noise and look at the big picture.

This past week I happened to stumble on a blog post from Kevin Kelly. Kevin is the founding executive editor of Wired Magazine. He had his 68th birthday this past week, so he published 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice. It’s very good. So good that I decided to keep my email brief, so that you could take 8 minutes to read his post instead. Enjoy! 🙂

If you get a chance to read it I’d love to hear what you think. Reply to let me know what your favorite bit of wisdom is. I tried to narrow it down to a few favorites, but found it very hard as all of these bits of wisdom were so good. But, since I asked you to share…I’ll give it a shot! Here are a few that resonated with me:

  • Being enthusiastic is worth 25 IQ points.
  • Don’t be afraid to ask a question that may sound stupid because 99% of the time everyone else is thinking of the same question and is too embarrassed to ask it. [Me: Seriously! I know you have questions about money and investing. Especially with all that’s going on now. Don’t hesitate to hit reply and ask!]
  • Being able to listen well is a superpower. While listening to someone you love keep asking them “Is there more?”, until there is no more.
  • Gratitude will unlock all other virtues and is something you can get better at.
  • Don’t be the smartest person in the room. Hangout with, and learn from, people smarter than yourself. Even better, find smart people who will disagree with you.
  • Don’t be the best. Be the only.
  • When you are young spend at least 6 months to one year living as poor as you can, owning as little as you possibly can, eating beans and rice in a tiny room or tent, to experience what your “worst” lifestyle might be. That way any time you have to risk something in the future you won’t be afraid of the worst case scenario.
  • To make mistakes is human. To own your mistakes is divine. Nothing elevates a person higher than quickly admitting and taking personal responsibility for the mistakes you make and then fixing them fairly. If you mess up, fess up. It’s astounding how powerful this ownership is.
  • Over the long term, the future is decided by optimists. To be an optimist you don’t have to ignore all the many problems we create; you just have to imagine improving our capacity to solve problems.

From The Team

+ 5 Areas That Need Some Financial Spring Cleaning (The Everyday Advisor) – Spring is here! Take a few minutes to review this checklist and make sure your financial house is in order.

+ Cryptomania (Episode 20 of The Invested Dads Podcast) – You’ve heard of Bitcoin…the original cryptocurrency. Tune in as Josh and Austin explain what cryptocurrencies are and how you should think of them as an investor.

+ It’s been 60 days. (Tony Hixon) – …and a lot can happen in 60 days.

That’s it for today! Time to get outside and enjoy what’s looking to be a great Spring weekend.

Keep growing,

Adam

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