Building wealth for newbies

Build wealth by doing ordinary things with extraordinary consistency over long periods of time.

What do I do?

Here is something anyone can do starting now, no matter who you are.

Open an ETrade account on your phone.  You might open a Roth IRA account.  Then link it to your bank account.  Then have it automatically take a certain amount of money each week from your checking account.  Then buy shares of an S&P 500 Index fund such as ticker symbol VOO or IVV.  Keep doing that for years.  If you had your own private investment advisor, it would be hard for them to beat this strategy.  Most don’t.

If you had started that in 2010, you’d have $110,000 today.

If you put $100 a week, you’d have $220,000 today.  Of that, $82,000 was your contribution, and $132,000 is growth.

If you started with $50 a week, and every two years you added $10, (so in 2026 you’d be putting in $130 per week, you’d have $244,000.

If you started in 2010 with $50 a week and added $10 a week each year (so in 2026 you’d be adding $210), then you’d have $360,000 today.

The S&P 500 is an index of the 500 biggest companies by market value.  It has gone up by 15.7% on average per year since 2010.  

The Rule of 72 says that if you divide the appreciation rate into 72, that is how many years it takes for your money to double.  So if you put in $10,000 to an S&P 500 index fund, and IF you got an average year compared to the last 36 years, your money would double in 4.58 years.  It would double AGAIN (4X) in 9.17 years.  It would double AGAIN (8X) in 9.17 years.  It would double AGAIN (16X) in 18.34 years.  At this point you are getting around 100% a year on your original investment, and it keeps getting better.  (This is if you let it compound and do not sell and have to pay income tax on it.  Eventually you will, and you can pay the lower long-term capital gains rate on your appreciation.)

Years are going by.  It sounds boring.  It is.  Most people can’t do it.  Why?

They get some money and spend it.  No discipline.

The market goes down, and they panic and sell at a loss.  Their emotions get the best of them.  No faith.  Not every year is the same.  Some years the market goes down a bit, and sometimes it goes up 40% a year.  Just keep contributing each week.

They get a hot stock tip and sell the index fund (and pay income tax on the appreciation) and buy the hot stock.  It goes up, and then down, and they panic and sell.

They get bored and think it will take forever so they stop contributing.

They can’t save any money.  They’d rather go out to eat again (or one of a million other things) than to save $50 a week.  No discipline.

So, most people don’t do it.

But to get results most don’t get, you have to do what others don’t/won’t do.

The wills and the will-nots….

The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago.  The second best time is now.

My advice – ask more questions of the right people, and get started.  It’s not hard.

Depressed? – part 2

Stop thinking about yourself.

Think about helping others.

Show up for them.  Serve.  Help.  

Lots of people need you.

Depressed?

“A person who is depressed is spending too much time thinking about the way things are now and not enough time thinking about how he wants them to be. – Andy Andrews

The hole you are in is only in your mind.  

Think about what you want, not what is going on now (- that is temporary).  Take action to make it come true. 

Small step by step, feel the forward momentum.

Your Future Self Will Thank You if…

Somewhere ahead is a stronger version of you who is grateful you didn’t quit today.

I am grateful I __________ when I was _________.  And I am glad that I ________ when I was __________.

Even when I failed, I learned and use that knowledge today, even if it is what not to do, or knowing what happens when I do this.

Imagine receiving a letter from yourself ten years from now.  It probably wouldn’t thank you for choosing the easiest path.  It would thank you for beginning, persisting, learning, and taking care of your health.

When you aren’t feeling motivated today, think about your future self – the person you are becoming.  

Today’s discomfort is temporary. 

The capability it builds may last a lifetime.

Don’t outsource all your physical movement

Modern life has become very convenient, and our bodies are paying the bill. 

We buy devices to save a bit of effort.  We hire people to do lots of things for us.

People may wonder why I cut trees and do the maintenance chores I do if I can hire someone to do it.

The answer is I’d rather get exercise doing real work than going to the gym and lifting weights.  I do that too, but I’d rather lift real things in real situations that require all kinds of movement, and get the satisfaction of having accomplished something.  I also get to be creative and keep my skills up.

At times I love what I am doing.  Cutting up a dead tree that fell in the woods…  At times I realize I am doing it for no other reasons than to stay healthy and be physically strong.  It’s also good for me mentally.

Do I like to take an escalator or sit in a comfy chair while someone else is mowing the lawn?  Sure.  But I realize what a life of physical ease can do to me, and I keep that away with physical work, or workout.