For the next 15 Thursdays, I’ll publish a tool, or a lesson, to help you with family finances.
Tweet your Qs at me.
Introducing The Game to the Class of 2032
Start the game this weekend.
Here’s a template you can use.
If you have Qs then tweet them at me and I’ll help.
++
We are going to play a ten-year game, the purpose is to build an EMOTIONAL attachment to the power of compounding.
You’re going to need the emotional attachment to coun
We are going to play a ten-year game, the purpose is to build an EMOTIONAL attachment to the power of compounding.
You’re going to need the emotional attachment to counter the impulse to spend what you have.
++
The best way to play is to check your portfolio no more than once a quarter. My kids have gone close to a year without asking me to update.
Give the game YEARS to play out, eventually your students will be amazed.
Like a retirement account, not much happens at first. By Middle School the weekly split is $13/$8 between Allowance/Earnings. By HS Graduation the split is $18/27. Game costs you $14K to fund over 13 years.
Investment: each Monday, each player gets $1 for each year they have been alive. I started my kids in Kindergarten so we kicked off with $5 or $6 per week.
Return on Investment: the “bank” pays 10% per annum on invested capital. My template has a little math embedded which converts the annual rate to a daily rate. This allows the player to see, and get excited about, weekly earnings.
Earned Money is Your Money: Most kids have a piggy bank, some kids have side-gigs where they earn spending money. If a player wants to invest that money then they can grow earnings faster.
++
There are two types of spending from the family account.
Investment spending – if the money came from “the bank” then spending approval needs to include Mom & Dad, or another savvy adult.
Earned income spending – Mom & Dad have no veto rights over money the players earn on their own. This allows real world learning to happen. Lending to friends, pain of crappy impulse purchases…
Steps are birthdays, assumed to be Jan 1st in the template. It takes a decade for weekly earnings to exceed weekly allowance. Just like a retirement account, once your earnings start to accelerate, they keep going. Stay invested. Don’t interrupt compounding.
Teaching this to your kids, or grandkids, will change your relationship with money.
The inspiration for this game came from a 2015 post by MMM. What I’m Teaching My Son About Money. We started the day I read his advice. I’m grateful for his sharing.
Keep it simple, be patient, and remember the goal is an emotional attachment to compounding.
Please like, share, follow and retweet so I can see where our interests overlap.
Monday I published Multigenerational Capital on WordPress, shared tips for Parenting Alpha Pups on Twitter and discussed How An Olympic Sports Doc Uses HRV in his life on Twitter.
Tuesday: 20 years after winning, I looked back on Ultraman Hawaii on Twitter.
Attempting the impossible changes our lives in unexpected waysWe can be unaware of our limiting beliefsPublic success can be highly addictiveLife gives
A pack of little rippers at the base of the Jackson Hole Tram
One of my 2020 goals was to establish “ski week” as a family tradition. I booked a week in Telluride for each of February and March.
Feb 2020 : Ski Week 1.0 => Everything was going according to plan. The night before we drove through a storm and arrived ready to shred.
Two hours into our powder day, after dropping a double black in style (!), my daughter slipped on a catwalk and fractured her wrist.
We
A pack of little rippers at the base of the Jackson Hole Tram
One of my 2020 goals was to establish “ski week” as a family tradition. I booked a week in Telluride for each of February and March.
Feb 2020 : Ski Week 1.0 => Everything was going according to plan. The night before we drove through a storm and arrived ready to shred.
Two hours into our powder day, after dropping a double black in style (!), my daughter slipped on a catwalk and fractured her wrist.
We drove home that afternoon.
March 2020 : Ski Week 2.0 => Our trip was blown out by COVID.
I’m not the sort of guy to be put off by setbacks.
I’m patient with execution.
We checked out JHMR last summer.
Feb 2022 : Ski Week 3.0 => Vail, Beaver Creek, Steamboat Springs then Jackson.
A clear day at the top of the Tram. One of the most beautiful places in the world.
“Dad, do these heart-pants make me look like a beginner? I think I need all black.”
We currently have two family traditions, matching Christmas PJs and Christmas in Mexico. Adding Jackson fits with my medium-term goals.
It gives me a forum to relate with my kids in my best environment. I should be able to rip until our youngest is done with high school.
It gives me a forum to expose them to my mentors, Doc J was there.
It gives me a forum to introduce them to younger, role models of outstanding character. Justin Daerr, Ironman Boulder Champ, all around good bro, was along for the week. I’d like to get his wife out for Ski Week 4.0.
The view from my wife’s hotel. We didn’t stay together.
As an athlete, I learned “the first time you go somewhere is usually a hassle.”
This was a reminder to stay put and train… as well as a warning against thinking life is better somewhere else.
The first step is making it work, where you are.
The next step, once it’s working, don’t mess with a streak.
Jackson worked great, eventually.
++
When we arrived, we were greeted by an AirBnB that smelled like stale cigarettes and dog!
My wife and daughter were flying in the next morning.
My son kept asking me… “Are you OK, Daddy?”
I was not OK.
I couldn’t fall asleep.
I got up.
Rather than spending energy assigning blame, I jumped on a travel app and made the problem go away.
I booked a very nice room, slope side.
The bill was large. However, just like I recommend with taxes, I compared the bill to my family net worth… it was manageable. I will remember the lesson, and not miss the money.
My thirst for blame and revenge was replaced by gratitude that I had the insight to make the problem go away.
I slept great, despite the staleness!
Doc J and Me, skinning to the top of Snow King mountain.
Doc J has an athletic wife, kids both older / younger than mine and a family tree where elders live a very long time.
He faces many of the same challenges/concerns as me. Plus, he actually went to med school…
He also has a proven track record of giving me advice that nudges positive change.
He’s a better listener than me.
The list goes on and on…
Daddy Ski Day at Vail – Gore Range out the back – each time I look at those mountains I remember Gary and think about his traverse with Chris
The good doctor is helping me with a project and we are talking about compensation…
You could pay me, but I’m good at earning my own money. What would be better is if you could teach my family in an area where I’m not an expert => finance, money, forms of wealth.
A strategic family relationship, combined with a family tradition, combined with the kids not noticing we are teaching them while they’re having fun.
Similar to bible camp, but we shred.
Justin and my son – hike-to terrain at Steamboat – there will come a time when my lessons are better taught by others – look at the lightness in my son’s stride – that’s bro-joy right there!Alta Chute 3 – Jackson is an Expert mountain – the next day I was humbled one chute over and got to self-rescue with a boot pack up to my lost ski…Final event was waffles at Corbett’s Cabin – highly recommended – the non-expert skiers in your party can bail back down the TramFree cookies are back at Beaver Creek! Many other signs of a return to normal living – Jackson had a tolerant, relaxed vibe.
A thought on kids.
You don’t need to be a parent to have a child reflect your inner goodness back to you.
Teaching kids has proven to be a surprising source of strength, and quiet pride, within my life.
In Vail, J’s first skin, ever. I ran my light setup and was grateful.
It was really nice to spend time with old friends.
Putting my immune system to the test (!) on the Jackson Tram.
Recap:
Spending time, and money, in a way that meets the family’s strategic goals of building its human capital.
Exposing young family members to various lifestyle options, of friends with strong character.
Providing a forum for young people to speak with young adult role models.
Listening to the advice of friends who know me well.
Corbett’s // maybe next time S & S // that ship has sailed
Hong Kong
When I moved to the US, I went from a 5 to 30% tax rate.
Why move?
Because it saved me money.
Taxes are one slice of your family budget
I used to live in Hong Kong, a low-tax part of the world. Thing is, it’s a high cost location – especially for school fees and residential housing.
Landing in in the US, I chose a part of the country with an excellent public school system. With three kids, that choice saved me a lot of money.
But there are trad
When I moved to the US, I went from a 5 to 30% tax rate.
Why move?
Because it saved me money.
Taxes are one slice of your family budget
I used to live in Hong Kong, a low-tax part of the world. Thing is, it’s a high cost location – especially for school fees and residential housing.
Landing in in the US, I chose a part of the country with an excellent public school system. With three kids, that choice saved me a lot of money.
But there are trade-offs.
I grew up in Canada and my family’s basic healthcare needs were covered by the provincial government.
Not so in the USA.
My insurance, HSA contribution and dental cleanings mean I pay $25,000 before anyone’s gotten sick.
I run the $7,000 HSA contribution down against my family’s $14,000 deductible.
Anybody breaks a leg, I’m quickly over $30,000 for the year.
Still cheaper!
In my last year in Hong Kong (2000) I was living in a place that cost $100,000 per annum to rent. The senior partners paid 3-5x that amount.
School fees: friends pay up to $50,000 per kid, per annum. Mine go to public school, a $75,000 saving.
Taxes are the price we pay for living a wonderful life.
Clean air, pleasant climate, easy access to nature, an ability to avoid traffic.
As a friend pointed out, all those Californians moving to Austin are going to find out something… they’re still complaining about taxes, it’s hot as stink, they’re sitting in a traffic jam AND they lost the benefits of living in Cali.
The ability to escape tax policy is 100% in our hands.
Here’s the game.
Take your tax bill and divide it by your net worth.
In my mid-20s, I worked in London. I earned $75,000 and paid $18,000 in taxes. My net worth was $20,000. My tax bill represented 90% of my net worth.
A change in tax policy, or a move to Hong Kong, would have a material effect on my family finances.
Most of us, can’t change hemisphere’s for work.
Many of us, can work remotely from a lower cost location.
Go deeper.
Consider time.
My former self, he saved 50% of his take-home pay from 1990-2008.
You can follow me on Twitter. Likes, RTs and questions help guide my writing.
Getting A Better Body
Starting from scratchWith strength (12 min a day, 2-3x per week, 10 wks)With plyometrics (5 min per day, 2-3 per week, 8 wks)With nutrition – lingo summaryMy winter week structureWhat “easy endurance” feels likeMy strength coach’s library of exercises
Generating Family Wealth
Three Truths About Taxes – meet my 20-something selfHow Wealth Endures – m
Tacos del Gnar in Ridgeway, COOn the way to Telluride, worth the stop
Last week, I was in Telluride with my buddy, Mark. He asked me a question, very much on point…
Aren’t you afraid you’ll gain weight?Why yes, I am terrified!
The context was my current “far less than I used to” training program. Sure, I was scared, and that’s why I kept the volume rolling for so many years.
However, like so many fear-based quirks in my life, my fears proved
Tacos del Gnar in Ridgeway, CO On the way to Telluride, worth the stop
Last week, I was in Telluride with my buddy, Mark. He asked me a question, very much on point…
Aren’t you afraid you’ll gain weight?
Why yes, I am terrified!
The context was my current “far less than I used to” training program. Sure, I was scared, and that’s why I kept the volume rolling for so many years.
However, like so many fear-based quirks in my life, my fears proved groundless.
Further, creating a lifestyle catered to misplaced fear crowds out a lot of useful work!
Telluride
Get Off the Wheel of Sugar
AC has been crushing with a series of threads encouraging athletes to improve their stamina and fat burning. The lessons run much, much deeper. Creativity, cognition, and metabolic health – all benefit from working on the low-end of our fitness.
Many of us use training protocol as a way to justify our food choices. With the best intentions, we remove a food group, and end up replacing it with sugar.
OR
Starting to train, we shift our nutrition towards “sports nutrition.”
My buddy, Jonas Colting, calls this getting caught in Gel Hell.
Not a win.
Removing the friction towards better choices
Two tips work here:
Aim to eat more veggies than my vegetarian pals.
Stay below my sugar threshold.
#1 requires a bit of effort, but not too much. My main gig is salads and stir-frys.
#2 can be scary – it implies less total duration, less intensity.
Both these changes nudge us towards sustainable choices and, as we age, reduce the risk of ruin from following a Chronic Endurance lifestyle.
More Telluride
Get Strong
Back in the day, folks used to debate the utility of strength training for endurance athletes. Do y’all still do that?
I’m not into debating, I’d rather use something that works.
Strength Training Works.
There is a conscious, and unconscious, attraction to people who move powerfully – moving well, is attractive.
You want to be more attractive, trust me (see below).
Being attractive improves our self-image, which sets up a virtuous circle in our larger lives.
Door #1 was fast, but I’ll go out on a limb and predict my wife would prefer Door #3
Remove One
Trying to change everything at once leaves me feeling scattered and distracted.
It doesn’t work.
Again, here’s what works:
One person, one habit, one pattern, one choice…
Each of us has a habit, relationship or pattern that we can eliminate, for gains.
2 beers before bed
A basket of bread with lunch and dinner
Cheese
Bread + cheese = pizza
French fries
Soft drinks
A friend who’s a feeder
Don’t try to do everything.
Don’t think you need to change “forever”.
Simply take a break for 30 days and pay attention.
With all this stuff, letting go of my fears seems daunting.
No way, I’ll be able to pull that off.
You don’t have to.
Try it out for 30 days and pay attention.
Iterate towards better.
Where do you go that makes you feel at peace? For me, it’s the mountains.
I am going to show you how to connect spending, time and wealth.
Let’s bring back my 20-something self. He was living in London, working in finance and renting a room to keep his overheads down.
Coming out of college, having more cash flow than he needed, he felt rich.
But was he?
He earned $75,000 and was spending $32,000. How wealthy was he?
Remember from last week, his net worth was $20,000.
Net Worth “divided by” Spending = WEALTH IN TIME
H
I am going to show you how to connect spending, time and wealth.
Let’s bring back my 20-something self. He was living in London, working in finance and renting a room to keep his overheads down.
Coming out of college, having more cash flow than he needed, he felt rich.
But was he?
He earned $75,000 and was spending $32,000. How wealthy was he?
Remember from last week, his net worth was $20,000.
Net Worth “divided by” Spending = WEALTH IN TIME
His WIT was 7 ½ months.
Roll forward to my early 30s. I’m a young Private Equity partner and hit $1 million net worth.
I was spending $250k a year, felt flush, but was I wealthy? Let’s find out.
$1,000,000 / $250,000 = 4 Years
Not wealthy, especially when you consider my life expectancy (>50 years).
++
At 31, I realized my spending was buying me NOTHING. What I liked to do was swim, bike and run. I had fantasies of leaving the corporate world. I took action.
I applied to emigrate to New Zealand. Arriving in Christchurch, I was able to buy a five-bedroom house for US$110,000. My cost of living plunged to $25,000 (NZ$60,000).
My WIT jumped to 40 years.
I didn’t return from my leave of absence. Most of my family thought I was nuts.
Getting A Better Body
My WordPress article about Gel Hell and staying leanA thread about Big Guys getting fitPhase Two of Strength Training: Push Pull Press
Breaking Free From 9-5
My WordPress article about Wealth in TimeMy take on @dvassallo’s thread about self-employment
Athletic Performance
Monsy Swims of the WeekJeff asked me how I’m applying HRV in my own lifeMore on me and HRVHamstring (P)rehab – break the cycle of injury & eccentric loadingStraight-le
In the Steep Gullies of A-Basin, teaching my son how to lead men
In your 50s and 60s, you’re going to have the money to do neat stuff.
Are you going to have the body?
I propose three goals to guide your training:
Burn fatAdd muscle massMaintain sexual function
If you’re still into race performance then bookmark me and come back in a few years.
Why?
Because you might be screwing up all three by leaving sustained tempo in your program.
The abili
In the Steep Gullies of A-Basin, teaching my son how to lead men
In your 50s and 60s, you’re going to have the money to do neat stuff.
Are you going to have the body?
I propose three goals to guide your training:
Burn fat
Add muscle mass
Maintain sexual function
If you’re still into race performance then bookmark me and come back in a few years.
Why?
Because you might be screwing up all three by leaving sustained tempo in your program.
The ability to do fun stuff with those I love. A form of wealth.
Now, you’re probably thinking that it’s impossible for an older person to add muscle mass.
You might have even resigned yourself to a long, slow decline in personal function.
That’s certainly the way aging was taught to me (by members of your profession).
Are you sure?
An elder surgeon confided in me that “half the stuff I learned in med school, turned out to be false.”
Perhaps a shift in approach could get you a better outcome?
Besides, there is little downside from shifting your program, away from endurance fatigue, towards doing what it takes to add functional strength.
My son’s definition of heaven. Bit of a survival ski for me.
So how might we do that?
During the pandemic, I learned this protocol by accident.
I was locked in my house, with three high-energy kids, and I needed a way to chill out before endless days of Home School.
I turned to weights, a lot of them.
I worked my way through Rob Shaul’s SF45 program. The full program was eight modules and took me 60 weeks to complete.
Total body transformation.
Not only did it transform my body, my wife started having fire fighter fantasies.
I became much better at moving through the mountains.
Rob’s redone the modules and now splits them by age (40, 50, 55 and 60). You can find them under General Fitness Plan Packets on his website.
I’ve taken what I’ve learned from Rob and interpreted into my life as a coach to kids, adults and elders. I use pieces of Rob’s protocols to address specific concerns (balance, fall risk, muscle activation, injury prevention and rehab). I tweet about these on Wednesdays.
I use Rob’s stuff for creating a valuable form of stress on my 53 yo body.
Gaining functional strength
To do neat stuff
Outside
With the people I love
For as long as possible
My training schedule is built around placing my key days (my strength-focused days).
I never skip a strength day but… I do delay it when I know it would be counter-productive to stress myself further.
Can you spot the gully entry above my son? Me neither. We had to billy-goat a bit.
So how to place those key days?
That was my central problem across 2021.
I kept getting run down, I felt old, my mood was crap, I was worried that I was “done” as an athlete.
To be sick of sickness is the only cure
– The Tao Te Ching
Eventually, I committed to do whatever it took to get my recovery on track. If that meant “getting old” then I’d just have to deal with the consequences.
It wasn’t all that complicated. My Garmin watch had be collecting resting heart rate data for years. Data that I had been ignoring because I was scared to recover properly!
To my resting HR data, I added heart rate variability from an Oura Ring. Recently, I added HRV4Training to better see the differences between my acute and chronic movements.
I don’t use the Readiness Scores because I don’t need precision (and have doubts that any of us can predict outcome on a complex system, like the human body).
All I am seeking is a signal from the raw data.
Red – you’d better dial it down
Yellow – no surges, just aerobic maintenance (ie fat burning)
Green – Go For It, Bro!
Feb 20 (red) – chronic (shaded) and acute are low Feb 11 (yellow) – chronic is in normal range, acute a bit below Feb 8th (green) – chronic and acute both high – I went big at altitude, we see the impact on Feb 9thSimilar info in the resting HR data, which seems to be more sensitive to the elevation where I’m sleeping. During the upward trend in HR, I was sleeping at ~8,500 ft.
So when I’m at home, it’s a simple choice each morning.
Strength or Cardio
Strength is whatever plan I’m using from Rob.
Cardio is a bike workout, usually with a 130 bpm cap.
If I’m not “green” for a strength day, then I dial it down, or delay.
If I’m “red” then I spin easy on the bike (HR < 120) and schedule a neighborhood walk for the afternoon.
ZERO anaerobic load on a “red” day.
By waiting for a green signal, I avoid putting myself into a hole, that takes days to clear.
I’d been running this system (morning strength or cardio) for most of the pandemic (2020 & 2021) but was not paying attention to my HR, and didn’t have the HRV data.
With the HRV data, and guidance from Dr Jeff Shilt, I am able to better place the days that make me tired. Doc J shared his traffic light system, which let me create this article I’m offering you.
This season saw me hand over the title of lead-skier to my son. With recognition comes responsibility.
As we age, how best to define “getting better”?
My proposal…
We will work towards improving the self-confidence that you’ll be able to continue to share outdoor activities with those you love.
We will use a training approach that builds a large physical reserve against the fears we hear from our elders.
Confidence that, while absolute performance is declining, we continue to enjoy the physical side of life.
Confidence that, while we’re all going to “get old” eventually, we will be able to live independently for as long as possible.
This is going to require a shift in focus from “athletic performance” to maintaining “functional performance.”
The very good news is this approach is time efficient.
Yes, the strength days will kick your butt BUT, when they are placed wisely, you will bounce back and end up with more energy across your week.
I was taught that all my (financial) problems would be solved if I made enough money.
Money, absent saving, doesn’t work.
Spending, absent reflection, creates golden handcuffs.
Living a big-city lifestyle had my younger self trapped. His large spending created a hurdle that would have taken him years to overcome.
Valuable years!
Put another way, the weight of my spending was preventing me from launching towards my true self => meeting a wonderful wife and creating
I was taught that all my (financial) problems would be solved if I made enough money.
Money, absent saving, doesn’t work.
Spending, absent reflection, creates golden handcuffs.
Living a big-city lifestyle had my younger self trapped. His large spending created a hurdle that would have taken him years to overcome.
Valuable years!
Put another way, the weight of my spending was preventing me from launching towards my true self => meeting a wonderful wife and creating my current life in Colorado.
My solution was simple
Save half my take home pay
Get myself to a low-cost environment
Create independent income streams to cover my cost of living
Surround myself with people who lived my values
All well and good, and my 30-something self got some things right.
What he wasn’t able to see was the Window of Time. It didn’t matter to him because he was rich in time, and knew it. Having his basics covered, he risked time on changing direction.
For the prudent, the march of time will eventually require a change in approach.
Each of us is free to change our approach at any time.
At some point, all of us are going to realize that our wealth in time is approaching the point where we have more wealth than time.
This is most likely to occur in what we call the “peak earning years.”
It’s really hard to change direction when you’re coining it.
I know, I did.
Cutting spending, leaning into saving, buying an extra couple years before I’m old…
…all trades you should consider.
Even if you don’t change your path, knowing that you could will strengthen your ability to act with integrity.
So the two landmines I hope you avoid are:
Peer-driven spending that leads you away from what fills your heart
Creating capital for future family members, when they’d rather spend time with you now
Training Protocols
Monday’s post on Optimizing Training for Middle Aged Doctors went big, for meFour Hidden Hazards for Aging Athletes was the tweet for Archive SaturdayHigh Performance vs Active LifestylesStress from Fueling RequirementsHeart HealthChronic InjuryOn Twitter, a possible example of selection bias when comparing different training protocolsWorkout Wednesday was my favorite balance move and how I use plyometricsI took the time to help someone understand run lactate testing
If you want your kids to be good at racing then seek positive race experiences from a very young age => link the sensations of racing with “fun” in their young minds
Growing up, I had a buddy.
James Brown, his real name!
James was a lot of fun, and very patient with my younger self.
James used to joke that his boat had two speeds: full and repair.
As a young man, much of my life was lived this way.
ON or OFF
The greatest achievement of my married life was finding another gear => SUSTAIN
EVERYONE knows what’s required to gain weight.
Where we struggle is sustaining weight.
The ability to sustain is the key that unloc
James was a lot of fun, and very patient with my younger self.
James used to joke that his boat had two speeds: full and repair.
As a young man, much of my life was lived this way.
ON or OFF
The greatest achievement of my married life was finding another gear => SUSTAIN
EVERYONE knows what’s required to gain weight.
Where we struggle is sustaining weight.
The ability to sustain is the key that unlocks the ability to choose.
The capacity is choose is a foundational skill for success.
I’ve got two things that are going to help.
Let’s start with the most important.
What’s the trigger for eating more than 1,000 calories after 10pm?
For me, it was ALWAYS one of the following…
Didn’t eat enough during the day
Drinking
By the way, combine the two and I was going BIG.
So if you’re going to “go binary” on something… you get a much better bang for your buck by not getting wasted.
Slamming 700 calories, of anything, at 2pm is a winning strategy => break the habit of late-night binging. You don’t have the option of being binary with food – you gotta eat.
Anybody that tells you otherwise has already lost the weight and forgotten what’s going on.
Not eating, and thinking about eating all day… losing strategy, not sustainable.
Next tip
Do something before breakfast.
It doesn’t need to be a workout!
Do one positive thing that moves you towards where you want to take your life.
Let’s cast our minds back to my 30-something self.
He’s bought a house in Christchurch, covered his taxes/utilities by giving a room to his property manager and has the ability to live free by renting out additional rooms.
Create a base of operations where you can live for free
Tick
Next up, he needs to figure out what sort of work to do and how to cover his cost of living.
A dozen triathlon coaching relationships (US$250) per month was what it took to cover basi
Let’s cast our minds back to my 30-something self.
He’s bought a house in Christchurch, covered his taxes/utilities by giving a room to his property manager and has the ability to live free by renting out additional rooms.
Create a base of operations where you can live for free
Tick
Next up, he needs to figure out what sort of work to do and how to cover his cost of living.
A dozen triathlon coaching relationships (US$250) per month was what it took to cover basics. Those relationships were worth more than money. The relationships made his lifestyle sustainable.
Tick
Basic client filtering over time.
Which relationships to strengthen and retain? Green light client rating – immediate response, has all personal contact details. Travel to them.
Invert, which relationships are a source of distraction and drain energy? Red light client rating – still high service level, hand-off to a better fit at a natural breakpoint (end of season, end of project).
Move on to…
Next level client selection because => there is a limited number of close relationships we can sustain
These are areas I was able to study, from world-class experts, while covering my core cost of living.
Put another way, there are millions of interesting people out there. A consultant needs 5-12 relationships for a viable business. Craft those relationships with intent because your time is worth more than someone’s ability to pay.
Wise client selection is a game of getting paid to learn.
…but you gotta be lifestyle sustainable. So get that first!
Where do I want to visit?
Back in 2000, Christchurch NZ was cheap for a reason. It was far off the beaten path!
A material slice of my cost of living was international travel (airfares & hotels). I really enjoyed this aspect of my life.
I’m not alone. A key form of marketing is the ability to offer clients/investors the ability to travel to nice places. Most large companies have advisory boards, with a membership consisting of their key relationships. The advisory board has the perks of being a director, with none of the fiduciary risk.
I’ve had gigs in: Aspen, Hong Kong, Bermuda, Scotland, LA, Italy, London, Dubai, Paris, Cannes, Hawaii…
So, where do YOU want to go? Find that client, help them achieve their goals and undercharge them.
Rich folks love random acts of financial kindness. They’re always expected to pick up the tab, so paying for coffee/breakfast is a high-return investment.
A long term value added relationship with someone in a place you enjoy visiting – it’s worth more than whatever your financial deal is.
Invert (again) => don’t take work from a location you don’t want to visit. At any price.
One of my gigs came with an around-the-world ticket every six months. With a bit of planning, that covered an entire year’s worth of air travel. Another slice of my budget, covered.
What demographic am I curious about?
Tim’s blog on fame shares the Bill Murray quote, “trying being rich first.”
Actually, being rich is tough. It takes a lot of time and striving. Living rich is even worse, not for me.
Before you try to “be something” => get to know it. See what it’s like when nobody’s watching.
Coaching the rich, the fast, the famous, the savage, the beautiful… and paying attention, helped me look under-the-hood with regard to my values.
High-Performance Strategies
This thread contains Howard’s excellent article about treatment bias. Treat the self-identity as well as the injury! Also HEREWhen it comes to ultra endurance, AC reminds us that there is no fate but what you makeA thread on visualization – this worked for calming my internal experience of open water
Getting The Body You Want
I contributed to Brady’s thread about eating on easy daysMore information isn’t the answer for Big Guys Losing
More information isn’t the answer for Big Guys Losing Weight => thread and article link. Think in terms of 1,000 day pacing and remember “not eating” is a losing strategy.
Jumps & Plyos are prehab for life – don’t accept the common experience as your personal baseline!
Family Money
Personal Real Estate can be a high-hassle asset but it has benefits, some hidden
I contributed to another thread on lactate testing – don’t “step” past your physiological markers
I pulled together my getting started strength tips into a Single Page for you – MAKE A COPY if you want to edit. View rights are open, edit rights are closed in the Google Doc.
Every night, my son likes me to have a stuffy to keep me company. The love of children is a special gift.
For medical-grade depression, best to see your doc.
My condition, for most of 2021, is better described as “the blahs.” I was fully functional, grinding away, often angry and rarely engaged.
I wrote about what we were going to do in our marriage HERE. 20 weeks later, it worked far better than I expected – schedule time with those you love.
I have proven j
The cherry on top was spending $75 a week to retire from driving my kids.
Driving, itself, wasn’t the issue.
I noticed my worst moments were happening in my car.
Change the environment, change the result.
I stopped hanging out in my car, I felt better.
Over 20 years, I’ve redirected my environment => one choice at a time.
Mount Crested Butte – this ski season saw a simple game. Try to hit ten resorts.
Simple project, visible feedback
I have a habit of rejecting the part of my personality that craves external feedback. I pretend I am above external approval, I’m not.
I brought back external feedback by way of my return to Twitter.
Playing a low-stakes game where you get random, positive feedback => surprisingly useful.
I am going to repeat that… if you have the blahs then you should try…
A low-stakes game
That pays out randomly
With positive emotional feedback
I shouldn’t be surprised! Before I left Private Equity in 2000, I had a message board (pre-Facebook) where we used to shoot the breeze just like Twitter. Loved it, met some great people.
My Twitter Game => seek to help a stranger daily.
Huge leverage, near-infinite niche opportunities.
Previous simple games: improve aerobic run performance, and log daily training minutes. These two games kept me engaged for over a decade!
Simple games work because they offer a focus different from my negative fixations. They are most powerful when attached to a system of daily rewards.
One of my favorite things is skiing with my wife. I’ve made a decision to keep living. Reality is going to catch up with me at some point, I know.
When stressed, you are going to be tempted to shuffle your asset allocation.
Churning your portfolio isn’t the answer.
Geography, Citizenship & Right of Abode
I’m parked in the middle of the American Empire => by choice.
I naturalized to the US and don’t need anyone’s permission to stay he
Mood Management
Monday’s Blog was three simple actions taken to improve my lifeWondering if constantly talking about our fears, makes them more likely
Athletic Performance
Vets at altitudeMental & Physical health for high functioning athletesAC’s tips for coaches starting out (bit from me)Weekly Monsy swimsThis thread is how I turned up at 30 and was beating most everyone five years laterAC’s thread on Zone 2 (bit from me) – tip: hold Zn 2 for 2 hours &
We’ve been having this debate for years, it simply took me a while to notice
First clean athlete – remember that person in the Euro Peloton?
Not just Europe, my wife and I been that athlete
…and had to figure out how to deal with it.
I’ve been dealing with cheats and scoundrels for 30 years.
Not just in sport.
This moment, it’s not about cheating, but look deeper.
Pay attention.
I’m not sure if banning “them” from &ld
…is not leaving
Living!
Let’s start with the best money advice I’ve seen in 2022:
Don’t build a plan that requires your death to succeed.
Yes.
Rather, create a life that supports how you want to live.
How are we going to do that?
Get some money off the table.
How much?
5x “last year’s cost of living”
This is Core Capital – it is a function of your spending as well as your savings.
Once you have Core C
That article introduced the concept of Lifestyle Sustainable => a low-cost base of operations where, ideally, you can live for free. The idea is to remove cost-of-housing from your financial concerns.
That’s the core financial asset for your portfolio. It cost me US$110,000 in 2000.
This is a great place to park your Core Capital.
Removing housing from your list of concerns gives you more than a financial return.
Alongside your key financial asset, I hope you have a loving, lifelong partner. This person is the most important decision, financial or otherwise, you’ll be making.
The highest return investments I made in my 30s & 40s, were not financial in nature. With a low-cost base of operations, & marketable skills, I was in a good place.
Many high-earners fail to see the value of what I just pointed out.
Low-cost base of operations
Marketable skills
Beyond that, most everything is lifestyle enhancement and ego.
Thankfully, I had a major setback in my early-30s (divorce) which gave me pause.
In 2000, I saw my future in front of me… lifestyle enhancement and ego… and I made a change.
A big one.
I became a world-class athlete. With (athletic) success came the realization that something was lacking.
So much success, still lacking!
If you’re good at making money…
If you’re good at playing the game of “career”…
If you are nearing the top of your field…
…then you’ll be tempted to keep doing what you are good at.
I’d encourage you to establish that low-cost base of operations, then try something really challenging…
The highest return investments I made were improving my suitability for marriage and learning how to parent. Most of my learning happened after I was married and my kids were born.
It is never too late to invest in the human capital of your family.
If you get these investments right then you might not notice the benefits. Honestly, a big driver in my life has been a fear of getting divorced again (not-divorced, winning)
Fear that drives positive action is useful.
I’ve been paid by less drama, and less problems (we don’t see all our wins).
I’ve also de-risked some of the challenges my future self will face (companionship, engagement, dementia). Study (the problems of) who you are likely to become.
You’ll notice my portfolio advice (still) doesn’t talk about asset allocation.
This is deliberate!
Asset selection is not the differentiating factor for a life well lived.
Marketable skills
Low-cost base of operations
Fixed-rate mortgage, if you like
Target date fund for your future self
Then focus on living your life and creating the friends/family with whom you’d like to share it.
Getting a much clearer idea about the topics that engage y’all.
Thank you for the likes, RTs and replies.
Athletic Performance
“Think Crank Width” => consider the “what & why”Peloton stock saddle should be swapped for menYour Endurance Zones: HERE & HERE & HERE & MINEMarco’s tweet on zones, my take and a guest appearance by Doc HMonsy swims of the weekBrady’s massive thread on weekly training – optimal is about getting
Login
