More is Better...or so I thought

I grew up my entire life, until about seven years ago, thinking that more is better.  More is what we should all strive for.  If we aren’t trying to get more, we are being lazy and denying ourselves future satisfaction and happiness. 

Boy, that has changed tremendously. 

Don’t get me wrong.  I still work to make my businesses bigger and better but not for the sake of just being bigger and better.  I work on the aspects of the business that I would like to make better.  I try to buy properties that I want to own. I make videos I enjoy making.  I want to make our software better because I want software that I would use.  

We are offered partnerships and endorsements all the time for our channel.  We have never taken one.  We have never even entertained one. Does that mean we won’t?  of course not.  We will...someday.  But only when the right partner or endorsement comes along that I can say, without a doubt, “I love this.”  

And a big reason for having this new belief is our retirement calculator.  I made this piece of the software because I truly believed that other retirement calculators fell short in one big aspect: They usually stopped at retirement, but it’s not a “Get to Retirement Calculator.”   

To me, it needs to show you that you can or cannot live the rest of your life, after retiring, with enough money.  

So why does this apply to me?  After all, I have not been shy to say that I could retire today and live the same life and then some for the next 60 years without worrying and my net worth would still increase.   

Well, here is what happened that was interesting. It was a combination of realizing that more was NOT better and that I could make 3% returns the rest of my life and never run out of money.  So instead of me saying, “I am done working”, I have chosen to say “I am on the right path, financially, so I need to do the things that I find enjoyable.” 

From a personal perspective, that means traveling A LOT more.  It meant stepping down as CEO of my company and focusing on higher level visionary things that I do very well and I thoroughly enjoy. 

But most importantly, it means I get to choose the things I work on in our business and I also get to change how I invest. 

I used to do anything I thought would make us money in the company.  Now, I think “If this became unprofitable for a stretch, would I want to work to make it better?”  If the answer is “no” then I don’t do it.  If the answer is “yes” then I do it. 

As for investing, I realized how some of the best investors I know are able to make 13-20% returns, which is awesome, but that’s not my goal because I don’t need to do that. I also don’t want to buy stock in companies that I have to watch like a hawk because they are going through some major turnaround or have a mispricing of their company on a crappy business.  

I became more of a Buffett and Munger investor, trying to find quality businesses at reasonable prices.  I am perfectly fine making less annualized return because I will have the freedom to be able to not focus on the investments constantly. 

I strongly encourage you to think about this.  We all want to make more and most of us think more is better.  Take it from me...the idea that having enough and not needing more is far more liberating than any other freedom that having more will give you.  

Twenty-five-year-old Paul would be shaking his head thinking “What kind of hippy juice is 42-year-old Paul drinking? "

But 42-year-old-Paul is excited to get older and enjoy life even more.  Yes, making my businesses better will be a part of that, but if my brother and I decide to stop at any point in the future, I am not attached to the idea of my company being something that provides a legacy for me.   

sdasdasdas

esto es un code! testtesttesttesttesttest