"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein
Things are actually simple.
Society at large has indoctrinated us with the idea of supporting complications. In other words, we have indoctrinated ourselves with YouTube videos that support this new construct. Literally feeding ourselves propaganda.
Propaganda has officially been decentralized. Read more here about the new Decentralized World (DE-WO) and the effects that it has on us all so far.
To continue, we have convinced ourselves that everything is supposed to be complicated. Perhaps it’s an ego boost that makes us feel smarter or more intelligent. YouTube (Originally a social media platform) has turned into the 2nd most popular search engine in the world used today in 2022. YouTube just like any other social media was just supposed to be a form of sharing. Unfortunately, it has turned into an actual search engine that is used to gather information, with the assumption that the information in factual, and why wouldn’t it be factual, after all it’s on the internet. Forgetting that the internet is not an encyclopedia or dictionary, the internet is not a centralized governing body creating a textbook for the purpose of education that can be crafted into a possible skill. We forget that the internet originally had two purposes, to communicate quickly and effectively for professional reasons, and multimedia entertainment. Those two purposes have now been perverted and intertwined like some form of hip hop smash up creating a society that communicates professional advice and education through entertainment even though over 88% of all You-tubers are not professionals nor educators by trade (reported by Forbes). Just Type in the words how to become millionaire in the YouTube search box and you will find over 10,000,000 videos teaching you how to become a millionaire. Each video will cover a bountiful amount of modalities and practices that you should incorporate into your life if you want to reach this status of a millionaire. These practices range from getting up at 5am to meditate to using chicken bones and a 100-dollar bill in a paper bag under one’s pillow when sleeping. We have convinced ourselves that it is all very very complicated, in fact everything is complicated. We have induced this belief that the more complicated something is the more value it has.
Simple Time Pieces
Even myself as a time piece/watch collector, I know that the more complications that a watch has the more of a prize it is seen amongst other watch collectors. At the very most a watch would reasonably have 3 complications which are a second hand, the date, the day of the week. However, there are watches on the market that have as many as 11 and 12 complications and those watches are considered to be grail watches, that is to say the watch that you take to your death and pass down as an heirloom to your children. This is very much an ode to the 98-year-old Charlie Munger whom has been Warren Buffett’s partner for 40 years now. I should make mention that Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger are seen to be the most successful investors of our generation. I think they have something to teach us and here's what I've learned, life is still simple. Un-complicate it and follow the simple steps. I didn't say it was simplistic, as the steps may be difficult, but it is simple.
Charlie Munger’s inversion technique he learned as an air traffic controller is a technique he uses to this day. He simply says to himself, “what is the worst thing I could to make this business fail? “, make a list of all the things, AND DO THE OPPOSITE. If one of the things were sale customers bad quality products, DO THE OPPOSITE. Stop giving customers free information so engagement declines. DO THE OPPOSITE.
Let’s make it personal using your spouse and say “cheat on my very jealous wife with someone she knows personally” ……. YOU KNOW THE REST!
It can all be so simple, but we’d rather make it complicated.
Simple as 1 Million
In my professional life people and peers around, me have counted me as a successful entrepreneur. I'm more of an entrepreneur turned venture capitalists turned private equity turned value investor but that's a story for another day. And such I've had a countless number of people that have a high skill level that they studied for years to obtain come to me in private and ask how they can get into the position that I'm in of working for themselves, with one goal in mind which is to be wealthy and/or amass over $1,000,000. The ones that have come to me that are really serious normally press the issue to a point of actually setting up a meeting to sit down. On every single occasion I have found that the person is making well above the average wage in the United States and has no idea what it is like to actually be in business. So, I simply start out with asking the most important question which is” what do you want?”.
After peeling back layer after layer it normally comes down to being financially well off enough to not have to work at all. I tell them basically,
“You want is to live off of passive income”, and they nod their head in agreement.
“Well, there's only one way to live off of passive income and that is by your money working for you”.
They began to tell me that's why they want to quit their job and to get into business so they can make more money and ultimately do nothing at all or do whatever they want to do with their free time. I entertain them for about as long as I can before telling them,
“The average brick and mortar business no matter if it's a gym, a spa, a restaurant, or a tattoo parlor makes about $100,000 to $150,000 per year net income before taxes, and many make a lot less”.
“You are already making $120,000 a year with your career, so why would you quit that simply to invest a tremendous amount of time, energy and money into a business that based on your skill level will probably fail four or five times before you meet success and when you do meet success you will probably make around $120,000”?
When it basically comes down to is, that person does not believe that they can become rich or wealthy working on their job. So, they think that being an entrepreneur especially since it's a trend in the 2020’s is the key to financial freedom.
This is where I explain to them that really all they need to do is continue to make $120,000 a year but live off of $60,000 a year and invest the other $60,000 a year in equities/stocks (if they know someone that has the skill level to do so) or invest in index funds... I normally get a reply back like,
“I want to have $1,000,000 or I want to make $1,000,000.”
And then I respond with
“$1,000,000 is simple you're actually very close”
and I whip out my phone and go to a compound interest calculator and show them that if they start today with $0.00 and simply contribute to a vanguard index fund of $5000 every month which equals to $60,000 a year as long as that index fund does 15% which of which it has done 21% over the last 10 years. In exactly 10 years that account will have $1,376.085.29.
“See, it's simple your job is your business now all you have to do is discipline yourself enough to save half the money. It’s not simplistic but simple”.
Do you think that satisfies them?........Hell No!
it must be more complicated than that it has to have twists and turns and purchases and expenses. Fancy celebrations and champagne. Grand openings and accountants with lawyers and baler conversation that’s filled with all the frills and thrills that they've been indoctrinated in believing is a part of the journey to reach having and possessing $1,000,000.
Some don’t want to make money, what they want is attention, validation, excitement, and fun. All of which are also the desires of the average modern day inner city 23-year-old young lady. But I digress.
I suppose the summary question to this article is how simple can YOUR make your life?
Can you live with one woman and not cheat?
Can you make your financial goals by just being more disciplined and investing, Alleviating much unnecessary risk?
Do you really need a custom-made special diet equipped with a Pilates instructor and love handle doctor to get in shape? Or will simple prep meals and daily exercise with added leverage of time be enough to sustain the weight and size that you desire?
I started with an Einstein quote so I'll leave this article on a Warren Buffett quote:
“To get really rich you don't really need to be a rocket scientist you just simply need to make a few moves in the right investments and allow a long time to go by, leverage (time) is the key not intelligence”. - Warren Buffet
Simple Enough.
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