Why?

Those who know why.

I have known my wife since 1985. We have had many conversations about many, many topics. I quoted something my parents often said to us as children while growing up “those who know how will always have a job, those who know why, will always be the boss.”

I said that again today, and my wife said, “that is great, I have never heard that before.”

Applying that to everyday life I think of how people often handle their finances. Many people may earn a great income but fail to hang on to what they have earned. The more you earn, the more mistakes you can make and still come out in good financial shape, but those mistakes can cause significant stress as well.

For example, I have always lived close to where I work. That decision has saved me both time and money, which helps to acquire wealth without risk. Wealth provides a form of freedom, which is more valuable than almost anything.

Why do you do what you do? If you are trying to beat an index, why is that important? What if you do not beat the index you are trying to beat? At any point I am 100% sure I can show you an investment that performed better than the ones you own.

No one is risk averse, we are all loss averse. I have an investment that is up about 400% in the past 9 months. In retrospect I should have bought more of it, but at the time of purchase the outcome was uncertain.

We are all our own boss, so we should know why we do what we do. Our why does not change when events do not unfold as we wish. “those who know why will always be the boss”.