Seeking Answers with a Shelf Life
Let's accumulate things that age well..
“Make your mistakes nonfatal, It’s so fundamental to longevity. And ultimately, that’s what success is in this business: longevity.” - Jeffrey Gundlach
My wife was discussing about visiting Absolute Barbecue (AB) restaurant for one of the Iftars and we started talking about places I’d like to eat. And AB definitely wasn't one of them. Nothing against them, it's just that there are better places in Dubai.
And when we got talking, the names I could come up with were my usual favorites -
Organic Food Cafe
Waitrose/Spinneys Salad Bar
Wagamama
Raju Omelet
Kcal
If I look at my last month alone, 99% of the times when I have eaten out, it would be one of these 5 places. The reason for choosing these was simply their offerings of healthy delicious foods that I could comfortably consume for years down the road too. I’m not into satisfying my tastebuds with new variety every single day. But satisfying my hunger with wholesome healthy foods that enable a healthier lifespan - that seems exciting to me.
But if my wife decides to go to AB, then I will be there with her and feast on the goodies available. Making my loved ones happy is what constitutes these exceptions from my daily food habits :)
Of course, my pursuit of longevity drives these choices of mine. But longevity isn’t limited to food, longevity as a concept can be applied to just about everything. A few topics that come to my mind are as follows -
Food
Reading
Workouts
Relationships
Skills
Biohacking
Snooker
Language
Communication
Stock Picks
We’ve looked into Food. Let’s look into a few others too -
Reading #
You could read Economic Times or Financial Times or Wall Street Journal and get updated about the current events, business news, sports updates, etc. It’s good to be informed and it even pays well in certain professions. But that doesn’t equate to building deep knowledge or shaping your value system in any solid way.
Let me double click on this piece -
This article appeared in WSJ on 8th April and talks about increasing interest rates, falling mortgage applications, unaffordability of housing, fed rate hikes for 2022, the Fed’s balancing act of monetary tightening without deflating the economic growth completely, and much more.
After having read this article, you are now aware of the current state of markets, forecasts around interest rate hikes, and the pain that new applicants for housing loans are going through. That’s great, but what next?
How do you build your portfolio for the period ahead?
Do you hold cash or invest it all?
Do you buy equities or bonds?
How much of your networth should be exposed to Real Estate?
How do you plan your finances so that you could have a home, and save a little for investments, while you have enough for your daily expenses?
Do you have the willingness to be frugal while you build your nest egg or your dream home?
None of these questions are answered in this article, and hence this article will keep you informed about the developments, but won’t turn you into a wise capital allocator. You would know what’s happening, but you won’t know how to protect yourself from it, how to profit from it, or even how to prepare for it !!!
And that knowledge base or wisdom only comes from building depth in your understanding of many subjects covered in the WSJ article e.g. Personal Savings, Behavioral Finance, Equity Investing, Asset Allocation, Portfolio Management, and Macro Economics. Each of these has 1000s of books & podcasts dedicated to the subject. And consuming these has a higher probability of leaving you wise to make choices, that allow you to profit from the current events or protect yourself from the damage they may bring.
If I was to pick one book that could give you a very nuanced understanding of all these subjects in one place, then it would be -
You will thank me for having urged you to read this gem of a book. A few reviews from the legends of capitalism #
“ You will never find a book with more useful ideas.” - Warren Buffet
“Charlie is truly the broadest thinker I have ever encountered. from business principles to economic principles to the design of student dormitories to the design of a catamaran he has no equal. This book capturing his wisdom is long overdue.” - Bill Gates
As for me, this book opened up my eyes to the intriguing world of behavioral finance, through the lens of which, investing becomes a simpler and a much more profitable affair. Without a fundamental understanding of how one’s mind works and how biased our decisions could be, it would make stock picking a very stressful affair. This happens to be the most expensive book I’ve ever purchased (INR 11,000). But it also happens to be the most rewarding to me in terms of insights and education.
As for the daily news, it is like chips - it satisfies your hunger temporarily but doesn’t satiate you to your heart’s content. Whereas going deep via books, podcasts, courses or seminars is like treating yourself to a wholesome meal. It may not be as tasty as Lays chips, but your mind and body will enjoy being treated with a wholesome meal instead of being dumped with starch and carbohydrates in chips and cookies.
The latter gives you knowledge that has a higher shelf life, whereas the former gives you information that will be outdated soon, sometimes in the next 24 hrs.
Skills #
Let’s look at Skills too from this perspective. It’s defined by google as “the ability to do something well; expertise.” Simple a definition, but there is a difficult question one must confront “What skill am I building that would benefit me for the long haul?”
Now that is a difficult question to answer since that may bring up a lot of emotions and arguments in favor of the choices you’ve made. I know someone who hasn’t been able to put in time post-work only because the work stress gets on to him and he would like to use his free time as “me time”. And Me Time includes gaming, socializing, movies, sleeping, chilling or mindless surfing online.
Is there any skill being built in here - Nope
Is he prepping for the future to come - Nope
Is he profiting from the future to come - Nope
So what does his strategy depend on - Hope, Luck & Prayers.
“Luck, Hope & Prayers” - that’s not a strategy. That’s an almost sure-shot path to being made redundant since smarter people keep entering the hiring pool on daily basis. And if a person is not willing to upskill, then he will be booted out and replaced with someone better.
But it becomes difficult to accept responsibility for having squandered away the time that could have been invested in building new skill sets to build a career or business in times to come. Hence you would see many complaining, it’s the easy choice. But that doesn’t bring home the benjamins, and it never will.
I’m passionate about investing and am committed to inspiring retail investors in making better choices. For this very purpose, I run a weekly newsletter and a podcast too. In the last few years, I have attended many workshops/courses -
Broadcast Yourself by London Real
On Deck Writers by OnDeck
Everything I learned on these 2 platforms, enabled me to launch my channel on Spotify and my newsletter on Substack. It’s encouraging to see comments from strangers who cared enough to read my article and comment or provide feedback on the same. But I’d like to create a bigger impact and hence it’s time to shape up my game.
I want to get better at the distribution of this content and hence enrolled in an SEO course on Buildd. I have no clue about the course content, but I do want to build the requisite skills for getting my message to reach out to more people.
I am not bothered about the outcome of this choice. But I am committed to making a choice that moves me forward and going all-in with passion and intensity. Let’s see what the future has to offer. Every time I have experimented with choices that have the possibility of moving my career ahead, more often than not, it has surprised me with wonderful experiences and beautiful relationships.
And if I succeed in understanding the great online game, then the sky is the limit for what can be achieved with the platforms and tools we all have access to on our devices.
That’s the beauty of picking up skills that have a higher shelf life.
Sports #
I even play Snooker on weekly basis, as I would be able to play this for the next 50 years, without stressing my mind and body. And the sport requires focus, precision, practice, and an acute sense of awareness about my own mindset and also of the opponents. Every shot is a puzzle that needs decision-making in a few seconds. It’s exciting, challenging, and I look forward to making decent breaks on the table for decades to come.
Even the sport you pick could have a higher shelf life. Why pick something which wouldn’t be possible to participate in for decades to come. That could just leave you with regret and sadness for having aged. I invite you to pick up something that’s mentally stimulating and challenging enough to put your gray cells to the test time and again. The joy it brings is added bonus to the excitement of the game.
“If you ask what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress, and tension. And if you didn't ask me, I'd still have to say it.” - George Burns
Let’s choose things that have a higher shelf life. These maximize happiness in the long haul. It’s these choices that minimize worry, stress, and tension in years to come.
Think about this.
In its simplest form, it comes down to making a choice between a sugar-loaded cookie or an appetizing chicken salad with edamame and greens.
Choose Well 👍🏻
Recommendations for the week #
Nick Magiulli is one of my favorite writers online and he writes almost about the same topics that my newsletter covers too. But he’s been in the game for 5+ years and has its own style of bringing numbers to the narrative, which makes the delivery of the message very effective. His piece on Status Games is a Must Read and it will make you think hard about the many games that you have got yourselves into.
I recently discovered Taylor Pearson online and his first piece itself was a very insightful read. It talks about fat tails and how one can expand his surface area to increase the lucky coincidences that could play a massive role in one’s outsized success. Delightful concept to understand and implement.
Wishing you all a fantastic weekend ahead.
Stay Safe 🤝