Do you give serious thought as to what exactly you want out of your life? Do you take the time to map things out, consider alternatives and weigh your options?
One of the greatest financial market traders of all time is Ed Seykota. Ed Seykota has an interesting way of looking at things (hence his superb ability to trade financial markets). In the 1989 book “Market Wizards” by Jack Schwager, Seykota is quoted as saying;
“Win or lose, everybody gets what they want out of the market. Some people like to lose, so they win by losing money.” – Ed Seykota
As we proceed through life, it becomes critical that we figure out exactly what it is that we want to accomplish. What is it that we want to experience? What environment do we want ourselves to be in?
This is tremendously important especially if you live in places like the United States where it truly is a free country to move around and explore UNLIMITED options and possibilities.
Consider the possibilities that exist in such a free country;
- If you love skiing and want to be a ski bum, you can do that. You can pack up your belongings, move to Colorado, get a job as a ski-instructor, or a janitor, or a waitress, and use all of your free time on the slopes. Plenty of people have made this choice.
- If you love chasing power, dealing with conflict, and endlessly trying to manipulate others, you can move to Washington, D.C. and put yourself in the epicenter of the political world. Plenty of people have made this choice.
- If you want guns and violence, there are plenty of places to seek this out. You can choose a profession like being a police officer or a drug dealer. Plenty of people have made this choice.
- If you want a life that prioritizes being outside and on the ocean, you could choose to become a fisherman, a marine biologist, or a merchant marine. Plenty of people have made this choice.
- If you want a life of peace and harmony, you can tune the entire world out. You can turn off the TV, teach yoga, become a zen master or just live in a van down by the river. Plenty of people have made this choice.
- Maybe you want extreme work pressure with international travel. You could join the military or become a spy and head over to dangerous parts of the world and deal with the ramifications of being employed with a very small margin for error. Plenty of people have made this choice.
Career choices aside, we can look at lifestyle choices as well. If a person seeks out a debt free lifestyle and anxiety free, the world can deliver that. Or, if you want a complicated life filled with Debt and stress, the world can deliver that. If you want a life of abundance, the world can deliver that too.
Most people never really consider what is possible. They don’t even imagine the possibilities. If they do, they immediately start coming up with reasons why it can’t be done completely ignoring the fact that countless others have already made those choices and taken that path.
The important thing is to consider the direction and priorities in our lives. What do we really want as our top priorities? Is it stability? Is it predictable? Is it easy? Is it wealth? Is it working with fun people? Is it being mentally challenged?
Wealth is indeed relative based on personal standards of living. A person can become financially free on $50,000 a year or $500,000 a year if they can accept that particular lifestyle as optimum for themselves in comparison to additional trade-offs.
But if you really want to become a wealth builder, it most likely will require some trade-offs. It’s highly unlikely that you will build significant wealth if your top priority in life is to be the recreational director running the summer baseball leagues at your local town parks commission.
You have to make sure that the trade-offs are worth it in the overall scope of your life. Nothing says that wealth equals automatic happiness. Just ask a fisherman or somebody that lives on the ski slopes and loves their job opportunities.
But if you have a desire to be a wealth builder, then you know that it is a constant challenge that comes with new obstacles at each level that you reach. But with time and experience comes knowledge and wisdom which compounds over time. It should get easier as you get older, not harder. Wealth building is not easy but it certainly is possible.
There are over 10 million households with investable assets greater than $1 million in the United States alone. 10 million have figured it out and made it a priority for themselves. If you don’t believe that it could be done, then you need to convince 10 million people otherwise. You may find that to be quite a challenge in and of itself.