You are the Last Safe Investment

Graduate from high school. Go to college. Buy a car. Get a job. Get married. Buy a house. Adopt a dog/cat. Get a promotion. Have some kids. Get another promotion. Get wealthy. Retire.

Be happy (finally).

If this system seems broken, it’s because it is. You deserve to be happy long before you decide to retire in your late sixties. In fact, you deserve to be so happy that you don’t even want to retire.

Contrary to popular belief, being happy does not require a degree from a prestigious university, three Bugattis and a mansion in the Hamptons. These things are nice, and if you want them, go get them. They’re waiting for you, and I’m cheering you on wholeheartedly. But should your degree become obsolete, or if your car battery dies for the last time, or if mold runs you out of your home, your whole world shouldn’t come crashing down around you. Why?

Because you still have your most valuable assets– yourself, your skills and your relationships.

The Last Safe Investment by Bryan Franklin and Michael Ellsberg is a ridiculously simple guide to furthering what they term your “True Wealth.” By investing in your “Super Skills” (interpersonal, creative, technical and physical), adviser equity and tribe, you can increase your “Happiness Exchange Rate” to such an extent that when everything else goes careening into hell, you remain on solid ground.

Here are some notes from this book that gripped me:

• Your value to others is not defined by your personality but by your ability to help them reach their goals. Should every other facet of the economy crash, being valuable to other people will never cease to be important.
• Even the most accomplished people–especially the most accomplished people–need mentorship. No one has your same life experience, which has the potential to put you in very high demand.
• Owning isn’t everything. To quote a line from the book’s introduction, “For example, an invitation to tour the country in a friend’s luxury RV would be a much bigger True Wealth asset than an owned RV sitting neglected and accumulating repair costs…” (36).
• Compartmentalized goals limit your world-building. Instead, set goals that, when realized together, create your desired aesthetic.
• “Purpose is an infinite value” (62).
• Leadership does not require you to be an extrovert (PREACH). It requires you to be empathetic and to have a clear vision.
• Good or bad, learn to love all of your ideas as they come to you. Then, as Phutureprimitive says, “Just keep working on your craft until what comes out of the speakers sounds just like what was in your head in the first place.”
• This line: “The quantity of bad business prose that gets written each year is exceeded only by the quantity of smoke blown by politicians” (124).
• Massages and spa days are not unnecessary luxuries. De-stressing is not a luxury. Stress is horrible for you. Be kind to yourself. Love, The Universe
• Tribe > individuals.
• Also, huge thanks to Michael for introducing me to Adey.

You are your own last safe investment. Click here to purchase the book and start increasing your True Wealth.

P.S. This is not an ad. This is my full recommendation of a book that changed the way I see the world– for good.