1 min read

IDGAF about stonks?

I've been so busy with my own priorities today that I barely know what happened with Gamestop.

I hardly keep up with bitcoin too. Or whatever is currently trendy in the markets. I don't feel FOMO around it.

Because I have a shortcut.

I read The Four Pillars of Investing in 2016 and I follow those principles. I can't focus on everything, and this allows me to do pretty well financially while saving energy to focus on other priorities.

In the book there's a part where the author says something like, "Yoooo, your other educated, sophisticated friends are all going to be talking about the fancy-ass things they're doing in the market. And you're going to want to keep up with the Joneses, and you're going to feel like they're making sexier financial decisions than you. Let them. Stay quiet and smile. You know better."

I may not know better than them. My friends might be making totally kick-ass stock decisions. I still don't care! Because my way of investing works, and it allows me to never stress about the markets, and it gives me a ton of peace of mind with which to focus on other things I care about.

And if I have extra money, sure, I'll dabble in what the folks are hyping. But it's 'fun' money. If it shoots up over time, awesome! If it falls through, oh well, it was fun money!

I have trust in myself when it comes to my finances, and I think part of that is the author giving me permission to trust myself.

Maybe I should start giving myself that same permission in other areas of my life too.


Ps- This is also because I make decent money but not enough money to really get too far in the weeds with my finances. If I made over $350K a year, I would focus more of my energies to finances: I'd get more in-depth with my investing, I'd learn a fuck-ton about tax laws, I'd make more calculated risks  with my 'fun money'. But I'm not there yet.

PPS- After just finishing a financial newsletter I get on the regular... okay yes, I do pay attention. But I don't feel bad if I don't play along.