Bigg success is life on your own terms. The five elements of bigg success are money, time, growth, work and play. Today we’ll focus on money.
You may have noticed that the market is up year-to-date. That’s the good news. The bad news is that we’re still off quite a bit from the top.
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Hear George & Mary-Lynn discuss today's topic on The Bigg Success Show! Click the purple player to listen while you read: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Hear George & Mary-Lynn discuss today's topic on The Bigg Success Show! Click the purple player to listen while you read: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download___
The main market indicator, the S&P 500, hit its highest level in history on October 9, 2007. The good old day, we guess you could call that.
It hit its most recent low on March 9, 2009, off 57% (excluding dividends) from that high nearly one-and-a-half years earlier. Of course, now we’re up over 49% from that March low but we’re still off about 35% from the high if we factor out dividends.
The bottom line is that our portfolios have still taken quite a hit. It made us wonder …
Are there investments that don’t lose value?
It depends on your goal.
Your investment goal
Why do you invest? Obviously, you want more money. Why?
For some people, it’s the end. However, the end is pretty empty. For most of us, it’s a means to an end. Instead of financial returns, we really want emotional returns.
We want to be happier!
If that’s the case, research shows there may be a more direct path to happiness, assuming that basic needs — food, shelter and clothing – have been met.
Invest time in work you love
We tend to follow an indirect path to happiness. For example, many people strive to build a portfolio that allows them to retire when they want.
One direct path to happiness is to do the work you love. Bea Arthur, the late-great actress, said:
“Actors don’t retire. People who work in jobs they don’t like retire.”
Invest time to find the work you love. Invest time doing the work you love. It’s an investment with returns beyond your wildest dreams.
Invest time in relationships
Some people want more money so they can buy things. There is a more proven path to happiness.
Invest your time in relationships. Research shows this delivers higher returns on the happiness scale than having more money.
The direct path creates synergy
Bigg success is life on your own terms. The bigg idea behind bigg success is synergy. One place to search for synergy is between the five elements of bigg success.
Let’s look at two of the five elements of bigg success – money and work. You don’t need as much money to be happy if you’re doing work you love.
The funny thing, though, is that research shows that doing the work you love often leads to more money. If you put first things first, you end up better off all the way around. That’s synergy!
Now let’s look at money and play. Research shows that strong relationships lead to greater happiness than more possessions. You can save money by having friends.
It’s also interesting that, in our interconnected world, those relationships may very well lead to more money if you don’t force the issue. Put the relationship first and let the money follow.
Invest directly in happiness by investing time doing what you love with people you love. That’s bigg success!
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Thank you so much for checking in with us today. Please join us next time when we discuss mixing business with pleasure. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!
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