A Short Life Update

A little bit Investing, A little bit personal

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New Year, New Me (literally)

The new year is always a minefield of self-congratulation. The 'rise and grind' cohort of social media drop subtle brags about last year's achievements before pummelling us with their 2023 goals.

I've decided to provide a slightly different take. Instead of focusing on the highlights, I've decided to lean into the flaws. After all, failure and set backs teach us a lot more about ourselves then accolades and achievements ever will.

2022 was a clusterfuck of a year for me. The worst year I have put down on this weird rotating rock of ours…HANDS DOWN.

I'll spare you the entirety of the sob story as I know you're here for the finance, but my health fell apart. I spent the second half of the year trying to wrap my head around a chronic disease diagnosis while my body wasted away.

In the space of a month, I went from perfect health to crippling pain.

Despite incessant google searches (would not recommend) and multiple hospital visits, there was no reasonable explanation in sight.

The rest of the year was a search for answers. Everything else just faded into insignificance (hence why I haven't sent out a newsletter in a while). I'm not one for excuses but when you're trapped inside a body you don't even recognise while your wife helps you get dressed each morning, deep investment analysis is pretty far down the priority list.

Every day I used myself as a human guinea pig in an attempt to stop the rot. I tried it all. I'm still trying.

It's bizarre what you are willing to try when your desperate enough.

'Oh, your auntie went to see a witch doctor who rubbed a rabbits foot on her forehead and two weeks later, the rash on her foot was gone...... TAKE MY MONEY'.

Mentally, it's a rollercoaster. A big rusty rollercoaster with no seat belts, dangling wires and broken tracks everywhere.

You go to some pretty dark places when your leopard crawling your way to the toilet in the middle of the night because your legs don't work anymore.

Picture Leo Di Caprio's journey to the car park, post quaaludes, in the Wolf of Wall Street and you're not far off.

Strangely enough, despite the pain, the not knowing was the worst part. Ya, your legs not working isn't ideal, but it's the lack of answers that gets you. Not knowing if this will ever stop, not knowing if things will get better, not knowing if you will ever be able to do the things you always thought you would.

I think this is true for every part of life.

In investing, it's never how much markets have fallen that creates panic. The panic is all about how much further they could fall. The unknown. If your portfolio is down 10% that's not ideal, but it's the possibility of that decline continuing and ending up at a 50% loss that keeps you up at night as the negative news mounts.

Thankfully, through the power of modern medicine and some questionably extreme diet choices, things are starting to improve.

As I look ahead, the lessons from 2022 have provided a lot of clarity in terms of who I want to be. More importantly, it has provided me with the courage to confidently be that person, and the urgency to act – a silver lining if you will.

What's Stopping You? 

I feel like we all play some variation of the same game.

Our hair-brained ideas quickly fall victim to a potent mix of self-doubt, excuses, and procrastination.

Best-laid plans amount to nothing – again and again.

We write and re-write lists we never execute on. We constantly throw shit at the wall hoping that something will stick, but nothing does.

We spend all our time thinking and planning, but our execution is always lacking as the vision of what we really want gets blurred by the temptation to accept what we already have.

It's pretty understandable when you think about it. Change is hard - daydreaming is easier. The safe harbour of your imagination is a much more forgiving environment where everyone wins, and nobody has to get their hands dirty.

But history is just a never-ending stream of perpetual daydreamers sitting on high stools, mumbling about what they could have been - what they could have done.

But time is always ticking and the window of opportunity closes before the illusive 'perfect time' presents itself

Just Do It

Thankfully, this year has provided a sense of urgency that overrides my default 'wait and see' setting.

I have vowed to spend less time thinking, and more time doing.

As a result, I have decided to start my own business.... Queue fireworks.....

!!!Crikets!!!

I realise this ultimately has zero impact on your life but it's good news as it means I will become a lot more focused on the the value I provide to this newsletter.

It may take some time to build out the full business offering, but it's happening.

It freaks me out a little (lot), but it's time to take the leap.

The next few months will be a 24/7 endless loop of work and ideas, but I CAN'T WAIT.

There is nothing else I want to do. A sense of clarity I haven't felt in a long time.

Now that it's officially out in the world, today is the point of no return.

Full exposure.

It's worth noting that all this is as much a pep talk to myself as it is a blog for anyone else's benefit so if it's going completely over your head that's ok. Normal service will resume next week.

Going forward, expect a lot more content on the site and with this newsletter over the coming weeks.

It will be all about ways that I can help you invest, make more money and understand what's happening in the markets with some sporadic interjections about the progress and struggles of getting a new business off the ground and the odd personal ramble.

Couple of Favours to Ask

1. I tend to boomerang between personal, psychology of money and investing type articles to more in-depth market analysis (I have attached an extremely detailed report about what I think is going to happen in the market next year at the bottom of this email for those who are that way inclined). I'm trying to find out what people like reading, so If there is specific content you want to see more of, please let me know.

2. If you have started your own business, please reach out with any words of wisdom you might have. Any help is much appreciated. I'm flying blind here.

3. Please take two minutes to share the newsletter with anyone you think may be interested. It means a lot.

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MY MARKET PREDICTIONS FOR 2022

Click below to find a complete breakdown of my opinion on the current state of the economy and what to expect from the stock market in 2023.

It's a long one, so maybe stick the kettle on before you settle in.

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