When you drive across the country as I recently did and will do again soon you have a lot of time to think.
I went up and opened my cabin in rural northern Minnesota last week. They received a record amount of snow, followed by some Spring rains. That caused the rivers to flow like you see in the movies.
Here is a bridge at Lutsen Resort. The Poplar River took out a lot of trees.
This isn’t climate change by the way…..it’s just a lot of snow and rain.
Anyway, I was thinking about what I would tell college graduates since it is graduation season. Every year there are a lot of speeches from luminaries about what to do with your life upon graduation.
The commencement speeches generally have lofty aspirational goals. In general, they are not memorable. Some are. But, most aren’t. I don’t even recall what luminary spoke at my graduation in 1984 at Illinois. I just wanted to get out and go party.
One thing I have learned in life is something I would tell them. Society across the world is focused on wealth. Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous is no longer a television show but plays out every day on social media and in traditional mass media.
When I was 21, I wanted to make a lot of money. It’s what drew me to the trading floor. But, there was something underlying my quest to make money. It wasn’t ego or stuff. You can buy a lot of stuff but it won’t make you happy. Psychologists have done several replicated studies on happiness and the marginal happiness you enjoy from having things like a luxury-brand steak knife and a good enough steak knife isn’t very high.
At the end of the day, having a great family brings you more happiness than anything else. No one on their death bed pines for a luxury vacation.
When I was trading, one buddy proposed the question: “Is there a faster boat you could get that would make you happier? A better jet? A better hotel room? Is that why we are here?'“
No, there is one thing that money helps with outside of happiness. Having money makes you freer. That drive for liberty is deeply ingrained in humans. It’s why America’s founding was such a great thing. Finally, it was codified into a set of documents to organize a society. It’s worked well for America and the rest of the world. A free market, individual-loving, capitalist society is better than anything else.
The more wealth you have, the more you can rise above pesky things like government and social norms. Howard Hughes is a perfect example. Jeffrey Epstein knew this intuitively, which is why he recruited who he recruited the way he recruited them.
I don’t know how much money you need to feel totally free. I do know that if you set a numerical goal, it’s much harder to reach. A friend of mine once said $10MM was the number. At 5% return that is $500k per year. Is that enough? I don’t know because it is so variable for people.
To make money you need to create value for other people. The more people you create value for, the more money you will make. The good news is with the internet and software, it’s easier to figure out ways to create value for people than it was in 1984 when I was starting out.
Words to live by:
"At the end of the day, having a great family brings you more happiness than anything else. No one on their death bed pines for a luxury vacation."
Your commencement speaker was Chancellor John Cribbett, a great Illini. He fired Gary Moeller, among other things. Mine was Marian Wright Edelman. Had I graduated a year later my dad said he would've skipped the ceremony as HRC was the speaker. Ha!
I enjoy your posts, Go Illini....