ONE TIP TO HELP GROW YOUR WEALTH 

NEWS : Escalating concerns about the Corona virus and it’s resulting economic impact have caused a 400+ point drop in the Dow Jones today.

TIP : Don’t check your 401k today (or tomorrow or the next day).

WHY 🤷? I’ve got a long history of semi-obsessively checking my 401k, Roth IRA, and other accounts. Especially on days like today when the market is getting crushed I feel the pull to log on and assess the damage.

All this checking has led me to do only one thing: make bad decisions. I’m not alone either.

  • Emotional investing: Research shows that emotional investing and selling during downsides costs people money of the long term
  • Stick to your plan: The anecdote to emotional investing? Create a sound plan and stick to it. This goes for most all investing.
  • Play the long game: Investment vehicles like a 401k or a Roth IRA can’t be touched until you hit a certain age (59.5 for both). So many of us are playing the long game here. Cutting back on contributions or getting cute with your asset allocation is very liking going to cost you money. Play the long game, stick to your plan, chill, and grow your wealth over time.

SMART PERSON QUOTE

Time is your friend, impulse is your enemy. Take advantage of compound interest and don’t be captivated by the siren song of the market. That only seduces you into buying after stocks have soared and selling after they plunge. – Jack Bogle (the founder of Vanguard)

ARE YOU A CURRENT OR RECOVERING DAILY CHECKER LIKE ME? I’m trying to shake this habit in 2020. Do you fuss over your investments like me or are you skilled in the art of plaiing it cool? Hit reply and let me know.

ONE NEW BUSINESS IDEA 

Jobs boards are big business.

  • RigUp: The Austin based company matches contract workers with energy companies. A few months ago they raised money at a $1.9 billion dollar valuation.
  • Indeed: One of the big time players in the space was almost entirely bootstrapped. They exited back in 2012 for a cool billion. Today I’m sure they’re worth much more.

IDEA: Niching down into into smaller niches a la RigUp seems like the future of job boards and potential big business in the future. These niche boards can understand candidates and companies better thereby creating value for everyone involved.

IDEA PART II: With the news of Taco Belling paying managers $100k and due to a tight job market it seems like a fast food manager job board could be a winner. For a technical standpoint a job board site isn’t hard to get built out. And it’s the type of business that can be bootstrapped.

TWITTER BRINGS IDEAS TO LIFE: I put this idea up on Twitter a few days ago and someone actually bought the domain, formulated a game plan, and we’re jumping on a call to discuss it. Will update if anything interesting happens with this idea.

WHAT NICHE COULD YOU OPEN A JOB BOARD IN?: There are loads of these little niches where a job board business could thrive. What niche do you think could be well served by a job board?

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NEXT WEEK BUSINESS IDEA PREVIEW: Is Amazon FBA dead?!? I’m getting a lot of questions if the type of business I built is still possible, if FBA is dead, etc. I’ll share a few thoughts next week. Short answer: no.

ONE QUESTION FOR YOU 

Are you running your own race? 

I spent a lot of years running somebody else’s race:

  • I was trying to move up the corporate ladder (with pretty limited success I might add)
  • Trying to score “cool” projects (kind of an oxymoron when it comes to most things accounting/finance related)
  • Attempting to get raises (turns out a little more money doesn’t make you any happier).

Why? I think I was doing it because everybody was doing it and because of ego (hey if anybody here deserves a promotion here obviously it should be me!).

Be intentional: What worked for me was being more intentional about my life. To continue the metaphor… did I want to win the race I was running? What race did I want to win? Reflecting on this stuff was helpful for me and led to big changes. And I’m still doing this now. Sometimes the answers aren’t always clear or change over time. Knowing and being our best self truly is our life’s work.

What race are you running? We only get one go round on this incredible adventure called life. If we’re not intentional and charting our own course someone or something else will chart it for us. What race are you running and why?

Until next week!
-Paul
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​P.S. THANK YOU to everyone who sent a note about the MFM pod and introduced yourself. It honestly made my week to hear from all of you. If you haven’t said hello, shoot me a quick note and say hi. And if you were forwarded this email (welcome!) you can sign up here to receive it weekly.

🎧 NOW PLAYING: ABSENT MIND BY JOSH GILLIGAN​

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