As Benjamin Franklin pronounced, âThe Only Two Certainties In Life Are Death And Taxesâ.
Iâm going to argue 3.
Dealing with mortality is dreadful.
Taxes are annoying.
And uncertainty is inevitable.
These are the 3 unfortunate certainties of life we must get used to.
History is a helpful predictor of future performance yet past performance isnât entirely indicative of it although we all wish it was.
Successful investors look back to history to map out the future and use these 3 factors to discern their impact on certain decisions.
There are many more roadblocks investors, let alone humans deal with on a daily basis since life is not fair but what we can all agree with is that if we put in the work, the work will work for us.
Remember this slogan: âLive like no one else now to live like no one else later.â
I reference this unknown quote consistently throughout my pieces because it is relevant to everything in finance.
If you plan for the worst, hope for the best you will be in the best boat.
We canât control these 3 certainties because they are certain and will happen we just donât know when but we can sometimes extend, delay and diminish them depending on what education we receive and the time commitment we dedicate to the task at hand.
Your best bet as an investor is to realize that past performance isnât indicative of future performance. Change is inevitable and whatâs certain is uncertainty.
Some argue thatâs what makes life exciting. To an investor and rational human, it kills themâŚ
Rollercoaster Ride
Uncertainty and the idea of change ties directly with the two dreaded burdens of generating wealth. There are always downsides to everything and as my economics teacher used to say, âthereâs always a downside to the upsideâ especially when I got a lucky score on a pop quiz through my educated guesses.
The more one makes, the more they have to pay back to Uncle Sam.
The more you own, the more you have to dust, secure, take ownership of, monitor, maintain, pay someone to do all those things for you and naturally worry about more.
Pick your poison.
Wealthy investors have seen it all and as a result they know nothing lasts forever especially a bullish rally. Being overly optimistic is detrimental to your financial well being as it is simply unrealistic. Believing you will have your career in tip-top shape for the next few decades or have no hurricane sweep your home living on a lake in Alabama is foolish.
Plan life so you can live it better which starts with focusing on less.
Letâs see what I mean.
Truth
Long-term investors know the power of disassociating emotions to the markets and not sweating the small stuff. They donât aimlessly chart and price stocks daily as novice retail traders do. They know what the market is capable of and have confidence it will go up since it always has.
Although past performance isnât indicative of future performance, passively investing and monitoring the market, not trying to beat it is an investorâs best bet to save time and money.
But no matter how prudent and safe one is with their approach, they must always keep 3 things in the forefront of their mind.
Death
Taxes
Uncertainty
Death
Starting with the most difficult to come to terms with and just think about, our species have a 100% chance of death. Itâs all on our calendars and as morbid as this sounds, we donât know when it will happen but it sure will. This doesnât mean you should live it up each night or retire at 30 and cash out now, it in fact means the complete opposite.
Take inventory of your health, have a backup plan, your will and all assets distributed and allocated appropriately, get a grasp of your contacts and beneficiaries, brief yourself upon your health insurance, retirement benefits and realize that you have more control than you think but itâs limited so after that stop worrying.
My father unexpectedly passed away one day when I was 16. He was as healthy as could be and on a cold December afternoon after school I saw he was gone with no explanation.
Never take for granted the people that cannot be replaced and whenever you leave the house, make sure to hug your loved ones tighter and realize that anything can happen anytime. This isnât intended to scare you rather inform and prepare you so you donât scramble at the moment and have to sell your investments, belongings/assets, move across the country to live in a lower cost area and tackle finding a new job all due to depending on a spouse for everything.
The number one priority when something drastic happens is to take control of your health, mentality and keep your income secure. When it comes to your portfolio, stack up on cash, roughly 6â12 months of emergency funds to be safe since the market tends to work against you when youâre in trouble as well. You donât want to loose 2 income streams at the same time!!
Taxes
This is a burden all earners carry and becomes steeper the more one make syet at the same time easier to get around. From tax shelters and havens to money laundering and accounting shenanigans via loopholes, billion-dollar behemoths (companies) and their founders are known to take advantage of these tactics because who wants to support Uncle Sam?
From Bezos to Musk, Apple to Amazon, these giants are known to hide billions in reserve trust funds in small islands in the Bahamas to Swiss bank accounts that charge zero corporate or income taxes.
Yet for the rest of us this is too risky and expensive to get involved with. For those who didnât know, cough cough those in the top 1%, it is in-fact illegal and one day you can easily get caught and be put into jail. Sadly nothing has been done about these schemes since the ones in power stay in power and top 10% earners have to pay the most in taxes robbing their incomes while the top 1% keep everything.
Nonetheless, there are plenty of ways to slash your IRS bill in half by following these legal tricks. If you want to read all about it, go here.
Astonishingly 65%+ Americas did not pay any income tax this past year in 2020 presumedly due to the stimulus pump which bumped lower to middle class citizensâ income threshold to a lower basis so they didnât qualify to pay any taxes.
The easiest way for any individual to pay less in taxes, get free stuff, and deduct their expenses for more cash flow is to start any sort of business. Iâm not talking about a company on the verge of an IPO in 6 months, be realistic. This includes anything big or small from a monetized blog with 3 readers to an online tutoring course with 600 students. Anything that generates you revenue or in fact doesnât have to, will allow you to get tax-write offs for expenses and not pay nearly as much as you would against your W2 salary working for an employer.
Although there are pluses and minuses to both income streams, the ideal situation would be to dabble in both. You donât necessary need to turn your side-hustle into a full time gig. Keep it on the SIDE by owning a rental property or a blog like this one. As a full-time student, Iâm earning more from my side-hustles than I ever did my first decade working and I continue to enjoy both. I donât want to turn my side gigs into full-time because I enjoy consistency, the corporate world, the team-setting and rigid schedule. Once I graduate, having the option to enroll in an employer qualified health insurance and 401 (k) retirement plan are massive perks considering self-employed folks need to dish out thousands per year to pay for health insurance and manage their own IRA and additional benefits. No stock options or free lunch for them.
Whatever path you choose to take, make sure you are well diversified and always have several income streams to stay afloat. The best way to ensure this is to not have your main job correlated to your investment choices or other streams such that if you work in the health care industry, despite massive gains for Telehealth and pharmaceuticals this year as vaccine providers such as Pfizer and J&J have soared, if they go down, and have to since theyâve had their best year(s) yet, your company could as well in terms of possible layoffs, furloughs or reduced pay if we hear for instance that the vaccine never worked in the first place which would truly be tragic.
Hold uncorrelated, also known as negative correlated investments compared to your job sector/industry to diversify and tap into markets that your portfolio could boom from.
Uncertainty
Whatâs certain is uncertainty and no one has a crystal ball, something investors are trying day and night to discover. The best way to sleep soundly at night and guarantee a sound roof over your head is to tackle your finances first. The number one reason Americans fall into debt is due to their medical expenses and the number one worry for all people on Earth that drags them down till death is money problems.
What does it feel like to never worry about money you may ask?
Read no further than here so you donât worry!
Getting rid of âtoxic debtâ, improving your credit score, tidying up your investment plan and time horizon, having a short and long term goal approach and understanding what you can handle in terms of your risk tolerance are all vital to have on deck to be prepared. Yet that is far from the truth. If I surveyed a random group of 100 New Yorkers, majority would probably only cross off 1 or 2 boxes max. No wonder 80%+ own toxic debt or arenât invested entirely!
Thereâs only so much in our control yet if one unrelated area of our life is falling behind, the rest can topple. If your financial health is improved, your health, relationships and wellbeing can easily strengthen.
Make sure you know what you are getting into. Life is what you make out of it. If you want to live on the edge, go ahead but you will pay a big price later and realize itâs not worth it.