Your potential is unlimited.
I realize that’s the type of cliche that you normally find embossed in cursive script on the side of coffee mugs. It’s trite and impersonal and overused.
But it’s also true.
Your potential to earn and grow is limitless. But it’s not free. You need to invest time and money into developing your potential.
Your time and money are limited, though, and you could also choose to invest in market-based assets, like stocks, bonds or real estate.
How do you make that decision?
Are you going to invest in yourself? Or the market? Or both — and in what proportion?
How do you make these choices?
When you’re buying a few shares of a total stock market index fund, you have a generally clear idea of what you’re getting. You’ve seen the historic returns. You can predict, to a reasonable degree, the consequences of that investment over a multi-decade span.
But when you’re investing in yourself — e.g. learning a new skill, developing a side business, or taking a class — you can’t rely on the same formulas or models. There’s no chart mapping the historic returns.
Financial capital is easy to track. Human capital is harder to quantify — but potentially more rewarding.
Can you compare investing in assets vs. investing in yourself?
How can you make a smarter decision about your own path?
On today’s podcast, I talk to Michael Kitces — a financial planner, entrepreneur, and all-around smart guy — about this million-dollar decision.
Resources Mentioned:
Websites:
Books:
- Essentialism, by Greg McKewon
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