Dear Reader,
All of us… every person reading this is actively preparing for the future. It’s why we save, are excited to learn new things, make strategic investments, achieve financial independence, and wake up every day to advance our own lives.
Think of your grandparents’ lives… how much changed while they were alive, specifically after they turned 60 years old?
Many advancements and a higher quality of life can be noted, but the type of change they saw is nothing compared to what you’ll see over the next 10, 20, and 30 years. Right now, my 5-year-old daughter is sitting next to me with an iPad that has 50,000 times more computing power than the 1986 space shuttle.
As a father of three children aged 3, 5, and 7, I can’t help but have mixed feelings about the world they will live in. I’m extremely optimistic about the quality of their lives and the potential for the world to be a place where humans can thrive like never before.
I do worry a little about artificial intelligence and drones the size of fruit flies. Currently, the automation of many jobs and the interference by government is going to lead to the deletion of many industries. Will these workers become impoverished government-dependent mobs? Probably not… hopefully not…
New industries and jobs will be created, and society will ultimately evolve to be able to enjoy all of these great things technology brings to us.
The old economy, though, is still very much with us. The average U.S. household is running around with $34,000 of debt. And that’s just consumer debt!
This doesn’t include college debt ($27,000) and credit card debt ($7,000).
There are also 7-year auto loans, 3-decade mortgages, and 401(k)s tied directly to an unsustainable financial system – one that is going to see radical change over the next 5 years.
Everyone is preparing for the future when no one can accurately predict what it will look like.
Ten years ago, Facebook was unheard of – it had 6 million users. Today, Facebook accounts for two out of every seven minutes someone is on the Internet. More than a billion people have a Facebook account today!
In the 1990s, when I was in high school, cell phones were still considered “car phones,” and the fact is nobody had one. A few of the kids had pagers, but no one had a cell phone. The truth is we were all still trying to figure out this Internet thing and logging into AOL after they mailed us a CD.
By 2015, 95% of American teenagers had a mobile phone.
This all leads me to the absolute insanity of the conventional assumptions about how to save and invest your money.
Most people already suck at personal finance, and those that do take a little time to read a book or try and put themselves on a good path for a prosperous future are using a portfolio model built for an entirely different world.
How many people reading this can confidently say that in even 10 years, much less 30 years, we will be using the U.S. dollar as our primary currency? Who the hell knows.
This makes buying a 30-year Treasury bond even more insane than it already is.
Cryptocurrencies, competing nations, and new technologies we haven’t even thought of will likely replace our current monetary system. A new dollar could even replace the current dollar – that scenario has already happened 4 times since 1861.
Preparing for the future may not be so certain, but the simple strategy of being smart with your money is. Say no to debt, spend less than you earn, save a lot, and invest for income. I know it sounds so simple, because it is.
Next week, I’ll go over in detail how my wife and I became financially-free by the time we turned 30 years old and what we are doing now to prepare for a lifetime of prosperity.
Have a great Sunday.
Best Regards,
Daniel Ameduri
