Fresh off a two week vacation in Peru, I was reminded of two keys to a successful life…. balance and patience. As a true workaholic, it sometimes takes dragging me thousands of miles from home to to remember the true value of life; and it’s not about who acquires the most money. Clearly, money matters, but so do other aspects of life. Money is the method to achieve some goals, but not all. (It’s tough to travel without any cash :) .)

Now how is this article going to tie together investing, travel, and wealth?

Patience and Investing

An inspiring hike around one of the most amazing sites in the world, Machu Picchu gave new meaning to the word patience. It took close to 150 years to build this historic tribute to the Inca culture. The lessons embedded in this culture are important to us, centuries later.

Are you devastated if you don’t get a remarkable investment return one year?

Over the last hundred years or so, the U.S. stock market averaged about 9 percent per year. Yet during the past fifteen years the S & P 500 averaged 4.75 percent (according to Morningstar).

Would there be a Machu Picchu today if the Incas looked at their progress after 15 years and said, “This stinks, we aren’t finished yet, we quit”? Yet this is exactly what many investors did after the bear market of 2008-9. To those investors who sold and didn’t know when to get back in, they missed a great run up in stock prices over the subsequent years.

Let’s carry the example a bit further. How many bloggers quit after a year with the lament that their traffic and income is insufficient? Ramit Sethi of I Will Teach You to be Rich, admitted at a Fincon presentation that his website was nowhere at the three year mark.

Patience with oneself and one’s endeavors is a secret to success. Yet our culture thrives on instant gratification. That mentality leads to dissatisfaction. I’ve invested for decades through up and down markets. There were years when the market tanked and so did our investable assets. Although those were the times when I bit the bullet and added more to our investments. History demonstrates the miracle of compounding; the longer you continue to invest, through up and down markets the more your wealth grows. Many new businesses fail, not because the businesses are inherently poor, but because the owners’ don’t plan well enough, store enough capital, and hang in there during the slow initial stages.

RESOURCES FOR A BETTER LIFE

Manage Your Finances In One Place: One of the best way to become financially independent and protect yourself is to get a handle on your finances by signing up with Personal Capital. They are a free online platform which aggregates all your financial accounts in one place so you can see where you can optimize your money. Before Personal Capital, I had to log into eight different systems to track 25+ difference accounts (brokerage, multiple banks, 401K, etc) to manage my finances on an Excel spreadsheet. Now, I can just log into Personal Capital to see how all my accounts are doing, including my net worth. I can also see how much I’m spending and saving every month through their cash flow tool.

Negotiate A Severance Package: Don’t quit your job, get laid off and negotiate a severance package instead. Negotiating a severance enabled me to receive six years worth of living expenses from a company I dedicated 11 years of my life to. If I had quit, I wouldn’t get any severance, deferred compensation, medical benefits, job assistance training or unemployment benefits and neither will you. I believe so strongly in the message of never quitting that I spent a couple years writing this 100-page book entitled, “How To Engineer Your Layoff: Make A Small Fortune By Saying Goodbye.” I’m absolutely certain this book will help you recognize your rights as an employee and break free from the corporate grind to do something you truly want to do.

Looking to go on a nice West Coast vacation? I’ve got a fantastic five diamond rated two bedroom, two bathroom condominium at The Resort At Squaw Creek in Lake Tahoe. There’s ski-in/ski-out, three outdoor hot tubs, three heated pools, a spa, a gym, several gourmet restaurants, fantastic children and family activities, a golf course on site, amazing hiking, kayaking, rafting, fishing, biking, and more! Lake Tahoe is one of the best places to vacation on Earth.

You can rent out my place as a studio (two queens), one bedroom (one king, a pullout queen, fireplace, two TVs, kitchenette, dining table, two rooms), or entire two bedroom unit (studio and one bedroom combined). Click the links for availability and click this post on my Lake Tahoe vacation condo to see pictures and information about my place. My prices are ~20% lower than anywhere you’ll find online!

Looking to learn how to start your own profitable website? Check out my step-by-step guide on how to start a blog. It’s one of the best things I did in 2009 to help earn extra money and break free from Corporate America!

Updated for 2017 and beyond.