There is an interesting dialog evolving following an interview John did recently.
The interview was on the topic of what to do with your tax return this year. John’s take was spend it on something that has long lasting value. Have an amazing experience directly in line with your PFE. Use it to fulfill one of your Big Five for Life.
The basis for his answer is that not only does it make logical sense to live the life you really want, when you dig into the mathematics, it really makes sense.
Here are a couple of the big statistics he uncovered. Some of these are quoted in the initial article, others aren’t.
- One out of five men in American never make it to age 65
- 29% of men in America experience a life threatening cancer, heart attack, or stroke by the time they are 65
- When you adjust for inflation, the S&P 500, which is the benchmark most mutual funds try to beat (and most don’t) has lost 21% of it’s value over the last 11 years. That means that if you invested $1,000 into the S&P 500 11 years ago, not only has it not gone up, it’s now only worth $790.
As you will see when you read the article and some of the associated comments, John’s take on this generated some interesting responses. Most interesting though, is that the responses of the people who disagreed, tended to be fear based vs. fact based. Even the title of the article is an example of fear based thinking.
Sometimes we get so tied to a belief system or pattern of behavior that we ignore the reality of the situation. In this case, that could result in really missing out on opportunities to fulfill your PFE and Big Five for Life.
Enjoy the article.
