What's in store for you:

1. Photo From My Life
2. Financial Thought: Investing Early
3. Life Thought: Staying Power
4. Good Sh*t: Would You See Things Differently

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Photo From My Life:

Financial Thought:

The Importance of Investing Early: One of the biggest misconceptions about personal finance is that people assume they’ll save and invest more once they’re “settled.” But here’s the irony: for many, the highest percentage of spending happens in their late 20s and 30s. On a personal level, I feel this. It's the time most people buy and furnish a home, have kids, and send kids to daycare. There are a lot of new financial responsibilities that come with these exciting life moments.

Unfortunately, this is also a window where investing has the most long-term impact. You’re far from retirement, which means compounding has the most time to work its magic. Sure, many people are able to increase their savings as their income grows later in life. However, by then they’ve missed out on 5-10+ years of serious compounding. And that cost is real.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the different ways we can support our kids financially. I was pretty balanced in my recommendations. But, these two charts from Baird made me rethink my stance. For once, I'll show you my bias. Even if your financial plan hasn't fully covered all of your goals yet, it's worth contributing a small amount to your children's investment accounts starting when they were born. Even small contributions like $50 a month can create a huge foundation for your child.

The takeaway? Start early. Even when it feels like you can’t.

Chart 1: Two 66-year-olds invested $0.52/day. One started from birth. The other waited until age 10. The difference? Nearly $600,000.

Chart 2: The longer you hold, the lower your risk. Hold stocks for 1 day? Almost a coin flip. Hold for 20+ years? A 0.1% chance of losing money.

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Life Thought:

Staying Power: As I begin the efforts to find (the right) clients for VDB Wealth, I’ve been reflecting on where I might already have some embedded trust. My wife had the great idea to reach out to folks involved with Mayflower Hill Capital.

While this may sound like some super fancy Private Equity Fund, it's actually a student run investment fund that I started at Colby College. I pulled together 15 classmates, each contributing $500, and we built a real portfolio. Buying and selling stocks, discussing strategy, and learning as we went. When someone graduated, they’d sell their stake to a sophomore for whatever their share was worth.

I went to Linkedin to take a look at all the members and I found over 200 people who were involved with Mayflower Hill Capital. A wild feeling came across me.

Fifteen years later, this thing we built is still operating. I don’t think many people get the privilege of starting something that outlives their direct involvement. Starting anything is hard. Keeping it alive, year after year, with no one being paid to do it? That feels close to a miracle.

I've been lucky enough to have WeHero continue to operate in the world after we sold it and when both my business partner and I stepped away from the business. It hasn't been fifteen years yet, but our hope is that we setup things to have the staying power needed to make that happen.

Of course, there's a sense of personal satisfaction seeing something you built live on. But more than that, it’s made me reflect on a few fundamentals:

1. Build something that will matter in 15-30 years. This will drive long-term enterprise value (and satisfaction)
2. Build an organization with the right values and flexibility so it can adapt to the changes it will undoubtably face

Good Sh*t:

Would You See Things Differently?

Like so many of my peers, we're in the slog of the life and don't always appreciate the beauty of what's happening around us. We lack the perspective to truly understand how lucky we are at this stage of life. I recommend listening to this poem to help provide a bit more perspective this week. Warning: There were some tears when I watched it..........

Disclaimer: VDB Wealth is a registered investment adviser. Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.

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