Friends,
Seven years ago, I (Stoffel, here) made one of the most questionable financial decisions of my life.
We had just welcomed a second child into our family; we decided to turn our duplex into a single family home (which included a loss of rent); and I had taken considerable time off work to be with everyone.
We were bleeding lots of money from our savings.
In the middle of all this, my five-year-old daughter became an ardent Milwaukee Brewers fan. She knew everything about the team. She could sit through all nine innings transfixed. Suddenly, her and I were spending lots of quality time at Brewers' games.
As luck would have it, the team did exceptionally well that year.
In fact, on October 20, 2018 -- for just the second time in the team's history -- the Brewers were playing a game that could send them to the World Series.
I'd entertained buying tickets. But the prices were (to me) astronomical -- more than $600 apiece. WAY outside of our budget.
But for a moment, I changed my lens. I thought about the past, and the future -- and what matters most over the long term.
- Throughout my childhood, this team only had one good year. My dad somehow knew that would be the case. He brought us to every game he could that fall. It remains one of my fondest childhood memories.
- Ten years in the future, any strain this put us in would likely be a distant memory (it was a one-time event). If I could decide what my future self would most regret, it would be not going to the game.
And so we bit the bullet and spent over $1,000 we couldn't afford to lose.
The immediate result: heartbreak. The Brewers lost to the Dodgers; the season ended; it was a long ride home.
And yet, I'd argue that was (easily) the best money I've ever spent.
Seven years later, it turns out I was right: times were tight, but we cut back and recouped our losses.
And the investment has continued to pay dividends.
It's so easy to fall into a trap as investors: prioritize long-term stock returns above all else. But when we think about long-term investments, we have to be sure we aren't making a fatal error.
The most important investments never show up in our brokerage accounts. They show up in our relationships.
Recently, my daughter shared that though they lost, going to that game was one of her fondest memories. I can't imagine a more worthy measure of what types of returns really matter in life than that.
Wishing you investing success,
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Brian Feroldi, Brian Stoffel, & Brian Withers
Long-Term Mindset
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