Looking at the financial and political landscape of today can get pretty depressing. When you see the financial options prepared for you by Wall Street, they don’t inspire much confidence. When I began my financial journey, I explored all the standard options Wall Street offers, but I didn’t find any compelling reason to invest in them. So, I simply stayed in cash.
And then the 2008 financial crisis hit – and all the “experts” saw their portfolios hammered, while I did just fine. I kept searching for solutions that actually make sense and could really move the needle on your net worth. A 10% average return on mutual funds might be nice (in theory), but it’s not going to make you financially independent.
I realized that it wasn’t the individual investment vehicles (such as mutual funds) which are the problem per se, but rather the entire financial framework that we are trained to use to evaluate investments (such as “return on investment”, a Wall Street gimmick rather than a useful metric).
But here’s where it gets exciting – once you find there’s an alternate universe outside of Wall Street’s control, you realize there’s a whole world of great opportunities waiting for you!