The Two Investments with the Best Returns
“It is not that we have so little time, but that we lose so much… The life we receive is not short, but we make it so; we are not ill-provided, but use what we have so wastefully.” - Seneca
“Net Worth” is a familiar term to most people nowadays. Colloquially, we use it to refer to the value of an individual’s assets, less liabilities. Simply put, it’s the value of what someone has, minus what they owe. Modern society is transfixed by an imaginary leaderboard of net worth; we keep up-to-date on the richest people in the world, we flaunt our possessions to gain admiration of others, and we subtly compare ourselves to people we meet by asking things like, “What do you do for work?” More and more it feels like existence is predicated upon keeping up with the Joneses.
Do you see the problem with this definition of “net worth”? It calculates only the value of possessions, not at all taking into account the intrinsic worth of the individual. The sum of your bank account should not be the only measure by which you’re defined; your worth as a human being is obviously greater than a number of dollars. So why have we taken that word - “worth” - and conflated it with a currency balance?
Investing is a popular way for people to attempt to increase their “net worth”. If we perceive that some store of value would cost us less than we could sell it for, we regard that as a prudent investment, yet we infrequently consider investing as a method for anything other than increasing our material possessions. In the same vein, just as we - as an increasingly materialistic society - forget to assign ourselves worth beyond the extent of our possessions, we often ignore the imperative to invest in things far more valuable than stocks, cryptocurrency, or precious metals.
Since we tend to spend a lot of time at home, and in our cars, these things become what we’re most willing to devote our resources to. “I spend 50% of my life at home,” we reason, “so it makes sense to commit half of my resources to purchasing a house. Plus, it will probably increase in value, so I’ll eventually enjoy a return on my investment.” This logic is certainly sound; however, it stands to reason that we should also apply this philosophy of investment to the two things we have with us at all times: our bodies, and our minds.
The vast majority of people, however, don’t seem to consider this. They’re perfectly content to invest their time into the mind-numbing cycles of work, buy, work more, buy more; in reality, they’re trading their most valuable resource - their life - for material possessions to stoke a few moments of fleeting happiness. Since we’re so willing to hand over years and years of our lives that can never be regained, trading them for passing fancies that won’t bring us any true joy, why are we satisfied with weak minds and bodies? It’s no surprise that obesity and heart disease are all on the rise when we are happy to sit slumped over in an office chair for forty hours a week, but can’t be bothered to spend an hour walking outside. No wonder stress, mental illness, and chronic anxiety are at all-time highs: when we mindlessly subject ourselves to hour after hour of media, but put no effort into producing anything of value, our mental capacity for creativity diminishes like an atrophied muscle.
They say all work and no play make Jack a dull boy, but in the modern day, all play and no work have achieved the same outcome for Jack. Disinterest in mental and physical exercise are making us weaker, fatter, and stupider every day.
It’s critical we re-orient our definition of value from the material back to the personal to prevent the continued backsliding of our society toward a neanderthal-like state of being. As long as we’re willing to sacrifice our mental constitution and our physical well-being in the name of wealth, fashion and luxury, we’ll continue to develop empty heads and weak bodies. Furthermore, anything material can easily be taken away; there are plenty of lottery winners and professional athletes who have gone bankrupt, not to mention investors who’ve lost it all on a bad bet. Instead, we place much greater value on what cannot be taken away from us: wisdom, understanding, quality of character, strength of mind, and physical wellness. If you develop a sharp mind, it will be much easier to acquire treasures more valuable than a nice car or a big house, and a healthy body will allow you to enjoy those things for much longer.
Focus on maximizing your physical and intellectual net worth, instead of just the balance in your bank account.