When you grow up you always want to be something. I always pictured running a huge company. So I went along pursuing the dream: become an accountant, write CFA, work my way up and do an MBA at LSE. Literally had a timeline! That dream lived fast and died young studying accounting, and I buried it in articles... and moved on!
Why did i give up the dream
As with any dream you can make the rules, but somehow it is in control of itself and it is limited to a point in time, and you forget everything else. I realized my dream was based on a small minded view of life. Being the first person in my family to ever go to university, I imagined a world of free thinkers and I would be learning about how the world functions. I soon realized class was limited to a book and the lecturers view. So I took it upon myself to learn beyond class. I like to say at university I studied people. I would go to classes for different degrees, and try meet as many different people as I could. Suppose that was probably why I was never the best accounting student. I came to university to learn to think. I did legitimately actually take some other elective courses, aside from ones I used to just frequent for fun.
Not all lecturers were limiting. To name two who actually taught me to think, David Benatar (ethics for everyday) and Carlos Correia (Finance). For me what is important in life is simple things, things that make you smile, things that make you think and things that make you, you.
THE NEW DREAM
If I had to summarise key things I want to focus on. I love investing, love people, love time and my wife and dogs (not in this order). So why not spend the time focusing on the things I love.
People
I love people. Everyone is different, everyone has a story and everyone can tell you something you didn't know, give you a perspective or create a feeling within you. We are all human.
Family
Being Portuguese helps, because family is a community and support, a friend who always forgives and no matter how long you are apart you always are a hello away from where you left off.
Time
Time has always been important for me. So it is important you use the time you have in a way that is meaningful to you (funny enough I spend most of my time looking at financial information - by choice!). I do feel people time is often limited by their jobs and situations, and part of those limitations are wealth driven. So hence I feel like time and wealth are often related. So just know I only have this time once. So as I write, I am choosing to give part of myself to this online place (and you), and I'll never get it back.
Value
I was fortunate enough to grow up in the middle of nowhere and was luck enough to spend loads of time outside and being a kid. I feel like that is one of my biggest advantages in life. Both parents worked in the shop, I used to walk to junior school (class 1 and 2) my sister and I used to play outside and our toys where what we found in the garden.
Ever wonder why (in general) as a young child you are never sad or depressed and have a never ending supply of optimism. It's because "things" didn't matter, you were free (mainly from responsibility). Then as you grow up you sadly find "things", you notice people have things you don't. This is where in life, how you think of value changes, and this is partly why I am making this site.
My sister used to be embarrassed about my mom's car when she dropped us at school and I remember the one day my mom said to me...
“If anyone at schools asks you if we are rich, you can tell them we are rich in love.”
Just to clarify, I am not saying I was deprived, what I am saying is the stuff that mattered to me were not "things". What I remember from my childhood were experiences, and that's what I valued most.
I want people to value their time, and help create financial wealth so they can have more time.
irony of being a lecturer
When I was at university I used to joke with my friends and say "Would you ever come back and lecture?" "What would you do differently?"
I was never a great student. Don't get me wrong I was very capable, just learning to pass a test or exam was not in my view of the maximum value I could get from my time. A test was a chance for me to apply myself with what I knew.
My answer to the initial questions, was I would scrap the textbook and teach people to think and learn things that actually are useful in life. No notes no slides just chat, human to human.
Little naive at the time, but to be honest being back that is all I want to do, and I get blocked by a 175 years of not evolving, that is called a university.
I would be lying if I said I didn't try to get people to think and teach them skills or lessons to use in life.
What I learnt from attempting this, is a large group of people don't want to learn to think. The majority don't care about how this fits in, they just want to pass and get the piece of paper that is in their dream. That’s fine.
Despite this, I do still meet some amazing people, who want to understand and think, and that's what makes being a lecturer a privilege, and add value in my life. Hopeful I can pass on some knowledge.
Also I learn every day, and have my time. Prof Carlos Correia said to me, "The more I learn the more I realize how little I know". So I have a long way to go! He also said more interestingly, "You should never over prep for a lecture as it takes away your ability to think and apply yourself" (note over prep- you definitely must prep).
So guess I have to post the useful stuff here, and hopefully those amazing people get to read it!
Bottom line is I have experiences I want to share about wealth in life that hopefully add value.