Sandcastles, Sea Turtles, and the One True Priority

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Priorities, sandcastles, turtles, and financial planning versus financial preparation. I’ve mentioned this before here on the program. We could only have one priority. Can’t have priorities. Even though it’s in the title here, priorities, no, no such thing. There has to be one underlying thing that is each and every one of our modus operandi.

our priority. Mine, obviously, serve God and my family. That’s it. That’s it. They’re one in the same. They’re one in the same. That’s not priorities. That’s one in the same. And that guides everything that I do. People, I’ve noticed, they get bogged down with priorities and they lose focus.

They lose focus, they get off track. When all of a sudden, you know, this item they made desire may become a priority or whatever it may be. If you keep your focus, if you get your mind right and have a priority, everything else is gonna fall in line. Chris Stefanik did a bit on this.

several months ago and he was talking about sea turtles in Florida and how sea turtles when they hatch, they are guided by the light of the moon on the water, they go to the water and that’s what they’re supposed to do. And this is part of the problem that they have down here in Florida where these sea turtles hatch is that people have

You know, lights on their houses, lights elsewhere, and the sea turtles, they lose focus. And they go in the wrong direction. Actually, know, they, sure, Aries, you’re not allowed to have lights on at your house. You live on the beach certain times a year because it’s bad for the sea turtles. The sea turtles have got to go to the water. That’s what happens to us as human beings. We got lights, things flashing here, there, everywhere. I’ve got to be in, you know, this and…

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It takes us takes us off our true path. It takes us away from what really should guide us. Our priority. Sandcastles. was thinking about this column I wrote about 20 years ago, 24 years ago, actually. I see a little bit less than that. And I was talking about my son, my son at the beach and was watching him build.

Sandcastle time, I think it was maybe four years old. And you you watch a little kid when they get into something and you’re wondering what’s going on in their mind, but they got that determined look on their face and their buckets of sand and water and carving tunnels, the plastic shovel, and they got the little action figures there. know, build the moat to keep the bad guys out, all that stuff, priceless stuff that I’ll never ever.

Forget, but there’s a lesson behind that. And it’s a project that my son was working hard on, but he knew it was gonna get, know, it’s gonna eventually, the sea is gonna come, it’s gonna be gone. He didn’t care. He was enjoying what he was doing. Enjoying the process. Enjoying the process every minute of what he was doing. And this is where I get into

And I’ve talked about this a lot over the years here on the program and how much I, I’m not a big fan and you have to use it because it’s the terminology in the industry. I don’t even like how it’s used. You’ve got, you know, in my opinion, anybody that is working at a big investment house, technically they’re not a fiduciary.

because they have shareholders to be holding to, so they can’t put their clients interests above their own. But anyway, the difference between financial planning and financial preparation. I don’t like the word financial planning. I don’t. The idea that you are going to have some sort of control, this is a fallacy. You control your life and what’s gonna happen next.

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You’re not.

You’re not. know, again, it’s difficult for a lot of people, a of men. You can control what you have control over. You are a hard worker. You have control over that. You can bust your butt, but you don’t know what’s gonna come your way. You don’t know what pitfall you may run into. You may not know what great idea, fortune, great opportunity.

may present itself to you. It’s different for all of us. We don’t have control over that. We don’t control what we have control over. Work hard, bust your butt, do the right thing, live the right way, all of that stuff. And that’s quite frankly the difference in what we do. This idea, this financial planning idea, and listen, it’s cute, it’s quaint, and it’s easy to sell.

It’s easy to sell. I got my software and we’re gonna punch in some dates here and what are you planning on retiring? this is how much you can spend at this point in time. And then people.

They program their lives around these dates.

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Why would you do that? Why would you do that? Yeah, I’m the same way. know people, you know, they go on vacations is something I never really understood. And sorry if I’m offending anybody here likes to do this stuff. Going on vacations and you’re going on a cruise and then you’re going with some tour and you’ve got some sort of schedule and you gotta be back here at a certain point in time and you’re following somebody around with a flag. I’m like.

I was not on vacation, I was at work. So that’s not vacation to me. You’re on vacation, you’re in Venice, get yourself up early, go get yourself lost, go have a good time. Figure it out, that’s what makes it fun. And that’s how you should treat life. Don’t have this false sense that you have any sort of control, because you don’t. You don’t.

What you can do is you do the right thing.

And again, this is obviously on a moral level, living by the rules, you know, living that way. But also when it comes to what we do, is again, yeah, you’re putting money away on a regular basis. You’re doing the right thing. But you know you’re also, not doing, you’re not missing out on the here and now. This is this thing about retirement. This thing about retirement.

I don’t like that word, the finality of it. I am retired. I’m retired. You you think about that, just, you you look at like a professional athlete, how long they hold on, they never want to retire. It’s because they love what they do and they know it’s the end of something.

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What is the point, just throwing this out, I’m gonna throw some questions. What is the point for grinding for three to four decades? Okay, I gotta work all these extra hours, gonna miss my kids ball games, gonna do all this stuff, not gonna, you know, not gonna do the things, take care of my health the way I should. Then, you know, up, then, oh, don’t worry, when I hit that finish line, 30, 40 years down the road, up, then I can start enjoying life. What?

Are you kidding me?

Did you understand this? It’s almost like a George Carlin bit back when he’s talking about the big club and it was also talking about education in America. And, you know, you know, they want you to just smarten up to follow the rules, do what they tell you to do. You’re going to. You know, basically forfeit. Your younger years.

When again, we’re all gonna get older. Things are gonna start breaking out. That’s inevitable. Okay. Happens to all of us. Trust me. Watch, so you can make a couple extra bucks. I, again, I’m all for work hard doing the right thing, but.

Why are you gonna work yourself silly? I, listen, I’m saying, well, you work, listen, I work my butt off, okay? But I also spend as much time as I possibly can with my family. Still going on family vacations, doing things together on a regular basis. You don’t wanna miss that.

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Yeah, this is, put together this is actually some real smart statement was given to me. When you push off joy, purpose, relationships, health, adventure, and meaning until the final chapter of your life, you often don’t get the chapter you were promised. You promise anything. Okay, that’s Madison Avenue, promising you crap. That’s why I don’t like the concept of retirement in the first place.

Okay? That’s those stupid commercials at the brokerage for, I can retire, I’m a school teacher, I save my money, and now got a vineyard in Napa. Shut up! No, you don’t.

No, don’t. Wouldn’t it be better to enjoy your younger, gee whiz, maybe work a few days a week? I’m just saying, when you get a little bit older, maybe not check out completely. You know, we all have, again, I talk about the purpose that we have. We all have talent, ability, it’s all different. It’s all different, you know what? Everybody’s different, know, when I was younger, yeah, I wanted to play.

for professional baseball, for the Yankees. Guess what? I didn’t have the ability, okay? Didn’t have it. Didn’t matter how hard I worked and we busted our butts for a kid. Not good enough. Not good, that’s okay. That’s all right. That wasn’t for me, okay? Wasn’t what I was destined to do. But.

What I’m getting at, you’re wired for a purpose. You’re wired for contributing, for creativity. You’re wired to have a mission. Don’t miss things. Don’t grind yourself into dust. Okay? Never. Never. I’m telling you right now, don’t give up on work. Okay? If can’t give up on work, it’s gotta be in your own terms. I have to talk about this. I’ll probably, you know.

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do a head plant in front of a microphone. That’s okay. Nothing wrong with that. I’ve enjoyed.

The ride, and you need to as well. This is the problem, and this this, you know again, this pot of gold, this retirement pot of gold that they sell you. yeah. Don’t participate in that, people. There’s better ways of doing things. Watchdogonwallstreet.com.