Hi there,
This is Brad, host of the ChooseFI podcast. Each week I share ideas to ponder, inspire, and motivate you on your own journey to FI.
Five-Minute Win
This week’s Five-Minute Win: Reach out to someone you haven’t talked to in a while.
Not a text.
Call them.
Or send a voice message if that’s more your style.
Chris Hutchins did this with me out of the blue last week. We ended up having a great conversation that eventually turned into a podcast episode. It reminded me how often we think about reaching out to someone…and then don’t.
Five minutes is all it takes to strengthen an important relationship.
Take five minutes today. Future You will thank you.
Who came to mind while reading this?
Don’t Pay for Perfection
One of the most useful investing concepts I’ve ever learned is that every stock is simply a business.
Imagine you owned a small local business that earned $300,000 every year after paying all of its expenses.
What would someone pay to buy it?
If it was a fairly ordinary business, with modest growth prospects and dependent on one owner, you might only get an offer of let’s say three times annual earnings.
In other words, someone would pay about $900,000 for a business earning $300,000 a year.
The new owner is buying a business currently earning about 33% of what they paid for it each year.
Now compare that to the stock market.
A company trading at a 20 P/E ratio is selling for twenty times its annual earnings. If you bought the entire company at that price, today’s earnings would amount to roughly a 5% earnings yield.
That’s a respectable return, but probably not enough to get most investors excited. Why would anyone accept that 5% return?
Because they’re expecting those earnings to grow over time.
The same logic applies to high-growth companies.
A company trading at 100 times earnings is currently producing only about a 1% earnings yield. That would be an unattractive return if earnings never grow. Investors are willing to accept that because they believe today’s earnings are only a small fraction of what the company will eventually earn.
This is where price becomes so important.
The more you’re willing to pay today, the more future success is already built into that price. You’re no longer just betting that the company will grow. You’re betting that it will grow enough to justify everyone else’s current optimism.
That’s a difficult bet.
Sometimes it works spectacularly well.
Sometimes an unexpected competitor emerges. Sometimes growth slows. Sometimes a great business simply turns out to be less extraordinary than investors expected.
One of the hidden curriculums of investing is that price and quality aren’t the same thing. A wonderful business can still be a disappointing investment if you pay too much for it.
I’ve always preferred making investments where I don’t need everything to go exactly right.
Or, put another way:
Don’t make investments where perfection is already priced in.
Money Buys Opportunities for Connection
I recently heard Professor Scott Galloway say:
“We overestimate the pleasure and happiness we’re going to get from things. And we underestimate the pleasure and happiness we’re going to get from experiences.”
That immediately rang true.
Think about the last time you bought something you were genuinely excited about. Maybe it was a new car, a bigger TV, or a remodeled kitchen. At first it felt amazing.
Then, almost without noticing, it just became your car, your TV, or your kitchen. Humans are remarkably good at adapting, and what once felt extraordinary quietly becomes normal.
Experiences seem to work differently, especially when they’re shared with people we love. Years later, we’ll still laugh about getting lost on a trip, an unexpected conversation over coffee, a family hike that almost didn’t happen, or an ordinary Tuesday night spent around the dinner table. Those moments become part of our shared history in a way that things rarely do.
I’ve come to believe that one of the most valuable things money can do is create more opportunities for those moments. A plane ticket to a friend’s wedding. A week with your parents while they’re still healthy. Coaching your kid’s soccer team. A long walk with your partner on a weekday afternoon. Dinner that doesn’t have to end because someone needs to get back to work.
Happiness is an internal state, and money can’t manufacture it. But it can create more opportunities to spend meaningful time with the people you love.
A Few Things…
A few things I found interesting this week…
🎧 Listening Smarter
I use the AntennaPod app for podcasts, and I think it’s the best podcast app for Android. I’m also able to use the share functionality they offer to send each episode to ChatGPT. My new routine is to ask for a 500-word summary, the most actionable ideas (especially for me), and anything surprising. It’s been particularly useful for health podcasts like Huberman Lab, where there are often dozens of specific protocols that I’d otherwise forget by the next day.
🏐 Spikeball
I visited my friend Keith in New Jersey this past week, and the four of us ended up playing Spikeball for a few hours. I honestly forgot how much fun it is to play an actual sport. There’s something different about laughing, competing, and moving around with friends that the gym just can’t replicate.
🛒 Grocery Delivery
Erin and I have been experimenting with grocery delivery from Wegmans and Costco, and I’m surprised by how much time it saves. Oddly enough, I still can’t bring myself to order DoorDash from the Indian restaurant four minutes from my house. Apparently, my brain has decided grocery delivery is efficient while restaurant delivery is somehow lazy. Humans are weird.
🇳🇿 2027
We’re starting to make plans for October 2027, and it’s looking increasingly likely we’ll be spending time in Australia and New Zealand around FI events in both countries. It’s still early, but just having something exciting on the calendar gives me a surprising amount of energy.
🚶 1% Better
Here’s a tiny habit I’ve accidentally started: whenever I finish a walk, I go at least 50 steps past my front door before turning around. Those extra 100 steps add less than a minute, but they’re also 1% of a 10,000-step day. It’s such a small thing but it compounds.
Around ChooseFI
A few things happening around the ChooseFI community…
❤️ FI & Mighty
My friend (and friend of the show), Marla Taner, recently told me about a new project she and Elly Chen (former co-organizer of Camp Mustache) have launched called FI & Mighty.
Their mission is simple: help people in the FI community use their time and talents to give back.
Their first event is a volunteer retreat on beautiful Whidbey Island, just outside Seattle, from August 31–September 3. It combines community, service, and the opportunity to spend a few days with like-minded people.
If my schedule allowed, I’d genuinely love to attend.
There are only a few spots remaining, and you can learn more here.
🎉 Community Wins
One of the most-loved parts of the newsletter is the Taking Action section, and it only exists because you share your wins. If you’ve made progress, I’d love to celebrate it. Hit reply to this email with your win or visit our Feedback page, click “Share a Win,” and then “1% Better.”
📍 Local Groups
If you haven’t already, take 30 seconds to join your local ChooseFI group. You’ll automatically receive email notifications about meetups and events in your area, making it easy to connect with other people on the path to FI.
🎙️ Continue the Conversation
Have thoughts or questions about this week’s podcast? I’d love to hear them. Join the discussion on Episode 606, where Cody Garrett and I do a deep dive on target-date retirement and bond funds.
📚 Book Club
Our next book is Happy Money: The Japanese Art of Making Peace with Your Money by Ken Honda. Ginger will be discussing it with Jillian Johnsrud next month, so now’s a great time to grab a copy from your library. I’ll share details on how to submit questions and join the conversation in an upcoming newsletter.
✈️ Travel Rewards
My Top Ten Recommended Travel Rewards Cards page is always up to date, including current welcome offers. If you’re thinking about your next travel rewards card, that’s the first place I’d look. Right now, my #1 recommended card has a 100k welcome bonus, making this one of the best times we’ve ever seen to get started.
If you apply using our links, ChooseFI earns a commission at no additional cost to you. That support helps keep the podcast and newsletter free, and we’re incredibly grateful.