With the economy going into a recession, the housing market still in a turmoil and the stock market being turbulent, what is the best place to invest your money and time?
The answer is you and the people around you.
The nobles and lords in China two thousands years ago knew the importance of investing in people. They fed, clothed and sheltered those so called "wandering intellectuals," and in return, those intellectuals provided services ranging from all areas of life such as bodyguard (using swords), estate management and financial planing, strategic plans for the nobles to ascend to higher ranks, and etc. Nowadays, we hear many companies shouting out "invest in people" as well. But this idea of "investing in people" does not prevail when it comes to a modern individual. When we talk about investment, we often, if not always, focus on conventional investment types such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, Golds, Real Estates, and etc. We seldom even think of investment in people, let alone having a strategic plan for doing so. One reason might be that it is hard to measure the returns. The other reason might be that we refuse to consider a friendship or a relationship as an investment because doing so will make us feel that we are too mercenary and hence guilty or shamed as a human being. Whatever the reason might be, I hope I can convince you, by the end of this series of articles, the importance, the legitimacy, the beauty and the ways of Investment In People.
The closest person available for you to start investing immediately is yourself. I suggest that you take a look at yourself, and start to get to know yourself in an honest way. Knowing oneself is an arduous and continuing process. Thus you will need to ask yourself specific questions. For instance, you may want to ascertain whether you explored a certain talent or faculty of yours such as dancing. And it takes a second for you to find out that you've never danced before. Instead of saying "I don't know how to dance," you say "wow, this area is waiting for me to develop, and I'd like to look into it." (The same thing a developer would say to himself when he spots a piece of land.) So you look into it, and found yourself fall in love with tango. Then you decide to take some classes. You discovered that you are not a genius in tango, but you sure have some potential. Then you realize that your tango instructor lives off of teaching tango, and this makes you wonder, "what if I seriously learn and practice tango, then by the time I retire, I may be able to teach and keep receiving income as well." Once you realize this, dancing tango becomes an investment for you, and you are the investment. By the way, this is an actual case happening to me, and I can tell you so far the investment has been great. Yeah, this is the one great thing about investing in yourself, its value will increase as long as you work hard on it.
The answer is you and the people around you.
The nobles and lords in China two thousands years ago knew the importance of investing in people. They fed, clothed and sheltered those so called "wandering intellectuals," and in return, those intellectuals provided services ranging from all areas of life such as bodyguard (using swords), estate management and financial planing, strategic plans for the nobles to ascend to higher ranks, and etc. Nowadays, we hear many companies shouting out "invest in people" as well. But this idea of "investing in people" does not prevail when it comes to a modern individual. When we talk about investment, we often, if not always, focus on conventional investment types such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, Golds, Real Estates, and etc. We seldom even think of investment in people, let alone having a strategic plan for doing so. One reason might be that it is hard to measure the returns. The other reason might be that we refuse to consider a friendship or a relationship as an investment because doing so will make us feel that we are too mercenary and hence guilty or shamed as a human being. Whatever the reason might be, I hope I can convince you, by the end of this series of articles, the importance, the legitimacy, the beauty and the ways of Investment In People.
The closest person available for you to start investing immediately is yourself. I suggest that you take a look at yourself, and start to get to know yourself in an honest way. Knowing oneself is an arduous and continuing process. Thus you will need to ask yourself specific questions. For instance, you may want to ascertain whether you explored a certain talent or faculty of yours such as dancing. And it takes a second for you to find out that you've never danced before. Instead of saying "I don't know how to dance," you say "wow, this area is waiting for me to develop, and I'd like to look into it." (The same thing a developer would say to himself when he spots a piece of land.) So you look into it, and found yourself fall in love with tango. Then you decide to take some classes. You discovered that you are not a genius in tango, but you sure have some potential. Then you realize that your tango instructor lives off of teaching tango, and this makes you wonder, "what if I seriously learn and practice tango, then by the time I retire, I may be able to teach and keep receiving income as well." Once you realize this, dancing tango becomes an investment for you, and you are the investment. By the way, this is an actual case happening to me, and I can tell you so far the investment has been great. Yeah, this is the one great thing about investing in yourself, its value will increase as long as you work hard on it.
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