Nerd culture is having its moment.  No one is afraid to admit they love Doctor Who or Lord of the Rings.  But no one really goes around bragging that they’re an investor, not even Andrew.

We would describe an investor as someone looking for long term benefit.  And we don’t mean buying and holding Beanie Babies.  If you love Beanie Babies, great.  Buy all you can afford.  But don’t expect to sell them one day to fund your retirement.  We mean stuff like the stock market or rental property.

An investor also doesn’t check the numbers every day and panic at the smallest hiccup.  Buy and hold.  This extends to areas other than money.  A person with an investor’s mind is always looking to the long term and not strictly what feels good at the moment.  It’s like the old marshmallow experiment.

Small children were given one marshmallow.  They were told if they waited to eat it until the tester returned to the room, a wait of about fifteen minutes, they could have a second marshmallow.  The children who waited were found to have better results later in life in terms of things like BMI, SAT scores, and educational attainment.  Wait for the second marshmallow!

Not all of us were born with the ability to wait for the second marshmallow but we can all train ourselves to be patient to reap the long term benefits.  What happens in the next year to the money you invest now doesn’t matter.  It’s what happens to that money years in the future.

Show Notes

Schneider Weisse Aventinus:  A wheat dopplebock.

Betterment:  Start getting into the investor mind set today.

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