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Articles

The Best Alternative Investments With the Least Regret

By Jimmy Turner, MD
The Physician Philosopher

We spend a lot of time on this site talking about financial investments, behavioral finance, and money.  The other focus is on living a life well lived.  Wealth & wellness make a lot of sense when you combine them, and lack a lot of value when either is absent.  In this post, we will discuss some of the best alternative investments that exist – but we aren’t going to talk about real estate, precious metals, or cryptocurrency.  Instead, we will talk about other things we need to be investing in to accomplish a life well lived.

Before we get started, some transparency is warranted.  In my life, what I am about to encourage you to do has never been my strength.  In a hope of “turning over a new leaf” in my life, I’ve recently made plans to be more intentional about these alternative investments.

I’d encourage you to do the same.

Invest in Your Family

This is one of the highest yielding investments you can make.

Investing in family can come in multiple forms.  It might mean investing in your marriage, investing in your children, or investing in loved ones that are far away.

Invest in Your Marriage

If you are married or in a long-standing relationship, this is likely your most important investment.  There is no other single area of your life that probably impacts both your wealth & wellness more than being married.

My wife and I try to be intentional in this area, though we could be better.  Usually it consists of date nights, which (ideally) should happen 2-4 times per month.  Pay for a babysitter (yes, even you Mr./Mrs. Frugal).  View it as an investment in your marriage where the return on your investment will be substantial.

This is particularly important for those who have kids.  After kids, it becomes very easy to fall into a routine where work and kids dominate your life.  Take some time to make sure your spouse really knows who their number 1 priority is – which is something that is sure to improve not only your marriage, but your kids’s lives as well.

Invest in your Kids

One way that our family consistently does this is by having “family night” every Friday.

Given the young age of our kids (all three are less than 10), this currently consists of “family movie night.”  This gives them the opportunity to learn how to hold a conversation and compromise as we pick the movie.

As they get older, I hope this turns into a night where we can spend time playing board games or doing other fun activities as a family.

Investing in your kids can have other looks, too. It might include daddy daughter dates, mommy (little) man dates, or simply spending intentional time at an ice cream shop after school.

Regardless of how this functions, the purpose of having intentional time with your kids is to talk to them about their ups/downs, joys & passions, and what is going on in their life.  It may seem small to you, but I bet it is really important to them.

Invest in Yourself

One of the times in which burnout rears its ugly head is when people lose their identity.  What I mean by this is when your career or pursuits begin to define you.

I am 100% clear with who I am when people ask me to tell them something about myself.  I am a God-fearing man who needs Jesus every day.  I am married to a woman I don’t deserve.  I am a brother, son, and grandson. My three children are what I am most proud of in this life.  My hobbies include being terrible at golf, loving craft beer, and running this website.  I am an inventor, author, and passionate college sports fan.  I also happen to be a physician practicing anesthesiology.

Why do I always put my profession last?  To remind me (and anyone else I am talking to) that being a physician does not define me.

Don’t forget to spend time doing the things that make you… you.

This may include spending time on your faith (something that I’ve recently recommitted to doing better).  It might also involve cultivating and creating hobbies.  Creative outlets are important for anyone in any profession – but particularly in medicine.

Sit down and ask yourself the tough questions.  What do you want to accomplish in this life?  What will be your legacy?  What things in life truly provide enjoyment for you?

Invest time (and money) in those things.

Invest in Your Friends

You may be starting to see the theme of this post, which is investing in people.

Investing in friends is probably the area that I have done the worst job in the last half decade. I’d love to blame it on being busy with medical training and having three kids, but the truth is that it just doesn’t come naturally to me.

It is one of the few areas of my life I’d really regret if I died today.

The truth is that spending time with loved ones is really what matters at the end of this life.  Did we invest in the lives of those around us?  Did we support them through the valleys of their life and celebrate with them on the mountain tops?

One of my best friends in college taught me how to do that.  To be happy for others (even when I’m not happy about my own situation).  It’s an essential skill in life that I learned from spending time with a friend.  This is just one of the thousands of things I’ve learned from friends over the years.

Take some time and make the phone call you’ve been meaning to make.  You won’t regret it.  And I bet it’ll make their day.

Invest in Experiences

The last alternative investment actually involves spending money.  The problem is that if you invest in the wrong thing, you’ll get a flat or possibly even negative return on your investment.

Research has shown that spending money on things (you know… cars, houses, gadgets, and status symbols) do not provide long lasting joy.  Instead, research encourages us to spend money on experiences, which produce memories and longer lasting fulfillment.

The catch, of course, is that these experiences should likely occur with all those other alternative investments listed above (i.e. family and friends).

So, when you spend your money… do so intentionally with an eye towards spending money on experiences as opposed to things.

Take Home

Talking about financial independence and personal finance is all good, but it is pretty pointless if we aren’t investing in the areas of our life that really matter.

Take some time to inventory what is really important to you, and invest in the people and things that mean the most.  You won’t regret it, and in fact – it will probably prevent you from having some regrets.

What are some non-financial areas of your life in which you invest?  Are you spending adequate time investing in the alternative investments listed above?  Leave a comment below.

TPP

17 Comments

  1. Xrayvsn

    The investments you mentioned are by far and away the most important ones you can make.

    For me it makes no sense to have all the money in the world if you have no one to share it with. That is why it is important to cultivate your relationship with loved ones always.

    Investing in your marriage in particular can have huge financial ramifications. If you end up in divorce you can lose half your wealth in an instant.

    And I agree experiences trump materialistic things always

    Reply
    • ThePhysicianPhilosopher

      Talking about money without perspective doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Completely agree that money lacks meaning without loved ones to share your experiences with.

      Reply
  2. Financial Wellness DVM

    A great reminder as to the whole reason we’re reaching for financial independence. I have three children as well, and it’s such a busy season of life where you feel like you’re pulled in so many directions.

    I remember reading about the unique issue of men and their friendships as they get older (there was also a podcast episode about this). Here’s the link:

    https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2017/03/09/the-biggest-threat-facing-middle-age-men-isn-smoking-obesity-loneliness/k6saC9FnnHQCUbf5mJ8okL/story.html

    As usual, time is often not on our side. Cultivating these relationships take time, which is such a scarcity! But such an important goal to have.

    Reply
    • ThePhysicianPhilosopher

      I’ll have to check that one out. Just by the title I bet I would agree with it.

      Spending quality time with out family simply cannot be replaced. And we never (or at least rarely) get that time back if we waste it.

      Reply
  3. Fred Leamnson

    Love this post TPP. Too much time is spent in the blogosphere on the same topics. How refreshing to see a post on things that matter more than money and give a much better return.
    Well done, brother.

    Reply
    • ThePhysicianPhilosopher

      Thanks, Fred. I am trying recently to focus on the behavioral side of finance … And finance without proper perspective is pointless.

      Reply
  4. Bernz JP

    Great post! This is really what true investing is all about. The most valuable investment of them all. Investing in life.

    Reply
  5. Crispy Doc

    That’s an asset class I can get behind! Beautiful piece with your memorable golden touch.

    The male friendship piece is hard in the “dad years” – as I cut back, this piece fell into place. One friendship emerged when someone interested in turning their financial act around took the bait and we started having coffee to discuss his next moves.

    Another couple occurred by having time off to walk or hike during weekdays off – admittedly hard to pull off with young children and a working spouse.

    As I made it known that I was free weekday mornings, more men with nontraditional work hours or who enjoyed a couple of work from home days reached out.

    I now enjoy a monthly game night that reminds me of my childhood games of Dungeons and Dragons, only now we are nerds with beer. It’s become one of the nights I most look forward to, all the men have kids in my children’s classes, and they share the misfit/outsider quality I most enjoy in others.

    When you reach that point of cutting back, I have every reason to believe this piece will fall into place for you as well, my friend.

    Fondly,

    CD

    Reply
  6. Dave @ Accidental FIRE

    I would add invest in your health under “me”. We all only get one body, and there’s no trade-ins.

    Reply
  7. Bill Yount

    The only thing I disagree with in this post is referring to people as alternative investments. They are our primary investments: self, spouse, kids, friends, family. Our identity and legacy is tied more to our relationship circle than anything else. They are at the center of our Life/Time Mindset. Subservient to that is our Financial Mindset based on the 3 jar approach of Save, Spend, Give. The tools we wield in expression of our Mindsets are Skillsets in Time and Money investment allocation. We are constantly in search of a Balanced Portfolio in accordance with our character and values across the entire time money continuum. Pure Balance is an unatainable boal but a noble pursuit.

    Reply
    • ThePhysicianPhilosopher

      I agree with you, Bill. The people in our lives should be our primary investment in life. Thanks for pointing that out

      Reply
  8. Bill Yount

    The Alternative Investment Title clickbaited me for Financial Alternative Asset Classes and I was pleasantly surprised with a substantial contrarian post!:)

    Reply
    • ThePhysicianPhilosopher

      Haha… If you don’t have an interesting title no one comes to read your post no matter how good it is 🙂

      Glad you were pleasantly surprised!

      Reply
  9. Cody

    Love this! I agree with all of your points here and really believe that these are the best investments we can make in life. Thanks for this refreshing “investing” article. Happy holidays!

    Reply
    • ThePhysicianPhilosopher

      Gotta have a catchy title to get them to read and good enough content to get them to stay ?

      Glad you liked it!

      Reply

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