Investment Advice: the Three P's

How can we best leverage the hours and minutes of our life and maximize the return on our investment? Let me suggest what I refer to as the "Three P's" of successful investing: purpose, passion and perseverance. (That last word doesn’t sound quite as exciting as the first two, but it can be the most satisfying of all.)

First, we need to invest with purpose. We see this being true in the financial realm also. Are we saving for retirement? A down payment on a home? A hedge against unemployment or financial hardship? Our purpose helps define the type of investment we make, and helps provide the motivation to keep us focused. There will be plenty of opportunities along the way to rationalize spending that money that we meant to save. To stay on track, we will need to remind ourselves why we are choosing to forego the lesser (but enticing) alternative for the greater purpose.

It is the same when it comes to investing our time (i.e., ourselves). To determine our purpose for any given investment, we need to have a growing understanding of our values, goals and what we feel called to do or be. What is at the top of our food chain—a successful career, a successful family, pleasing other people? Is that purpose lofty and compelling enough to guide us in making the hard choices along the way? When we get a sense of our investment purpose(s), it will help us to be intentional about our choices: "Shall I work overtime at the office on that client proposal or go to my daughter's school band concert? Shall I reach for the remote, or for that book I’ve been meaning to get to?"

Then we need to invest with passion. This is what infuses our purpose with energy and creativity. Perhaps passion is not as important in financial investing. Regular automatic bank transfers to our investment account will do the trick. But the effectiveness of our life investment will be proportional to our time multiplied by our passion. Passion is not simply strong feeling, though it may involve that. It has to do with commitment, conviction and creativity. I have heard it said that you can tell at a restaurant who the married couples are—they are the ones who aren’t talking with each other! While I hope this is overstating the case, it does remind me of couples I have seen in my office who are “going through the motions” without the passion that would characterize a true investment. Passion as I am referring to it is not necessarily spontaneous, but it is infectious, and it has a way of multiplying itself once it gets a foothold.

Finally, we need to invest with perseverance. Like Rocky (in the movie of the same name), we need to “go the distance.” This may not sound like much fun at first glance, but it is very rewarding. The whole movie-going audience cheered for Rocky Balboa, the upstart boxer who fought the champion. He had purpose, he fought with passion, and he persevered. Though he did not win the match, we all knew that Rocky’s personal victory in going the distance was even more satisfying.

Whether the capital is money or time, investments require the most patience in the early stages, before our interest starts to compound. When we start treating someone with more kindness or attention, we may have to keep at it (persevere) for quite a while before we begin to see results. But the satisfaction that comes as our investment begins to “mature” is well worth the wait.

So the next time you look at your calendar, imagine it as an investment statement ready to record your deposits, and remember that your growth of capital will be proportional to your purpose, your passion and your perseverance.

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