The Path to Happiness is Being material Asset-Lite

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to take the family up to Whistler Blackcomb mountain for a family trip. Part of reconciliation. It was beautiful up there. My family had a fun time skiing while I worked at the hotel. 

We packed light and rented everything. Took the shuttle bus up there from the airport, and pretty much worried about nothing. Didn’t have to carry heavy ski equipment around. It was great. 

Ski trips with equipment, ski passes and everything are damn expensive. Monetarily and for your piece of mind. For your soul even. It always was in some ways but more so now. I never could have afforded this 15 years ago. How grateful I am to be here.

But the main insight, besides the fact that having money really matters, was that most of the things we were told we needed to own aka assets turned out to be liabilities. Your house. Your car. Ski equipment. Most of the material things you own. Most of these things can be rented as needed. Ownership is a trap. 

And I think many young people grok this already. Rent and own as little as you need. A bare amount of clothes, a laptop, phone, gear, guns, weapons and bullets as an exception. Everything else should be put in real assets like investments in real estate, stocks, crypto, bonds, gold and even cash. The real ownership you should focus on is ownership ie. Equity in businesses. Cash flowing businesses or Silicon Valley growth ones. The more the better. Net net: Stack real assets, not fake ones. 

Then use these assets to fund the lifestyle you and your family truly want. This is the way. Be material asset-lite but investment asset heavy. Seems obvious but this is clearly not how most people actually live.