FML10: Utilizing the Power of Compounding to Make Exponential Gains in Fitness, Money & Life
ALCHEMIZE FML
Newsletter #10
Weekly Tips, Tools & Strategies to Alchemize your Fitness, Money & Life
“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it; he who doesn't, pays it.”
— Albert Einstein, Theoretical Physicist
Greetings my fellow Life Alchemists!
This past week's Alchemize Life Podcast interview with Serial Entrepreneur Brad McGowan was a lot of fun for me as we became friends at the very beginning of my Financial Independence Journey back in 2018. We originally bonded over our mutual love of Rollerblading of all things. And like a true entrepreneur, Brad went on to create a company around something he loved (rollerblading) that became way more successful than he ever anticipated. Here's a fun Instagram Reel featuring me taking Brad's rollerblading gear for a spin.
Without further ado, let's FML! Your weekly dose of actionable tips, tools & strategies to Alchemize your Fitness, Money & Life to the Next Level!
FITNESS: Consistency compounds.
Just like with money, you can take massive advantage of the power of compounding with your fitness by being consistent. This applies with both your eating/nutrition & your training/workouts. The more consistent you are the faster the compounding returns. The most fit people I know all have one thing in common -- they are consistent AF with their nutrition & training and have been for years. The only way to get consistent is to get started & then double down by taking imperfect action each day & each week.
MONEY: You can't compound zero.
Just start investing some amount each week or month into low-fee index funds like the S&P500. Set this up for automated investing with a company like Fidelity, Schwab, or Wealthfront. It truly does not matter if you're investing only $25 per week. Most people can figure out how to put $25 aside each week. As the months & years go by a few things will start to happen. (1) You'll look back and be like, "Wow! I invested _____ last month/year." (2) You'll realize that you can increase your weekly/monthly investing amount and you'll go from investing only $100 per month to $1,000's per month. (3) Eventually you will start to see the power of compounding working hard on your behalf while you're sleeping, vacationing & doing other things in life. Some of you will even get to a point where your invested money outworks your ability to earn a certain amount per month/year. But none of this is possible if you don't ever start investing regularly. Again, just start taking imperfect action today & this week.
LIFE: Something is better than nothing.
Whether it's working out, growing your money, or improving any important area of your life doing something is almost always better than doing nothing. Can't make it to the gym for a full workout due to a time crunch? No problem, bust out a quick workout at home. Set your timer for 15 minutes & do 1-minute of kettlebell swings followed by 1-minute of pushups followed by 1-minute of rest. Repeat for a total of 5-rounds. Don't have $25 bucks to invest? Set a timer for 15-minutes & identify a few expenses you can eliminate until you come up with $25 per week that you can put towards investing. Your digital monthly subscriptions to Apps & Streaming Services is a great place to find expenses you can eliminate. Feel like your romantic relationship has gone stale? Set a timer for 15-minutes & give your partner a massage. The main point here is to take 100% responsibility & just do something, even it's very small or only takes a tiny bit of time. Imperfect action will always outperform waiting until you can do it perfectly.
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Sending you all lots of Energy & plenty of Dragon Magic!
Justin "Dragon" Carl
P.S. The picture of the graph shows that you can reach almost a million dollars by investing $800 per month over 30-years assuming a conservative 7% interest rate. It would be even higher if you just invested $200 per week. The S&P500 returned 8.19% from 2002-2022 & 12.84% from 2012-2022. The key take-away is to see how the interest grows exponentially over time. What if you could apply this compounding power & exponential growth to your fitness, money & other important life areas? Now, stop thinking about it and start doing something about it by taking some imperfect action today.