What Really Matters

I live in a privileged era. I so often forget this. Knowledge, sex, and opportunity are open to me in a way that were not freely available to generations past.

Somehow, despite this, people rarely live up to their dreams. As individuals, we have to stop and ask ourselves 'if I were 80 and looking at my life, what would I have regretted doing and what path I should take now to minimise regret'. Few take the initiative to pursue their calling. Many are too comfortable in their own lives, perhaps with their income and status, and are too scared of stepping outside their boundaries.

I am going to. I, too, am scared of the unknown and am unsure about the uncertainty it entails. However, I have a good idea how happy I will be if I keep following the path I am currently on and what it may be like if I actively pursue what I enjoy.

I know what will happen if I continue on the path that I am on. I see the future ahead of me and it is calamitous. I am already neglecting my friends and social life, ruining my sex life, obsessing over more money, becoming less fit and active, and seeing my happiness levels decline. The average person's happiness declines from their early 20s until 45, in large part due to the toll of working life. I don't see the point of working long hours everyday, wasting away the best years of my life slaving for the system, for something that is pointless anyway. I know that I won't be maximising my happiness if I maintain the status quo.

The big question is whether I can create a life better than I would otherwise. There is only one way to find out. I have to commit to living the way I believe brings me greatest happiness first and reflect on it later (re: Retirement). I have recorded my happiness levels from working and being engaged in other activities. I know which activities I need to pursue to maximise my happiness (re: What Makes Me Happy?).

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Initially I thought life was so much more. I was achievement focused. Then I accomplished most of what I wanted to achieve and I realised that everything there is to accomplish is meaningless in the long run. Almost anything that one can accomplish will not make any lasting impact on history.

Looking through my diaries I see that life just passes by.

It is so quick.

Nothing matters.

I ask myself why I used to fret when it is so insignificant in the end. People pass by. They become a blur. I can't even recall some of my friends.

I am so insignificant. Nothing I do will change anything. The world just keeps going on. The universe keeps going.

Why do something big when it never matters? It doesn't matter because everything eventually fades away.

It's much simpler. It's about happiness, combined with doing good and showing love to others, balancing individuality with cooperation. These virtues line up well with an approach to life seeking to maximise pleasure over the long term as doing good makes life more pleasant and less stressful for the practitioner.

Wishful Thinking

Seeing startup success stories inspires and stirs envy.

I hear about these youngsters hitting the big time. Whatsapp selling for $19 billion. Airbnb, Uber and Campaign Monitor raising in excess of $200 million. Plenty of companies have now achieved $1 billion in valuation [1] [2], while many many more have valuations exceeding $20 million.

What these stories don't show is the exceedingly high rate of failure of startups. Only a few ever reach the pinnacle. My guess is around 1% of startups succeed (achieving a $20 million plus valuation) [3] [4].

Entrepreneurship is harder than a day job. It takes an emotional and physical toll. Entrepreneurs work 50% more hours than the average worker, with half working 50-60 hours a week [5] [6]. Working for yourself is likely to be more stressful and less secure than receiving a regular paycheck. Furthermore, around 50% of entrepreneurs report having a mental condition [7]. Tim Ferriss commented that only a minority of VC backed businesses are happy, founders tend to have a view that life will suck for the next 5 to 10 years and then they will exit, and few businesses actually survive.

What's more is that dilution and taxes take a big hit out of your end value, meaning that it is likely you are left with around 7% of the sale price [8] [9] [10] , which will take say 5 years to build towards. In this case, to achieve a $1 million exit post taxes, you will need to sell your startup for at least $15 million. In a post examining the poor returns of investing in startups, 'Drowning American' commented that his friends have successful exits of around $120 million and own roughly a 10% share, which is equivalent to under 7% of the sale price after tax [11].

Even if a startup achieves a good sale result, entrepreneurs often experience dislocation and disorientation following the sale, including feelings of loss and sadness as their companies gave them a sense of identity, purpose and structure. They also have difficulty finding wealth advisors and find that it takes time to discover the next fulfilling chapter of their lives.

The odds are heavily tilted against you. You better have luck on your side.

On a related note, I must never forget how tough it is for the majority of hedge funds. After working in a hedge fund and interviewing many hedge fund managers, I know that most hedge funds have low assets under management and just match market returns. In fact, around 90% of hedge funds have less than $100 million assets under management [12]. We only hear stories of the funds that make it big, while the reality is that the majority don't make bucket loads of money.