On... Getting Rich Slow

Most people want to make money fast. I just want to make money slow.

All things being equal, of course I'd rather make money fast than slow. However, not everything is equal. There is more stress and risk if you want to hit it big at a quick pace. Much less stressful for me, if I take the time. Some of my friends doing leveraged trading are going for 20x returns this bull market cycle. I'm just looking to increase my portfolio by 50%. And 50% would be a record year for me!

Doing it slow lets compounding take care of your returns. I was reminded of this in the gym. I always thought of walking on the treadmill as silly as you walk but never reach a destination. But here I am, using a walking machine, on average twice a week.

On the walking machine, I set the target of walking 2.4km by the end on an hour. I always beat the target and this is how it goes. On the 1st 5 minutes, I'm right on target. At the 10 minute mark, I usually beat my target by 10m. At the 15 minute mark, I beat my target by 20m. Every 5 minute milestone, I beat my target more and more....without using more energy or walking faster. By the time I reach near the hour mark of my workout, I have already beaten my target by more than 100m.

I could extrapolate and see me beating my target at an exponential level if I go long enough. Of course there is a limit as I can't go on walking ad infinitum. This is how you get rich slow. You let your gains compound over a long time horizon and let the magic of compounding do the trick....without taking more risk and keeping it simple.

Getting rich is better than getting rich fast in my opinion... with all things not being equal. And in the real world, not all things are Equal.