Why Happiness is Like Index Funds
By Michael Werner
If you pay even scant attention to the the world of investments and the stock market, you know that there are tens of thousands of different investment vehicles. Someone told me, and I’m sure he’s right, that today there are even more mutual funds (investment funds that are comprised of different company stocks) than individual stocks.
And, perhaps that’s the reason for another statistic that just floors me — that the majority (I think it’s over 80 percent) of mutual fund managers not only do not outperform the overall market, they, in fact, actually fail to equal it.
That’s why, when I discovered index funds a few years ago to house my investments, I couldn’t believe the utter simplicity of the whole thing.
You see, stock index funds are set up to hold stocks that represent every slice of the market… so, as goes the market, so goes the index fund.
From a practical standpoint, this means that if you hold index funds, you’ll outperform something like 80 percent of the world’s leading stock fund managers because you’ll get market returns.
Over time, the stock market goes up (it always has and likely always will)… you hold index funds, your holdings will go up.
Utter, sheer, incredibly simple brilliance, these index funds.
So, it was with the this same sort of serendipity that I came across a really odd-joyful-interesting-provocative-somewhat-too-money-focused book by Joe Vitale called The Attractor Factor: 5 Easy Steps For Creating Wealth (or Anything Else) From the Inside Out.
Just as index funds are the tried-and-true simple answer to most investors’ long-term plans, Joe describes a shortcut, and it really is, to attracting whatever you want. But, let me have Joe tell it:
“Let me tell you a secret.
You don’t need to practice the five steps in this book to manifest your desires or attract more wealth. Nope. There is an easier way. I’ll tell you what it is if you promise not to spread the word around.
Deal?
Here’s the secret, what I call the shortcut to creating the life the way you want it: Be happy now.
That’s it. If you can be happy right now, in this moment, you will have achieved whatever you want. Why? Because underneath everything you say you want is a desire for happiness. In 1917, Ralph Parlette wrote in his book, The Big Business of Life, ‘Whatever we do, we are doing it to be happy, whether we realize it or not.’
You want a new car so you will be happy.
You want more money so you will be happy.
You want better health so you will be happy.
[MICHAEL’S NOTE: You want a dream job so you will be happy, huh?]
You want that loving or lusty relationship so you will be happy.
Happiness is your goal.
And here’s another secret. You don’t need to have anything else in order to be happy right now. You can choose to be happy.”
Powerful, powerful stuff, Joe Vitale, so good on you.
And, who woulda thunk it, huh?
The best long-term investment you could ever make is the simple, eazy-peezy index fund.
And, the secret to getting everything you want on this mortal coil is to be happy, right here, right now.
Easy, simple truths.
Think about it, Dream Jobber, and tell me how this stuff grabs you. Or not.
Michael Werner runs Dream Jobs Dialog and is also the CEO of InfoSource, Inc., a company trying hard not to be like Microsoft.
