Category: Investing

  • Stop Worrying About Money: What a Tapas Bar in Spain Can Teach You

    Now, you don’t have to be some sort of vagabond seeing the entire world. You don’t have to go to the hippest places, either. Heck, you don’t even need to go to another country—although it is definitely worth it! I think the best part of traveling is simply taking in the sights, smells, sounds, and culture of where you’re visiting.

    For me, it’s always a good reminder that people everywhere live exciting and fulfilled lives, and they do it completely differently than I do. You see, we humans get caught up in our little bubble lives. Yes, that’s right! You live in a bubble, just like everyone else. Your friends, family, work, and where you live all contribute to your lifestyle and what you do on a daily basis. This isn’t a bad thing at all. Generally, it feels good to have a routine and know what’s going to happen next. For example, I love to have a cup of coffee, followed by a cup of bone broth in the morning, and then a workout. It’s my go-to routine.

    At the same time, while routine is great, spicing it up every now and then makes a world of difference. When I travel and see other cultures and other ways of living, it opens my mind up to new possibilities and thoughts. For example, how important is investing to someone living their fullest life in Spain? As I sit at a tapas bar overflowing with life, or at a beautiful scenic coffee shop where people are enjoying an afternoon coffee, I wonder: Do the things that have meaning to me have meaning to them? Do they know what stocks or index funds are? Do they understand compounding interest? Is financial independence even a thing there?

    It makes me ask myself if the things I value even matter as much. On a daily basis, I might be worrying about an underperforming stock or what asset I should invest in next. This artificial worry over my money can sometimes have negative consequences. What if I were surrounded by a culture that didn’t really think much about money like I do? Would I be more content and fulfilled as a human? Or do I have it all backward, and those people living their best lives at the tapas bar worry just as much, but in an entirely different way?

    Perhaps the worry is how they’re going to sustain their lifestyles. Maybe it’s not as glamorous as an observer would think. There could be less opportunity in other countries to save and invest, so people have no choice but to have fun at the moment. Maybe that actually is a giant worry after the epic night is over and all your friends are gone. Perhaps it’s a coping mechanism because it’s harder to get ahead.

    I honestly have no clue. I’d have to interview every single person to truly find out. What I can tell you is that getting out of my bubble and experiencing new people and new cultures makes me think about how I’m living my life. It’s a refresher course telling me to not think about my investments so much. Instead, I should be enjoying TODAY with the people I love. When I travel or do something different, I always get a reboot and examine my life and what I prioritize. Remember, routine is amazing, but every now and then, you’ve got to break the routine to get in touch with your mind and perform a systems check. Figure out what’s really important, and what’s just background noise!

  • When Patience Runs Out in the Stock Market

    Investor Fella here!

    September 9th 2025

    There are two reasons why your patience would run out while investing in the stock market.

    The first reason is that you aren’t emotionally ready to handle long-term investing. That’s right—you heard me! You aren’t emotionally able to handle the ups and downs of the market. And I don’t blame you. In your pocket, you have a device that connects you to the entire world in real time. Imagine getting constant updates on the stock market and nonstop clickbait articles of doom. Everyday there’s fear in the air—talks of recessions, war, stock market crashes, and an endless amount of negativity. It’s a finger-pointing nightmare, let me tell you. And you get body-slammed with all this stuff before breakfast.

    If you aren’t emotionally ready for long-term investing, enough days of scrolling and seeing financial demise will lead you to panic and hit the sell button. Do yourself a favor: keep your mind right, learn to detach, and know that this process takes time. Imagine what the end goal looks like 5, 10, or 20 years from now. Use that vision and focus on it.

    The second reason is that you’ve invested too much money and are overleveraged. Investing your entire life savings can be stressful because you’re at the constant mercy of the market. If the market goes down, you’re trapped. It’s a feeling of impending doom, like you’re on house arrest and can’t enjoy life. Eventually, you’ll be forced to sell at the worst possible time because you have no other money to draw from.

    Speaking from experience, being overleveraged is not a good feeling when shit hits the fan. Do yourself a favor and avoid this by investing an amount you’re comfortable with just setting and forgetting. Have some savings in case there’s a downturn in the market or an unexpected need for cash. Peace of mind is worth far more than making a few more thousand dollars!

    Until next time,

    Jorge

  • Index Funds Duh!

    Investor fella here, saying hi from San Diego

    August 25th 2025

    This week’s newsletter is taking us back to the basics of stock investing: index funds. So, you want to get rich quick with stocks? Chances are, by the time you hear a tip about a “hot stock,” the time to buy was long before you decided to press that buy button.

    How do I know? I’ve done it throughout my investing journey, and let me tell you, it mostly ends with me in the red! Fear not, there is another way to succeed in the stock market. Not only can you succeed, but you can also surpass Wall Street’s “pumpers” and fee-heavy, actively managed hedge funds! So what’s the secret sauce for building a strong foundation in stock investing? It’s pretty darn simple: just buy an index fund and hold it forever—or until you need to use the money to purchase another asset.

    Instead of trying to pick individual stocks, you can buy them all through an index fund. Index funds aren’t actively managed, which means they have lower fees and low expense ratios. There’s no guesswork here; you just own a portion of every company in the index.

    Over the last ten years, if you had owned an S&P 500 index fund, you would have made an average of 11.3% annually, for a cumulative rate of return of 245%. Holy crap! 🤑

    The index fund I recommend is Vanguard’s VTSAX or its ETF version, VTI. Purchase shares every month forever and let dollar-cost averaging do all the heavy lifting.

    Until next time, 

    Jorge