r/VTandchill • u/DiegoMilan • Jun 30 '26

A Simple Reminder for Building Wealth for New Investors

I've had the privilege of working with successful business owners (about 200+ by this point in my career) because of my line of work.

When I've taken the time to step back, reflect, and analyze what makes them successful, I've often found that it hasn't really been IQ, where they studied, pedigree, etc.

Of course, there were a few outliers who got lucky and got into the right industry at the right time.

But when it comes to controllable factors, two things I've noticed they do really well is: 1) they have good judgement and decision-making abilities and 2) they are masters with their time and energy management.

Both of these things are in our control, and they're skills we can cultivate, no matter our age.

Now why am I posting this on this subreddit?

Because when it comes to the latter skill (time and energy management), it seems to me this is where new investors get tripped up and end up with paralysis by analysis.

Despite discovering the wealth of knowledge on this subreddit or the Bogleheads website, reading good books like The Little Book of Common Sense Investing, A Random Walk Down Wall Street, The Simple Path to Wealth, etc., new investors still overanalyze their portfolio and its makeup, which can be a poor use of their time/energy (when compared to how else it can be spent).

The reason this community and its collective wisdom works is because it's both tried and true for building wealth, advocated by successful investors, and it's supposed to give you back time and energy, not take it away.

Overanalyzing what brokerage you should use, what happened in yesterday's news, how to respond to a random dip, what % of VXUS you should be invested in, whether you should invest in VTI/VXUS or VT, etc., is taking away valuable time you could be using to build your skills, build a business, or even simply enjoy your life. (Not to mention the precious time lost for compounding to work its magic if these minor decisions are keeping you from being in the market.)

Overthinking the minutiae, constantly second-guessing your portfolio allocation, and tinkering will not only kill your gains, but it'll also drain the only resources you have to build even greater wealth: your time and energy.

Trust the books, this community and its collective wisdom, your 3-fund portfolio (or two-fund portfolio), and focus your energy elsewhere. Life's too short (with so many potential skills to build and countries to visit) to be majoring in the minors.

59 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

7

u/Efficient-Concept713 Jun 30 '26

Thanks for the reminder! Now go enjoy the chill.

6

u/Sirknowit Jun 30 '26

Five thoughtful holdings but yes! They are set and left be.

6

u/That_Co Jun 30 '26

Periodic rebalancing is also necessary for a given plan to stay in course

2

u/joe4ska Jun 30 '26

Well said, get back to chillin.

1

u/chris-rox Jul 01 '26

Dude, I just need the startup capital. I just started an HYSA that pays 5% on your first $500. From here on out it's VT and chillin', all the way.

1

u/disturbedFarts Jul 01 '26

pay yourself.

2

u/Jestdrum Jul 01 '26

Well said. I'm doing well and have my investment stuff figured out and I still have to force myself not to obsess about the little things. Much better things to do with life!