There was a time...

[Jim K.]

When the four words in my title here are used, typically you can expect to hear some nostalgic idiot go on about his many cognitive dysfunctions about how wonderful the past was and how hard and miserable times today are.

This is not one of those times.

What I'd like to ask in this discussion is: what limiting beliefs did you have to eject along the way of your investing journey in order to succeed?

With your permission, please allow me to go first.

There was a time when I believed that if you didn't come from money, you couldn't get anywhere. If you had told me what I now know is overwhelmingly true, that somewhere between 80-85% of America's millionaires are self-made and do not become net-worth millionaires until they hit their fifties, I wouldn't have believed it, I would have thought there was some trick to the statistic.

I know better now. I know that, overwhelmingly, it's what you fill your head with that counts, it's the day-to-day actions you take, it's the spouse you marry, it's the systematic choices you make, and perhaps most importantly, the personal hypocrisy you don't allow yourself to get away with. Those will determine if you pass on a legacy of regret or one of change. I know this, and I know exactly why this is true, and last but not least, my fiftieth birthday is this year.

Tell that to myself at twenty-two? Sure, I could try, but there's no chance I would truly believe it. It's just how I was raised. The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer, and not a single worthwhile word of any authority was ever said in my home and or my school about how someone who is broke might stop being broke, and why that could be a worthwhile life goal. Making money, at least enough money to leave a legacy, was viewed with suspicion and more than a bit of pursed-lip contempt.