Welcome to Wise & Wealthy: A weekly newsletter full of proven ideas to become smarter and wealthier. I send this every Monday.
#122 – April 29, 2024
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Wise: The extrovert ideal
I’m very introverted. I truly enjoy (and need) time alone. Too much social contact drains my energy.
One misconception about introverts is that they lack confidence. People falsely assume that we don’t want to be around others for that reason.
In her book, Quiet, psychologist Susan Cain calls that concept the “Extrovert Ideal.” It’s the widespread belief that being outgoing, assertive, and socially proactive makes a person successful. As it turns out, introversion has its own set of strengths and advantages.
According to Cain, some of these strengths include better problem-solving skills, more creativity, empathy, and the ability to work independently.
In my experience, we can all benefit from cultivating the introverted side of us. When we nurture that by spending more time alone, we actually become more self-confident.
We no longer look for external validation. We gain more appreciation for ourselves. More on that in my new article.
↳ Why Introversion Leads to More Self-Confidence
Wealthy: Index investing
Do you get confused about investing in the stock market, even if you want to stick to a simple strategy like passively buying an S&P 500 index fund?
The S&P 500, or Standard & Poor’s 500, is an index representing the performance of the 500 large companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges.
I’ve been investing in the index for years through an ETF, and it’s the simplest way to get exposure to the stock market. However, there are two ways you can invest in the S&P 500 index.
- Market-cap-weighted S&P 500 funds (which is the default)
- Equal-weight S&P 500 funds (which is what some people recommend)
In my other new article, we’ll dive into what the S&P 500 is, how the market-cap-weighted index works, and what the equal weight index means.
My advice? Just invest in the regular S&P 500 index (market-cap-weighted).
↳ Should You Buy the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index or Not?
One interesting thing
In today’s consumerist world, I often remind myself of this quote from Seneca:
“Until we have begun to go without them, we fail to realize how unnecessary many things are. We’ve been using them not because we needed them but because we had them.”
Our lives would be better when we let go of things we don’t truly need.
Thanks for reading! I hope you found this edition of Wise & Wealthy useful.
All the best,
Darius
Join the 5-day Financial Freedom Challenge
I created a 5-day email course you can do alone or together with a group. It’s called the Financial Freedom Challenge. And it will help you to gain control over your finances.
Most people try to calculate their way out of poor finances. But money problems aren’t rational. They’re emotional. Manage your emotions well, and you’ll manage your finances better.
How to Unlock the Financial Freedom Challenge
You can join the challenge for free. For five days, you’ll receive a short email with a small challenge that inspires you to improve your relationship with money.
I highly recommend sharing it with your friends/family so you can go through the program together. It helps bring perspective. And it’s more fun that way too.
Join here for free: dariusforoux.com/financial-freedom