Dear Reader,

In the 2007 film “The Bucket List,” Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman play two men sharing a hospital room who have little in common, except for their terminal illnesses.

With only months to live, they hit the road with a wish list of things to do before they “kick the bucket.”

In Hollywood, of course, that means racecar driving, skydiving, climbing the pyramids, and motorcycling the Great Wall of China.

Some items on their lists, however, are not easily achieved, rekindling a lackluster marriage, reconciling with an estranged daughter, and so on.

The film was only a mixed success given the star power of the two leading actors. But it did spark a lot of conversation…

Smithsonian magazine featured “28 Places to See Before You Die.” John Izzo wrote “The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die.” Other books offer the 1,000 foods you must taste, the 1,000 recordings you must hear, and the 1,000 paintings you must see before you die.

(Sounds like a lot of pressure.)

The idea of creating and managing a bucket list quickly caught on. According to The New York Times, over the past three years more than 1.2 million people have posted their personal lists on the website 43Things.com.

Some folks have exotic aspirations: wing-walking, running with the bulls in Pamplona, experiencing weightlessness, visiting Easter Island or riding the Trans-Siberian Express across Asia.

Others are more down-home: start a garden, enter a marathon, see the Aurora Borealis, write an autobiography, ride in a hot air balloon, give an anonymous $1,000 to charity.

Still others are a little more “out there”: Search for extraterrestrials. Inhale helium and sing. Join the 300 Club at the South Pole. (That one entails taking a sauna to 200 degrees and then running naked to the pole in minus 100-degree weather.)

Many people enjoy swapping bucket list recommendations…

For instance, you haven’t really lived, in my opinion, if you haven’t peered over the rim of the Grand Canyon, read “The Code of the Woosters,” enjoyed a candlelight dinner to the sound of “John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman,” or visited the north point of Anna Maria Island to watch the sun set.

Of course, the reason for a bucket list is to get away from what someone else wants and finally do what you want.

What’s the process? According to my research - which includes nearly twenty minutes of digging around online - here’s the best way to create and manage your bucket list:

1. Make your goals realistic and achievable.
2. Put your list in writing and review it regularly.
3. Don’t be reluctant to change or modify it.
4. Planning is not optional. After making your list, decide exactly how and when you intend to get there.
5. Cross off each item as you achieve it.
6. If you live long enough, repeat.

Some may feel a list like this is self-indulgent. After all, folks are busy. They have commitments and responsibilities. Where is the time for a cooking class, blue marlin fishing or a reef dive?

Ironically, these are the people who would benefit the most from this exercise.

Are we really too guilt-ridden or tied to the grindstone to live life on our own terms? Will we delude ourselves that we will get around to doing the things we really want “eventually”?

As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “We are always getting ready to live, but never living.”

We all have obligations, true. But life can’t just be about pleasing your parents, your boss, your spouse, and your children. It has to be about more than meeting your quota, making the mortgage, picking up the kids and socking something away for a rainy day.

For too many of us, there is a gap between how we spend our time and what is really important.

If you have a friend or partner who shares your dreams, that’s great. But sometimes it takes courage to do what you want. Other people have a lot of plans for you. They want you to go on “their trip.”

Mythologist Joseph Campbell described this as a slave morality, a path to disintegration of both body and spirit. “We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned,” he said, “so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”

Some people miss this entirely. They’re too busy making a living to make a life. Others understand it perfectly. Oscar Wilde said, “I’ve put my genius into my life; I’ve only put my talent into my work.”

A bucket list requires you to confront your mortality and recognize that you have only so much time to do whatever it is you really want. It makes you stop and enumerate those things. It encourages you to plan for them. And it motivates you.

As management consultant Brian Tracy writes, “When you have clear, exciting goals and ideals, you will feel happier about yourself and your world. You will be more positive and optimistic. You will be more cheerful and enthusiastic. You will feel internally motivated to get up and get going every morning because every step you are taking will be moving you in the direction of something that is important to you.”

After all, it’s not how fast you’re moving, it’s where you’re headed. A meaningful life is not about speed and efficiency. It is more a matter of what you do and why you do it.

Some individuals aren’t comfortable branching out, experimenting with their lives. But by avoiding risk, they risk something even greater: an unlived life.

Survey the residents at your local nursing home, for example, and they will tell you their greatest regrets are not the things they did or the mistakes they made, but rather the things they didn’t do, the risks they didn’t take.

As the German poet Christian Furchtegott Gellert advised, “Live as you will have wished to have lived when you are dying.”

A bucket list is a step in that direction. It may sound frivolous to some. But is it such a bad idea to jot down what you really want to do before you ditch this mortal coil?

We enjoy so many freedoms in the West. Freedom from regret, however, is up to you.

Carpe Diem,

Alex

Have “Two Cents?” Just send your thoughts, ideas or comments to editor@spiritualwealth.com.

Know someone who would benefit from reading Spiritual Wealth? Just send them the following link, and encourage them to sign up. It’s free:

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Alexander Green is the Investment Director of The Oxford Club and Chairman of Investment U, a free, internet-based research service with over 350,000 readers. (The Oxford Club’s Communiqué, whose portfolio he directs, is ranked third in the nation for risk-adjusted returns over the past five years by the independent Hulbert Financial Digest.) Alex is also the author of The New York Times bestselling book “The Gone Fishin’ Portfolio: Get Wise, Get Wealthy… and Get on With Your Life.” He’s been featured on “The O’Reilly Factor,” and has been profiled by Forbes, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, CNBC, and Marketwatch.com, among others. He lives in central Florida with his wife Karen and their children Hannah and David.

“Time is but the stream I go a-fishin in.”

- Henry David Thoreau

Dear Reader,

Ordinarily I devote this column to ideas about spiritual wealth. Today I’m going to talk a little bit about material wealth, too.

Not that the two aren’t interrelated.

Novelist Joyce Carol Oates once wrote, “The only people who claim that money is not important are people who have enough money so that they are relieved of the ugly burden of thinking about it.”

French existential writer Albert Camus agreed. He said, “It is a kind of spiritual snobbery that makes people think they can be happy without money.”

In many ways, they’re right. How can you feel genuine contentment if you are harassed by bill collectors, living paycheck-to-paycheck, or worried whether you have enough to retire?

Don’t get me wrong. Money doesn’t buy true love or friendship. It won’t solve all your problems, fix your marriage, turn you into “a success,” or make you charitable if you’re not already charitably inclined.

But money is the most egalitarian force in the world, bestowing power on whoever holds it.

It gives you the freedom to make important choices in your life. No one is free who is a slave to his job, his creditors, his circumstances, or his overhead.

Money allows you to support worthy causes and help those in need. It allows you to do what you want, where you want, with whom you want. It’s called financial independence. And it’s a great feeling.

As author Tom Robbins once remarked, “There’s a certain Buddhistic calm that comes from having money in the bank.”

As my regular readers know, I think more about money than most. I worked on Wall Street for 16 years as a research analyst, investment advisor and portfolio manager. For the past eight years, I’ve written several thousand words a week about the economy, interest rates, currencies, stocks and bonds.

Fortunately, I’ve taken all this information rattling around in my brain and turned it into something worthwhile. This week John Wiley & Sons released my new book “The Gone Fishin’ Portfolio: Get Wise, Get Wealthy… and Get On With Your Life.“

It is currently ranked #3 on Amazon’s bestseller list.

The book sums up all the best things I learned in more than two decades as an investment advisor. So I want to share it with you. It is the book I wish someone had handed me 25 years ago, so I didn’t have to learn so many lessons the hard way.

I tried to cover all the basics: saving, investing, cutting costs, minimizing taxes and dealing with the psychological hurdles the markets throw in your way from time to time.

The Gone Fishin‘ strategy itself is a simple but sophisticated investment system that I created several years ago. It is based entirely on low-cost, tax-efficient mutual funds. (You can use it in your IRA or 401k… or invest in it through any broker.) It’s so simple, in fact, that it allows you to manage your money yourself in less than 20 minutes a year.

The rest of the time you are encouraged to travel, play golf, spend time with your kids and grandkids, or just… go fishin’.

I’ve given the portfolio a light-hearted name. But securing your financial independence is serious business. The money that you will retire on - or are already retired on - should not be treated like chips in a poker game.

The Gone Fishin’ Portfolio is risk-averse by design. Yet it has compounded at 17.3% annually since inception.

I don’t want to suggest that you can eliminate investment risk entirely. That’s not possible. The Gone Fishin’ Portfolio will fluctuate in value. But this is a realistic approach. No other investment system comes closer to guaranteeing you long-term investment success.

So I do hope you read the book and take the time to share it with your kids and grandkids.

“The Gone Fishin’ Portfolio: Get Wise, Get Wealthy… and Get On with Your Life” is available at your local bookstore. However, Amazon is currently offering it for 45% off the cover price. (To order, click here.)

Incidentally, I make clear in the book that money is not your most precious resource. It’s time. Time is perishable, irreplaceable and, unlike money, cannot be saved.

My goal is to allow you to redirect your time from worries about money to high value activities, whether that’s work you enjoy, time spent pursuing your favorite activities, or just relaxing with your friends and family.

In “The Pleasures of Life,” Sir John Lubbock writes, “All other good gifts depend on time for their value. What are friends, books, or health, the interest of travel or the delights of home, if we have not time for their enjoyment? Time is often said to be money, but it is more - it is life; and yet many who would cling desperately to life, think nothing of wasting time.”

The Gone Fishin’ Portfolio offers you the opportunity to reach financial freedom. But it guarantees you more time to devote to the pastimes and people you love.

Perhaps that is what recommends it most.

Carpe Diem,

Alex

Have “Two Cents?” Just send your thoughts, ideas or comments to editor@spiritualwealth.com.

Know someone who would benefit from reading Spiritual Wealth? Just send them the following link, and encourage them to sign up. It’s free:

www.spiritualwealth.com/siup/signup.html

Alexander Green is the Investment Director of The Oxford Club and Chairman of Investment U, a free, internet-based research service with over 300,000 readers. (The Oxford Club’s Communique, whose portfolio he directs, is ranked third in the nation for risk-adjusted returns over the past five years by the independent Hulbert Financial Digest.) Alex has been featured on “The O’Reilly Factor,” and has been profiled by Forbes, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, CNBC, and Marketwatch.com, among others. He lives in central Florida with his wife Karen and their children Hannah and David.

Friday, August 8, 2008

The Psychology of Optimal Experience
by Alexander Green

We all have troubles. In many ways, they define our lives.

But, according to philosopher Abraham Kaplan, we can deal with them more effectively if we recognize them as either problems or predicaments.

The difference? Problems, says Kaplan, can be solved. Predicaments can only be coped with.

If you work in downtown Baltimore, for example, you may be worried about crime. This is a predicament, not a problem. You can install a security system in your car, avoid the worst areas after dark, or arrange a transfer to a different office. But these are coping mechanisms. You are not going to “fix” crime in Baltimore.

A more serious predicament we all face is the occasional death of a loved one.

We can spend time grieving with family and friends, join a support group, or take up new activities to keep our minds from becoming preoccupied. But death itself cannot be bargained with.

Fortunately, most of our troubles are not predicaments, but problems.

You may worry, for instance, that you haven’t saved enough for a comfortable retirement. If so, you have plenty of company.

According to the 2007 Retirement Confidence Survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), 36% of workers have less than $10,000 in retirement savings. Another 13% have less than $25,000.

Clearly, this is a problem, but one with a straightforward solution. You can make more. You can spend less. Or you can earn a higher return on your investments. (Doing all three isn’t bad either.)

Or, you may be one of the millions of Americans who struggles with obesity. If so, it is probably having a detrimental effect on your health, your self-image, and your quality of life.

For some of us, this is both a problem and a predicament. After all, genetics determine your basic body type. As you learned in fifth-grade health, you were born an ecotomorph, a mesomorph, or an endomorph. You cannot change this.

But anyone can eat better, exercise more or both. Not easy, but there is a solution.

Why is it important to label the trials you face either problems or predicaments?

According to John C. Maxwell, author of “The Difference Maker,” “When people treat a predicament as a problem, they become frustrated, angry or depressed. They waste energy. They make bad decisions. And when people treat problems as predicaments, they often settle, give up, or see themselves as victims.”

Understand this and you’ve taken the first step toward dealing with your predicaments and solving your problems.

Nielsen Media Research tells us that Americans love reality shows where contestants are put in high-pressure situations and challenged to “win” using every bit of intelligence, cunning and resourcefulness they can muster.

Why not view your own problems the same way? If you have a boring job, an inattentive spouse, or a looming financial setback, why not use all your smarts, imagination and creativity to turn the tables?

My guess is that if you were in front of a national television audience - and in danger of being voted off the show - you’d come up with something pretty good, something that would surprise the people around you.

In fact, this is exactly what you should be doing, according to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.” He argues that the quickest way to increase your life satisfaction is to quit seeing your problems as difficulties and start viewing them as an enjoyable challenge.

(He isn’t the first to articulate this notion, incidentally. For centuries, Buddhists have embraced difficult people and situations as opportunities for spiritual development. Without them, what chance do you have to practice compassion, tolerance, or forgiveness?)

Facing your problems this way requires just two things: a bit of imagination and a positive attitude. The payoff, in turn, can be huge.

Whether you want to start your own business, lose 30 pounds, or get out of debt, you can begin by relishing the challenge.

You might surprise yourself, too. Not only by achieving your goals, but by seeing how much satisfaction you get just moving toward them in a disciplined way.

Think of it as your own reality show. (One that, ironically, actually deals with reality.) The obstacles in front of you give you the opportunity to show the world - and yourself - what you’re made of.

Just remember that your predicaments require interpretive thinking and must be endured. Your problems require analytic thinking - and cannot withstand the sustained assault of creative thinking and positive action.

So why not attack yours today with a fresh mindset and a new attitude?

You have nothing to lose but your troubles.

Carpe Diem,

Alex

Have “Two Cents?” Just send your thoughts, ideas or comments to editor@spiritualwealth.com.

Know someone who would benefit from reading Spiritual Wealth? Just send them the following link, and encourage them to sign up. It’s free:

www.spiritualwealth.com/siup/signup.html

Alexander Green is the Investment Director of The Oxford Club and Chairman of Investment U, a free, internet-based research service with over 300,000 readers. (The Oxford Club’s Communique, whose portfolio he directs, is ranked third in the nation for risk-adjusted returns over the past five years by the independent Hulbert Financial Digest.) Alex has been featured on “The O’Reilly Factor,” and has been profiled by Forbes, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, CNBC, and Marketwatch.com, among others. He lives in central Florida with his wife Karen and their children Hannah and David.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

The Formula for Re-Enchantment
by Alexander Green

For the last few days, I’ve been here in Lake Tahoe speaking at an Oxford Club chapter meeting.

If you’ve never been here, do yourself a favor and put it on your To-Do List. This is one of the most gorgeous places I’ve ever visited.

On Saturday afternoon, for instance, a few of my colleagues and I hiked the canyon trail up to Lake Shirley. With the weather warming up, the snow on the peaks is rapidly melting. That means the waterfalls are enormous - and spectacular.

Two and a half miles up we reached the huge granite face known as the Rock Pile, behind which looms Squaw Peak. The view down the valley from here is breathtaking.

Too bad more people weren’t around to enjoy it. We only passed about one hiker every half hour.

On Sunday, we drove around to the eastern side of the lake where there is virtually no development. We took an easy beach trail along the shoreline to Skunk Harbor. The scenery is almost beyond description. (My photos here don’t begin to do it justice.)

Imagine the snow-capped Sierra Nevada rising up over 6,000 feet from the clearest, bluest lake you’ve ever seen. And the weather was perfect, 65 degrees and not a cloud in the skies.

Yet, even though it was Sunday, we only saw two other hikers the whole afternoon. Yes, we’re still a week or two ahead of the peak season. But I think there’s another explanation.

According to a study conducted by The Nature Conservancy and published by the National Academy of Sciences earlier this year, people worldwide are giving Mother Nature the cold shoulder and spending more time indoors. Thanks largely to “videophilia” - the love of sedentary activities involving electronic media - the typical American now spends 25% less time in nature than in 1987.

This is unfortunate for a couple of reasons. Number one, it’s hard to imagine people feeling strongly about conserving our natural heritage if they can’t be bothered to get outside and enjoy it.

Secondly, scientists say that getting out of our everyday artificial environment promotes mental health. For example, Dr. Howard Frumkin of Emory University Rollins School of Public Health has found that exposure to the natural environment actually prevents and helps treat certain illnesses. Furthermore, studies show that “videophilia” is contributing to obesity, lack of socialization, attention disorders and poor academic performance.

Personally, I don’t think there’s a better way to spend an afternoon than tramping through the woods, the scent of earth and pine in the air, and not a sound to be heard but the rustling of the leaves and the sound of your own footsteps. No phones ringing. No horns honking. No television blaring.

How can you put a value on a few hours in the woods with nothing pressing to do and nowhere in particular to be? The combination of exercise, fresh air and solitude is unbeatable. And it’s invigorating.

Naturalist E.O. Wilson says, “To the extent that each person can feel like a naturalist, the excitement of the untrammeled world is regained. I offer this as a formula of re-enchantment.”

Henry David Thoreau wrote that, “Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity.”

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright agreed. “Nature is my manifestation of God. I go to nature every day for inspiration in the day’s work.”

So get on some comfortable shoes and get outside. There are plenty of easy trails out there, even if you huff and puff on two flights of stairs. Spending time in the Great Outdoors is exhilarating - and the ultimate stress reliever.

Two years ago, I was spending the summer with my family in the Shenandoah Valley. But it was a working vacation - and I was up to my eyeballs in deadlines, projects and conference calls. One afternoon, on sheer impulse, I grabbed my daughter Hannah, who was eight at the time, and told her we were going up the Skyline Drive to White Oak Canyon, one of the best waterfall hikes in the Shenandoah National Park.

We threw some binoculars and a couple peanut butter and jelly sandwiches into a backpack and headed out. Two hours later, we were sitting at the bottom of the falls, nibbling on our sandwiches, our bare feet dangling in the water.

We were alone, except for a curious chipmunk, some crayfish scuttling along the bottom of the pool, and a noisy kingfisher on a branch overhead. Hannah, who loves to hike, was drinking it all in, looking around at the falls, down at the water, and then up at the wind in the trees.

After a few minutes of contemplation, she looked up and asked with the sincerity that only an eight-year-old can muster, “Daddy, can we do this every day?”

I know I’ll never forget that moment. Or how much I wanted to say “yes.”

Carpe Diem,

Alex

Have “Two Cents?” Just send your thoughts, ideas or comments to editor@spiritualwealth.com.

Know someone who would benefit from reading Spiritual Wealth? Just send them the following link, and encourage them to sign up. It’s free:

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