Hi there,

It's our last issue of the year. And what a year it's been. As we hit send on our 321st issue of RadReads, it still blows my mind that in a world where we get 250+ emails a day, y'all still welcome us into your inboxes each Saturday.

We've got a lot brewing in the Rad Lab for 2022 and can't wait to share it with you. Here's to a safe, joyous, unproductive and love-filled holiday season.

I appreciate each and every one of you.

(And if you missed our free Annual Review event, you can watch the replay and access the template for free.)

You're not rich (if you're constantly doing this)

Here's a tale about two friends.

And our divergent approach to investing.

This friend (who we'll call Jim) and I are of the same "cohort."

We were both born in 1979. We both went to fancy colleges. Our kids are the same age. And we both spent significant chunks of our careers on Wall Street (doing pretty well).

But we had one notable difference. Our investing approach.

Jim is a super-active investor in real estate.

I, on the other hand, find investing ridiculously boring. My strategy is to pretty much only dollar-cost-average into one (highly diversified) index fund.

Jim and I serendipitously reconnected this summer at one of the many COVID-delayed weddings. After our normal pleasantries (and a few margaritas), we ended up talking about investing.

Jim told me about the impressive real-estate portfolio he had amassed during his 20 years of adulthood.

He's got apartments, brownstones, single family homes and - even a warehouse - spread out across the country. He fixes some of them up. Re-finances others. Lives in some. It's truly impressive, considering his day job is no walk in the park.

Jim's also diligent in tracking his returns in Excel. So I asked him, "What do you think your return was over the 20 year period?"

"Low teens," he answered. (Pre-tax, I believe - but didn't clarify.)

Low teens, over a 20 year period (covering a tech bubble, global financial crisis, and pandemic) is damn good. Jim certainly created a lot of wealth for his family over that period.

Coincidentally, I knew that over that same 20 year period, my lazy-ass strategy had generated roughly 9%.

Jim's strategy clearly outperformed mine, by 4ish percent. (In finance, they call that out-performance "alpha.")

4% of out-performance (per year) over 20 years is a lot.

As I congratulated him on the discipline and dedication of his approach, he issued a caveat:

(I quickly did the math, that's ironically - 10,000 hours.)

He described having weddings interrupted by leaking pipes. Having to move into one home that wasn't renting at "fair value." And collecting mountains of receipts to pass-through to his LLC.

Conversely, my strategy was so boring that it required a single action each year: Downloading my 1099 Tax forms and emailing them to my accountant.

That's it. (Not to mention, having never paid capital gains taxes on the investment over 20 years.)

As we compared notes, Jim added. "I think my life would've been way less stressful if I had followed your approach."

I often contemplate the currencies of wealth. Surely, financial wealth is a meaningful component of being wealthy.

But what else should be included? Health. Relationships. Purpose. Time. Our inner landscapes.

Jim's tale highlighted another measure of wealth: freedom-in-attention.

​

Here are this week's top reads:

// one

3 types of Enough

6 minute | Calibrating Capital
​

I’ve long admired RadReader Jeremy Walter’s commitment to figuring out what’s enough in his life. He’s so intentional about the trade-offs in growing his business and the magic window of parenthood. Walter deftly explains why we "enough" feels so elusive — it’s not financial, it’s emotional.

→ Read the post​

// two

The document culture of Amazon

4 minutes | Justin Garrison
​

As we grow RadReads, I’ve become fascinated with how we can tap into the best elements of asynchronous work. Plus, I left corporate to not have back-to meetings all day. One of the keys we’ve found to significantly eliminating communications overload (and the associated burnout) is creating a culture of documentation. This article is a detailed playbook on how Amazon does it. (In fact, we’ve started to train other teams how to do this in our newly-launched Rad Studio.)

→ Read the post​

// three

What financial habits should Americans change in 2022?

4 minutes | Barrons

​
New Years is approaching, and with that comes the inevitable list of resolutions — more gym, less sweets, etc, etc. But what would advisors tell us about being more intentional with our money? Their top tips: Talk more about finances, focus more on tax planning (rather than controlling spending), don’t over-allocate to cash, understand your risk tolerance, and budget.

→ Read the post​

// four

How CEOs should manage their time in the hybrid workplace

8 minutes | Harvard Business Review
​

Our work rhythms have been severely disrupted over the last two years - as a result, leaders have had to learn new ways to communicate and manage their teas. How should CEOs rethink their leadership styles? Limit the negative consequences of video meetings, rethink assumptions about reasons to travel, and protect alone and personal time.

→ Read the article​

// five

I just learned I only have months to live. This is what I want to say.

10 minutes | Boston Globe
​

Here's one of the most touching stories we've shared in 2021. Because sometimes, among all of our effort to become more productive and hit our (big hairy audacious) gaols, it's important to pause and remember: in the end, what matters might look very different.
​
→ Read the article​

// from our friends

The Internet has become a firehose of information - its hard to cut through the noise and find articles that are relevant to you and what you're interested in. (Ahem, that's why we started RadReads in 2015 😉.)

With Refind, you can let AI do the searching and filtering for you. Just pick the topics you're interested in and get the best articles delivered to you every day, for free:

Tens of thousands of busy professionals start their day with their personalized digest from Refind. Sign up for free and pick your favorite topics and thought leaders. You can check out Refind here.​

Below the fold

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LAST WEEK'S MOST READ

• ​Which emerging trends will shape our careers in 2022? (The Jungle Gym, 782 clicks)
• ​WAYRTTD: What Are You 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 Trying To Do? (Twitter, 423 clicks)

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And finally, this CGI-generated dancing Jeff Bezos is the best thing you’ll see this week.

Happy Holidays,

Khe

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