Life is about more than money. How 7 successful people invested in themselves

So many people work hard and become wealthy, but even after they achieve that goal, they find that they don’t feel happy or self-fulfilled. Or they feel burned out.

Last year, I interviewed 52 successful people for my research paper “Smart Women and Men: How They Invest in Themselves,” which was released in March. Many of the people I interviewed spoke bluntly and openly about mental health issues and how they overcame personal challenges.

If you’ve ever felt like you hit your wealth goal but not your mental health goal, here are seven ways to invest in yourself, from people who have been there.

Manage your happy

Michael O’Brien, president, North America Appetizers Division, McCain Foods, Chicago: “To stay healthy I need to manage ‘my happy.’ I try hard to keep myself balanced because I know that is when I’m at my best. I become anxious when I’m out of balance. In the last couple of years, I’ve been through a lot of challenges: I moved my family from South Africa to Chicago (the whole family lived in our basement for four months while we were renovating the house), there were many business challenges from supply chain issues to record inflation, and I also lost my mom. I’m normally an easy-going and happy guy, but through all of this I lost my happy. I felt off, gained weight, and I didn’t feel present as a husband and a father. I had to do something to change my state of affairs.

“I knew it had to start with me. Last January I quit alcohol for four months, then went on the keto diet, and progressively started a daily workout routine alternating days between Peloton or weights. There is a reason for that expression ‘healthy body healthy mind,’ and soon I began sleeping better, thinking better, I had more energy at work and on the weekends, and I showed up better as a husband, father, and in business. My stress level hasn’t changed but my ability to manage it has.”

Smile more

Peter Wüthrich, family office CEO, Zürich, Switzerland: “My parents talked with me a lot about money when I was growing up, messages such as ‘more is always better’, ‘you are only a good person if you make a lot of money’, and ‘poor people are lazy.’ Fortunately, you can learn from the past: The system I grew up in was unequal and unhealthy, and that certainly wasn’t a system I wanted to leave to future generations.

“For many years while working as the chief investment officer of a bank, my body was giving me signals to leave, but my brain was not yet ready. I ended up becoming quite sick and depressed. This shifted when one of my female clients asked me to align her capital with her purpose. I explained that this way of investing would not be supported by my bank, and I would get fired if I invested her money in this way. She said, “Well get fired!” and hired me to run her family office. Magically from that moment my sickness went away.

“It is clear to me now that you can train yourself to stay positive. Studies have shown that the most successful call centre operators smile more. Smiling gives you the energy to deal with stress and smiling is free! We are all capable of staying positive, but like running or hiking you need to train. If we get lazy about this, men (especially at midlife) can turn into grim, cynical creatures.”

Build a legacy

Marvin Fausto, president, COL Investment Management Inc., Manila, Philippines: “The majority of my life has been spent working very, very hard. My career evolved from analyst to fund manager to chief investment officer. In 2014, I took early retirement as CIO of BDO Unibank to focus on my goal of making investing accessible to everyone, not just the rich. At 61 I am onto my third act, and I want to live fruitfully and meaningfully. I want to live and engage in life for the rest of my life.

“Aside from investing in myself financially, I invest in my health. I am extremely active – I have run two marathons, I regularly go biking, and I love walking. I also invest my time in spirituality: I meditate at least once a day for 15 to 20 minutes, attend Sunday service, and I pray at the start and end of every day and thank the Lord for the blessings we receive.

“We recently remodelled our home and in this way we have invested in our sanctuary. We wanted it to be a place that our three boys (now 26, 29 and 32) would want to come home to. Every year as a family we go to different beaches in the country, somewhere we’ve never been before. We hold our ‘family goal setting’ meetings and dedicate half a day to talk about each other’s accomplishments, financial goals, values and plans.

“My wife Rose and I are successful empty nesters now and we are building a legacy together via our consultancy IFE Management. Our mission is to ‘make investing for everyone.’ We are helping to change people’s behavior towards money and improve government regulations and help more people have better knowledge, behavior and access to retail investing alternatives.”

Give back

Anita Kunz, artist and illustrator, Toronto: “My career has been my most important investment in myself. I live in Canada now, but for over 20 years I lived in London and New York contributing to magazines and working for design firms, book publishers and advertising agencies in Germany, Japan, Sweden, Norway, Canada, South Africa, Holland, Portugal, France and England. I’ve produced cover art for many magazines including Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, Sports Illustrated, Time Magazine, Newsweek Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly and The New York Times Magazine. I have also illustrated more than 50 book jacket covers.

“Now I want to give back. The Ontario College of Art was remiss in telling students it is one thing to be an artist, but it is quite a different thing to be running a small business. Once a month I teach in various cities around the world: I have a lot of useful information and I don’t want the students to make the same mistakes that I did. It took me years to learn how to say no and how to ask for more money. The advice I would like to pass on to the next generation is to keep putting one foot in front of the other and learn from your mistakes. If you have a dream, don’t worry about having to juggle to make it happen. If you need to have a job to get there, there is no shame in that.”

Say no!

Paul Kedrosky, general partner, SK Ventures, San Diego, Calif.: “A turning point in my life was when I went cold turkey and stopped doing TV appearances and speaking engagements. While I was initially uneasy, because I had been appearing on CNBC, Bloomberg, PBS and others for years, this decision made me happy. I had been a paid weekly contributor to CNBC, and, later, for Bloomberg—the network even built a studio in my home. After years of doing this it occurred to me that I was appearing on a bunch of shows that I don’t watch and, often, for people I don’t talk to, or even like. I was a paid performer at a kind of circus. As a friend and former CNBC producer reminded me, I was filling the dead space between commercials. He said, ‘We find insecure people who weren’t hugged enough as kids, and put them on TV for free, so they feel better about themselves.’

“I think the main reason people are afraid of saying no to public appearance gigs and investing in themselves is that they need the hug. They need the reassurance of being seen. One of my callings in life is to talk people down from the tree (needing the hug) and help them learn how to walk in their own shoes. Learn how to feel good about doing what you want to do, and invest in yourself, not just go for cheap hugs from strangers.”

Be mindful

Randy Gunn, vice president, BULLWEALTH, Toronto: “For a good chunk of my career, I worked 70-plus hours a week, and somehow I ended up divorced eight years ago. At that time, I started to share custody of my two small boys (ages five and seven), and I suddenly had to figure out how to make them lunch! I needed to change my ways: I knew I had to get healthier and more present for my new situation.

“To invest in myself I do lots and lots of walking in the outdoors, I play hockey and I’m a 47-year-old CrossFit guy. I am trained in martial arts, and I spend 10 minutes on mind conditioning every single day. Mindfulness helps me to channel my thoughts and stay calm. The biggest change I made was to educate myself about proper nutrition, and I try to not drink during the week. My partner Tammy is a holistic nutritionist, so she is a very helpful role model.

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“I also would like to impart three main nuggets of wisdom that have resonated with me over the years: 1) Don’t let money run your life – it is a means to an end; 2) Understand money, don’t be afraid of it; and 3) Enjoy your money!”

Invest in well-being

Elias Ek, entrepreneur, early stage investor and marketing consultant, Taipei City, Taiwan: “I had been the chair of an organization working with homeless animals and found that managing a non-profit can be incredibly stressful. As a stress eater, I blew up like a balloon. I hired a personal trainer and slowly lost the weight: I’ve lost 35 kilos over the last three and a half years! I’m nearly 50 years old now and I’m building muscles in ways that I’ve never done before. I love stepping up to a heavy barbell and feel great doing my workouts. I also run 22 km every week, which gives me time to listen to news or educational podcasts.

“I’m invested in about 10 different companies right now and I am actively looking for more investment opportunities. This means there is always something to learn. The companies get my money and my advice, and I get to learn something from them. But on top of all that, I do think it is very important that we invest in ourselves and our well-being, not just thinking about work or business alone. Money helps health for sure, but money without health is not enough.”

Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Writer Barbara Stewart is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 30 years of investment industry experience. She spent five years as a foreign currency trader, more than two decades as a portfolio manager for high-net-worth entrepreneurs, and for the past six years she has been performing interview-driven research for financial institutions around the world. Barbara is a keynote speaker for CFA Societies, banks, stock exchanges and industry conferences globally, and she is a columnist for CFA Institute and Canadian Money Saver magazine. She is on the advisory board of Kensington Capital Partners and also is the Ambassador for the Kensington Women’s Forum. In addition, 13 years ago Barbara saw a need to challenge outdated financial industry stereotypes and share positive messages about women and money. Today, Barbara is recognized worldwide as one of the leading researchers in women and finance. Her Rich Thinking® global research papers quote smart women and men of all ages, professions and countries and are released annually on International Women’s Day, March 8. To find out more about Barbara’s research, visit www.barbarastewart.ca.

 

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