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A little bit of a different video today, sadly I attended a funeral recently, it was quite unexpected, my friend of over 25 years suddenly passed away at the age of 50. Now while this sounds quite sombre, and it is in a way, but please do stick around, as I think the ideas shared today will be worth listening to.
You know what was even worse about my friend, Mark’s, sudden passing, it unfortunately happened while he was taking his 5-year-old son to a kid’s birthday party. So unbelievably tragic. So… Mark would not want me or anyone to be sitting around wallowing about it. He would instead always have something witty and wise to say in situations like this. So even though this channel is incredibly small I wanted to share some insights I gained from this tragic event in his honour. A slight deviation from my usual videos, but hopefully interesting nonetheless, as I will try to raise some questions and ideas that are usually left unsaid until it is too late.
First, building wealth and understanding money is almost essential to having a long happy and peaceful life. It is why I have devoted a significant amount of my life to understanding it and pursuing it and why I have created this channel… to help others understand it better and hopefully get more of it… BUT… there is one thing that is, either now or one day eventually will be, far more important than money.
Around the same time I attended Mark’s funeral I also attended a birthday. My mother turned 70 and in the birthday card I wrote to her, I said all the usual kind, warm and loving things one says on a birthday like I loved her and so on but I also said… “I wish her health and happiness.” So after my mum read the card she gave me a really big warm hug to say thank you and then the first thing she said afterwards, the key word from everything written on the card which imprinted in her mind, was health. So then she said, “If you can work out a way to give me that then that would change everything.”
What insight can you gain here? It turns out, at some point in our lives we all end up finding ourselves in a situation where nothing but health is what we wish for. Most, if not all of us, will at some point be willing to trade every penny we possess for some more pain-free healthy time to spend with our loved ones and experience all that life offers us. I strongly feel this realisation is just a matter of time for all of us. You have those who try to be somewhat healthy throughout life and those who defer prioritising their health to later in life, often after getting a health scare of some sort and then try and turn things around.
The reason I share these two contrasting, but similar, life event experiences I had recently is because we all pretty much know that investing for our financial future is extremely important, and obviously with this Money with James platform I hope to help everyone do that better, but… it does not stop at investing in our financial future alone we must also invest in a healthy mind and body future too. This is clearly a minefield of a topic which I do not plan to go into too much today, but in simple terms it means adding more real whole foods and having a little less refined sugar and certainly less ultra-processed food. Doing some exercise most days, even just a long walk. Get a dog or join a club, etc. It also means investing in your mindset and mental health. Reading books which promote new more constructive ways to think and manage the stresses of life.
So in summary, as graphic as this may be to some, one day will come, when you will be willing to trade every dollar in your bank account to have more time living a pain-free healthy life. So please prioritise taking care of your health, once it is gone you will almost certainly regret not prioritising it more. Prioritise living in the moment. Now is all you truly have. The past is gone, so why let it negatively consume much of your today? Of course, it’s wise to do your best to go over the past to learn from your mistakes but then what? Move on, perhaps? The future is yet to arrive so be sure to get prepared (subscribe to my channel!) and set yourself up for it financially but also physically and most importantly do not forget to prioritise now. Now is all you have. So be present. Commit yourself to whatever you are doing now and truly be there, especially if you are with your loved ones.
And a little hashtag to take from today’s video #LITS LifeIsTooShort. So please stop worrying about the trivial details of whatever is consuming you and the petty arguments we all have. Say I love you more freely to your loved ones. Squeeze them harder and more often. Time goes quicker than you think.
Finally, I’ve always been someone who enjoyed reading quotes to hopefully learn from the wisdom of others and those no longer here. So in the near future I will be starting to share a quote of the day across my socials. So please subscribe/follow @moneywithjames on insta/tiktok/youtube to get those once I get it up and running. Mark has helped inspire me to do that, as he was always full of wisdom and funny quips to help you see through the problem you are currently facing. Here’s Mark’s poem shared at his funeral and a photo of us way back when we were barely old enough to drive. I’ll miss you buddy. I wish you all a long and healthy pain-free life, sadly it is not promised to anyone.
Thanks for reading to the end! A little different to usual but hopefully a positive and useful message nonetheless ❤️
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