“Luck is when preparation meets opportunity” <<<< a quote I love

For me:

It was a badly dislocated knee on a Thursday night in a footy game gone wrong.

Things didn't exactly go to plan for me that eve, and I was a little frustrated. 50% bothered about what state my knee was in and what this meant for me long term… and the other 50% pretty peeved that I was gonna miss out on a days pay if this meant I missed my Friday shift

(yes I know - priorities were all wrong)

I just couldn't call in sick - a day of wasted opportunities

Or that’s how it felt at the time anyway. Turns out I’d torn my Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) - zero fun in case anyone was curious

Surgery was necessary and I went back to work prematurely post-op - again I just couldn't conceive spending a few months recovering and missing out on my pay

I battled along at the practice for a few weeks until it was obvious that my knee was packing in.

At which point, I went back to my surgeon to ask what I should do - the guy was visibly angry when I told him what I had been up to

(paraphrased):

“James, either you take 3 months off work…"

“Or keep going as you are and likely endure further reduced mobility as time goes on and likely debilitate yourself”

Yup, that happened

He did me a huge favour

Not just for fixing my knee (top job)...

But for getting younger James to wake up and realize how precarious a dental career can be.

I was young enough to believe my good health would always last.

Even after the injury happened, I was still confident and thought I would bounce back faster than everyone else…

It takes something like that to teach you that you aren’t invincible after all.

And looking back, I don't know why I was so perturbed. The fact was I’d already built additional revenue streams by this stage.

So I figured maybe it was time to amp that up.

There’s a really cool combination of knowledge, decision-making, and precision about investing that I love.

I’ve always been an independent person.

Call me OCD…

But I like being in control of my financial situation as far as possible.

And I also knew that “the person who cares the most about YOUR money is always going to be YOU”

But whilst that may be true… knowing WHAT to do is also super important

The younger version of me was definitely a danger to himself.

(OR more specifically, to his own bank balance.)

It took that guy to lose a sizable chunk of change to realise his mistake and learn the first rule of investing:

“Risk comes from not knowing what you are doing”

Here’s what I found:

Funds, limited companies, all the different types of investing accounts, pensions, platforms, building an optimised (key word) portfolio…

All that stuff sounds complicated.

But really it’s more like a private club.

Investors have their own ways of working, and their own jargon, both of which can leave even the smartest of us feeling slow on the uptake.

But once I started, picking up the jargon was simple.

Kind of like riding a bike actually.

And the investing part was straightforward.

At least it is the way I approach investing.

Which is to stop chasing quick wins for safe, simple and effective methods that bring compounding returns.

Which brings us to…

Chasing quick wins is a huge part of why investors lose 90% of the time when they invest.

They get excited (like I did).

Get anxious (like I did).

Pay FAR too much attention to daily fluctuations (like I did).

And try to force things, instead of playing the game in chill mode (which is what I now do.)

The result:

• Turning a small loss into a big win that’s still feeding my lifestyle today

• Building a lifeboat to sail away from the dental clinic

• Swapping my appointment schedule for working as and when

• Being location independent (which allows me to get sunshine in the winter)

• Turning side hustles into reliable income streams

I’m no Warren Buffet.

Neither in terms of knowledge or bank balance.

But I’m very comfortable with how things have worked out so far, with more to come.

And when young James Jr. comes on the scene one day…

The plan is to give him what I know in terms of knowledge so that the inheritance is in safe hands. It's his job to elevate the next generation of the family.

It seems crazy to me that currently each generation is having to plant their own seeds and water them.

That’s not how the top 1% do things.

They plant once, water forever.

Something for all of us to consider.

- Dr. James