Shane @5550free - Twitter Profile

I have lived a very blessed life. Some people would call it luck. Looking back, there were decisions I made over and over again that slowly shaped the life I have today. I still have a lot to learn, but if there’s one thing I hope this account becomes, it’s more than just a place where I talk about investing. One day, when I’m gone, I hope my children can scroll through these posts and understand how their dad saw the world. These are the 10 lessons I learned early in life that changed everything for me. 1. Be honest. Your reputation is built one decision at a time. People can forgive mistakes. They rarely forgive dishonesty. Do the right thing, even when nobody is watching. Your integrity will open more doors than talent ever will. 2. If you find the one, do everything in your power to keep them. Marry someone who believes in your dreams, challenges you to become better, and gives you peace when the world feels chaotic. Who you decide to marry is the most important decision you’ll make in your life. Choose wisely. 3. Treat everyone with respect. The CEO. The janitor. The waiter. The stranger walking past you on the sidewalk. Every person has a story you’ll never fully understand. Be kind anyway. The way you treat people who can’t do anything for you says everything about your character. 4. Play team sports. Sports taught me lessons no classroom ever could. Discipline. Leadership. Humility. How to lose. How to win without arrogance. How to trust others and show up when people are counting on you. Those lessons have helped me far more in life than any school ever did. 5. Dream bigger than everyone around you. Most people unknowingly inherit the limits of those around them. Don’t. Your dreams should make people uncomfortable. They should sound unrealistic. Because if your goals don’t scare you a little, they probably aren’t big enough. You only get one life. Don’t spend it thinking small. 6. Believe in something greater than yourself. For me, that’s God. Life becomes a lot less stressful when you realize you aren’t carrying the weight of the world on your own. Faith gives you purpose when things don’t make sense. It gives you hope when everything around you tells you to quit. No matter what you believe, anchor yourself to something bigger than your own success. 7. Learn how money works. Become financially literate. School teaches you how to earn a paycheck. Very few people teach you how to build wealth. Learn about investing. Learn about taxes. Learn about debt. Learn about businesses. Money won’t buy happiness. But financial freedom buys something incredibly valuable. Time. And time is the one thing you can never earn back. 8. Have kids. Nothing has changed my perspective on life more. The day I became a father, success stopped being about me. My priorities changed. My purpose changed. The money, the career, the accomplishments…they all became secondary. Being someone’s hero is the greatest privilege I’ve ever been given. 9. Never quit. Develop grit. I’ve met people far smarter than me. People more talented than me. People with better opportunities than me. But many of them gave up. Life rewards the people who keep showing up after everyone else has gone home. If you can push through uncertainty, adversity, rejection, and failure without losing belief in yourself… You become incredibly difficult to stop. 10. Spend time with your family. One day you’ll pick up your child for the last time and you won’t even realize it. One day you’ll hug your parents for the last time. One day you’ll laugh around the dinner table together for the final time. Life is fragile. The stock market will be there tomorrow. Work will still be waiting. The people you love won’t always be. Protect those moments. They’re the real wealth. If my children ever read this years from now… I hope you know that everything I ever did was for you. I love you more than you’ll ever understand.

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