Family life: an update to shareholders
Two years ago this weekend my wife and I took the most important investment decision of our life and opened up our home to a young girl in local authority care. Ten months later we formally adopted her and permanently added a new member to our family.
As we had a rare child-free weekend, we took time out today to assess the return on our investment.
In the debit column, raising a child is damned expensive at the best of times and our timing was not ideal. She eats us out of house and home and continues to grow out of clothes and shoes at an alarming rate. Our previously peaceful and serene existence is no more! This girl can talk for England and would argue with St Peter on Judgement Day. Personal privacy is a long forgotten memory. Everything in our home life is a bit noisier, a bit messier, and a bit more crowded than before.
But the credit column has already expanded to multiple sheets. We have been privileged to get to know the funniest, kindest, and most genuine young person imaginable and share in her sheer energy and thirst for life. I have a new buddy for cooking, reading, and swimming with; my wife has a companion for shopping and making art. I still remember vividly our first weekend together and buzzing with excitement for the next to come round after I had taken her back to her care home. Two years later, the excitement has scarcely abated and we can't wait to see her grow up into an amazing young woman.
I advise clients on how to invest their pension funds. Success is measured as a percentage return on capital. Sometimes I do particularly well, other times less so. Success usually cancels out failure and the world chugs along unremarkably.
How do we assess return on the considerable amount of financial and human capital we have invested in M? Doesn't fit neatly onto a balance sheet. We have a budding chef or PE teacher im our midst, but I am convinced that the real returns will begin to flow long after we have shuffled off this mortal coil. I love the idea that our profit will be shared and distributed widely.
Your country's GDP may grow at 0.5% this year, or perhaps a giddy 6%. Most of you will not notice because the flow of wealth in most advanced economies is directed towards the richest in society. You will continue to work harder and harder and yet feel ever more dissatisfied.
Make your investment instead in children and young people for unlimited returns that enrich us all. If you can't have children yourself at home, help out with small acts of kindness and support for a neighbour or relative. Pay taxes gladly to support schools and services for the young. It is the best investment you will ever make and we will all be wealthier, healthier, and happier for it!
🌈🌈🌈
As we had a rare child-free weekend, we took time out today to assess the return on our investment.
In the debit column, raising a child is damned expensive at the best of times and our timing was not ideal. She eats us out of house and home and continues to grow out of clothes and shoes at an alarming rate. Our previously peaceful and serene existence is no more! This girl can talk for England and would argue with St Peter on Judgement Day. Personal privacy is a long forgotten memory. Everything in our home life is a bit noisier, a bit messier, and a bit more crowded than before.
But the credit column has already expanded to multiple sheets. We have been privileged to get to know the funniest, kindest, and most genuine young person imaginable and share in her sheer energy and thirst for life. I have a new buddy for cooking, reading, and swimming with; my wife has a companion for shopping and making art. I still remember vividly our first weekend together and buzzing with excitement for the next to come round after I had taken her back to her care home. Two years later, the excitement has scarcely abated and we can't wait to see her grow up into an amazing young woman.
I advise clients on how to invest their pension funds. Success is measured as a percentage return on capital. Sometimes I do particularly well, other times less so. Success usually cancels out failure and the world chugs along unremarkably.
How do we assess return on the considerable amount of financial and human capital we have invested in M? Doesn't fit neatly onto a balance sheet. We have a budding chef or PE teacher im our midst, but I am convinced that the real returns will begin to flow long after we have shuffled off this mortal coil. I love the idea that our profit will be shared and distributed widely.
Your country's GDP may grow at 0.5% this year, or perhaps a giddy 6%. Most of you will not notice because the flow of wealth in most advanced economies is directed towards the richest in society. You will continue to work harder and harder and yet feel ever more dissatisfied.
Make your investment instead in children and young people for unlimited returns that enrich us all. If you can't have children yourself at home, help out with small acts of kindness and support for a neighbour or relative. Pay taxes gladly to support schools and services for the young. It is the best investment you will ever make and we will all be wealthier, healthier, and happier for it!
🌈🌈🌈
36-40, F
