No, it’s not your index fund. It’s not crypto. It’s not your RRSP or IRA. It’s your ability to do meaningful, high-value work.

Most people with a modicum of success spend countless hours researching financial investments, analyzing strategies, chasing returns, and optimizing for growth. But they’re missing the big one, the most important investment of all: investing in themselves to ensure they’re doing the right work.

That’s right; the smartest investment you can make is in aligning the work you do with what you’re actually meant to do. Not tweaking your stock portfolio. Not growing your real estate holdings. Not even chasing the next hot crypto.

It’s your ability to produce valuable work. To solve problems. To build things that matter. To show up as a damn force in the world.

Most people will earn hundreds of thousands – often millions – over their lifetime. It’s just math: 65K a year over 35 years is $2.275 million. That’s a pretty standard career. You probably never even realized you had the opportunity to be a millionaire.

But here’s the problem:

Most people treat their career more like a pay check than an investment portfolio. They’ll spend hours researching ETFs but won’t spend an hour reflecting on whether on whether they even like the work they do, or what it would take to shift toward something more aligned.

They chase job titles like lottery tickets. They wait for opportunities instead of creating them.

That’s not strategy; that’s survival.

If you want to build real wealth – and I’m not just talking about money here, but fulfillment, freedom, and a life you actually want to wake up to – you need to flip your investment lens inward.

Ask yourself:

Am I investing in skills that will still matter 5 years from now?
Am I operating in an environment that helps me thrive, or one that slowly corrodes me?
Am I growing in the direction I actually want to head, or just drifting into the whatever opportunity happens to show up?

Because here’s what I’ve seen over and over again:

When people do work that energizes them, they do better work.
When they do better work, they get noticed.
When they get noticed, they get paid more.

And when they get paid more for something they love doing, they build momentum that compounds far more reliably than any mutual fund.

So of course, contribute to your TFSA or IRA. Diversify. Plan for the future.

But don’t forget the one asset that drives everything else: you.

Invest in figuring out what lights you up.

Invest in building the skills that will keep you relevant and resilient.

Invest in support systems that keep your mind clear, your energy high, and your direction true.

The returns might not show up on a line chart.

But they’ll show up in your life.

Quotation I’ve Been Pondering

“There are at least 4 types of wealth:
1. Financial wealth (money)
2. Social wealth (status)
3. Time wealth (freedom)
4. Physical wealth (health)

Be wary of jobs that lure you in with 1 and 2, but rob you of 3 and 4.”

— James Clear

Journal Prompt

“What’s one skill, mindset, or habit I could invest in today that would pay dividends for the next five years?”

Until next week!!

Work and live well.

Tim

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