⚖️ Are You Missing This Crucial Investment Metric?

What’s on the Menu 🍴

Time is money.

And if time is truly our most precious asset, why don’t we measure our returns against the only asset that decreases as we age?

This might make you rethink everything!

Let’s dive in:

• What’s Your “ROT” and Why Should You Care? 🕰️

• What To Watch This Week 👀

• Gen Z Is Hysterical About Having To Work A 9-5 Job 😭

Today’s newsletter is a 4 minute read.

What’s Your “ROT” and Why Should You Care? 🕰️

Last week, I dared to blaspheme the holy grail of investing: real estate.

Don't get me wrong, I love a good fixer-upper as much as the next person…

But when it comes to ROI—scratch that, ROT (Return on Time)—real estate is hardly the star of the show.

ROT is what you get when you calculate your investment gains per hour of work.

For all you number-crunchers out there, that's the return on capital divided by the hours you put in.

Time's ticking away, and it doesn't give refunds.

It’s our most precious finite asset, and it’s always depleting!

So, if your money's working hard, but you're working harder, it’s time to rethink the grind.

Post 2008 Great Financial Crisis, I tried my hand at house flipping.

And after hundreds of hours in negotiations, due diligence, closing, rehabbing, etc…

My hourly ROT looked like that of a fast food worker.

The TikTok gurus don’t tell you about the late-night calls from disgruntled tenants or the spiraling costs of keeping your property afloat.

Now let's take a look at some hypothetical examples of how you could calculate ROT on different approaches to investing.

• Passive Stock Index Investing: Barely lift a finger with maybe 1-2 hours a year, and you're looking at a 10% average annual return. Translation? A cushy 5%-10% return on your time, per hour.

• Bitcoin Swing Trading: Let’s say you get a 60% average annual return (on the world’s best performing and most volatile asset), with a modest 4 hours each month (or 48 hours a year). That would clock in at an hourly ROT of 1.25%.

• Day Trading: Since over 99% of day traders lose money, brace yourself—spending 25-50 hours a week might lead to a staggering 0% annual return. That's a big, fat zero ROT per hour.

• Building Your Own Business: Entrepreneurship can be your best investment, but with 150+ hours monthly (or 1,800 a year) and a sky-high 1,000%+ average annual return on capital, you’re only pulling in a 0.55% hourly ROT.

So, what's the moral of this numbers game?

Whether you're building a business or tapping away on a trading app, always ask yourself:

"Is the ROT worth my time, effort, and the opportunity cost of doing something else?"

Because when your most valuable asset is ticking away, you better make sure each tick is paying dividends.

What To Watch This Week 👀

This might be the busiest week in financial markets before the end of the year…

On the agenda we’ve got central bank meetings, critical economic reports, and a flood of corporate earnings releases! 😮‍💨

Last week we saw the ECB pause on interest rate increases, but this week the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan, and the Bank of England will make their rate decisions.

We’ll also be paying attention to key manufacturing reports in the US & China, as well as the official US October employment report on Friday.

The bears took control in stocks last week as cautious guidance overshadowed decent earnings across multiple sectors.

We’ve even reached an “Extreme Fear” reading on the Fear & Greed Index:

Bitcoin, gold, and uranium however have been providing positive hedges during the turmoil.

Mega tech giant Apple will headline a long list of companies reporting this week:

Here are some of the assets and sectors we’ll be watching closely this week:

📈 Rising

• Bitcoin & crypto (BTC)

• Uranium (SRUUF)

• Gold (GLD)

📉 Falling

• Energy (XLE)

• Banks & Financials (KBE / KRE)

• Tech, software, & semis (QQQ)

• Airlines (JETS)

• Solar (TAN)

• Biotech (XBI)

Gen Z Is Hysterical About Having
To Work A 9-5 Job 😭

Finally, some pressure is being removed from Millennials who have been picked on for years!

All eyes on the younger generation Z.

Last week, a video went viral of a fresh out of college woman crying about the 9-5 working lifestyle:

She continues to mention that her job isn’t the problem, it’s the commute that sucks a lot of her time.

She can’t seem to understand how people live this lifestyle or have time for anything else.

We’ve seen mixed reactions from this post.

1. Some people are applauding it and saying she has a good reason to be upset.

2. Others are saying, “Suck it up buttercup, welcome to adulthood.”

So who is right here?

The hard truth is most generations don’t have much sympathy for Gen Z having to work 9-5 jobs, because they all did it and didn’t complain (out loud)!

It was just a known thing that you commute in rush hour traffic to go work at your office all day, then commute back home. You would use your weekends for yourself, friends and family.

Not only that, they couldn’t afford to live in the city to walk to work either (a pain point she mentioned)!

But, it appears that the pandemic which started the work from home movement, may have tainted the generation.

They know work from home is possible now, so, if they don’t get to do it, they’ll feel like it’s unfair (hence her emphasis on the COMMUTE being the issue and not her actual job).

Is Generation Z a bit spoiled?

They’re clearly trying to buck social norms when it comes to work, and they want a society that focuses more on self-care & well-being. Many people believe this isn’t such a bad idea.

This isn’t Gen Z’s fault completely: Millennials were truly the pioneers of shifting career social norms.

While Baby Boomers stayed at the same job for decades on end (maybe even their entire lives), Millennials switched jobs more often without any fear. They also jumped into freelance work to have more flexibility in their lives.

Not only that, Millennials started the F.I.R.E. (Financial Independence Retire Early) movement. This is a movement built on the back of their well-being and getting the most out of life.

So, they’ve been one of the first generations to really change things up.

Now, Gen Z is taking what Millennials started to the next level: Nix the commute and make work from home a policy across the board (which benefits workers across generations).

Hybrid work truly does seem like the best of both worlds. The question employers will have is, “does productivity stay the same?”

In the end, learning how hard adulthood is, truly can be a shock to the system for college grads (especially if they’ve been living at home).

But, Gen Z’s thirst for more time for themselves is a trend that Millennials actually started, and they’re just passing the baton.

So… I guess this comes full circle back to blaming the Millennials after all 😂.

Delicious Bites 😋

• Bank Of America showing consumers still have money vs. 2019

• Homeownership is looking good for all generations

• Virgin Atlantic suspends its route from London to Austin - says city's tech boom is over

• Gas prices plummet as some states fall below $3 a gallon

• Top 10 countries by largest population decline

Food For Thought 🧠

"Time is more valuable than money.
You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.”
- Jim Rohn

DISCLAIMER: We are not investment advisors, and this content is for educational purposes only. We don’t offer financial, legal, or tax advice. Nothing we say is a recommendation to buy or sell any assets. Trading and investing are extremely risky, so please be careful and do your own research.