As a product designer by day, I follow a simple process called iterative design.
It means that nothing is final. Everything can be improved.
What the process looks like:
Learn about people’s experiences
Identify a problem
Understand why it’s important
Design a prototype
Test it
Get feedback
Iterate
Small iterations compounded on themselves can completely transform an experience over time.
And that’s the concept that I wanted to lean into for the REINVEST newsletter.
Writing is an interesting thing.
I never thought of myself as a writer.
I wasn’t particularly keen on English class back in high school.
I only really started writing a few years ago, to share my experiences at work and help others learn the concepts that I use in my day job.
But as I continued to write, I also started to learn more about myself.
The act of writing led to a great deal of self-reflection.
I learned that I didn’t want to write about design anymore, even though it’s a topic that I could potentially be an “expert” on.
I still wanted to help people grow in some part of their life through writing.
I wanted to use writing as a form of self-expression and talk about things that were relevant in my life.
Although I started the Money Thoughts newsletter with the intent to share my experiences and opinions on personal finance and financial independence, I realized there was more to it.
Some of the topics I felt naturally drawn towards writing about include:
Investing in non-financial assets like education or health
Challenging traditional mindsets
Taking risks in life, not just in investments
Creating the life you want to live
So why REINVEST?
The US stock market’s 100-year average annualized return with dividends reinvested is 10.53%. Without dividends reinvested, it falls to 6.496%.
Over 100 years, that amounts to a huge difference.
![A table showing the US Stock Market 100-Year Average Return with and without dividends, both real return and inflation adjusted. A table showing the US Stock Market 100-Year Average Return with and without dividends, both real return and inflation adjusted.](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F62a91b42-aa8e-4e8d-956f-43b7d6fe7dd3_1780x408.png)
Finances are a big part of everyone’s life. It’s what enables us to live the lifestyle we want to live.
I wanted to stick with the theme of personal finance for the newsletter, but also branch out to other aspects of life.
Because just as reinvesting in the market can lead to compounding gains, so can reinvesting in:
Your work or career
Your relationships
Your education
Your health
And just as designers iterate to improve a design, we can continuously reinvest in ourselves to make improvements, achieve long-term success, and live the life we want to live.