Philip Fierlinger - Part 2

Wherein Philip shares his advice for aspiring early retirees

Notes from the other side

I love reading all those “37 things I wish I knew by the time I was 37”-type lists. Like this and this and this and this. Also check out Kevin Kelly’s book. And 102 Lessons from 102 Books. I could go on…

Anyway, that’s why I love that Philip has his own ‘Lessons Learnt’ list below: short, hard-won nuggets of wisdom. You can see why I needed a whole separate newsletter. He’s got a lot to say.

(BTW, if you didn’t read last week’s Part One, you’ll probably want to start there for context.)

Philip surfing in Lyall Bay

Philip’s advice on…

…Managing your wealth

Back in my 30s, I tried investing in stocks and it was a mixed bag. I didn’t think I was very good at it, so I gave up. When Sharesies came out I gave it another shot. I realised I just needed to invest small amounts on a weekly basis, rather than a few big bets. Sharesies made that so easy and fun.

My Sharesies portfolio has performed exceptionally well. My strategy is to find a few stocks I’m interested in and invest a small amount. If it’s performing, I keep investing. If it’s not, I back off. After a while I got confident with my performance and increased my weekly deposit, which really accelerated my returns.

I also do a few startup investments per year, almost exclusively in tech startups, almost exclusively in New Zealand. For me, it’s been a learning process. I started doing small investments, then got confidence over years to do bigger investments.

My advice for investing in start‑ups and stocks:

• Only invest money you can afford to lose.

• Start small, in order to test and learn.

• Invest across a range of start‑ups/stocks, to both diversify and learn.

• There’s a lot to learn so be patient—learn how different companies pitch, how companies generate revenues and measure success, how valuations work, how to spot red flags.

• Assume it will take a minimum of 10 years to see a return—holding is the key to performance and growth.

• Play to your strengths—invest in things where you have expertise, where you understand the moving parts and market dynamics, and can easily sense which companies are weak and which are strong—and why.

• Invest according to your values—avoid businesses that violate your principles. This isn’t just to be ethical, but your judgement is off with things you don’t believe in.

• Realise that even professional investors are not as clever as they make out—you’d be surprised how much they get wrong and how many of their decisions are based on gut feel rather than deep, sophisticated analysis.

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…Savouring life’s joys

I don’t subscribe to the view that money can’t bring happiness. It has brought me a lot of pleasure and joy—and peace of mind. But I do subscribe to the view that the best things in life are free. They’re also simple and easy.

Make time for family. At Xero, even though it was a high‑stakes, high‑growth start‑up, I made a solemn promise that I was going to be the last person to arrive at work and the first person to go home, because I had a young family and that was the most important thing in my life. I have absolutely no regrets. That is always the highest priority.

Get outside and move. For me, that’s walking, hiking, biking, surfing, skiing, kayaking, mowing the lawn. Chopping wood has become a new favourite. It’s easy and it’s fun. And don’t wear headphones; otherwise you’re not savouring life, you’re being held hostage by media.

Eat well. Real food, not processed toxins; chew slowly. Minimise sugar, alcohol and caffeine. Support local cafés, restaurants and food producers that are making the effort to make real food, not toxic junk food.

Sleep well. Get an Oura ring. You’ll quickly see how badly alcohol and caffeine are ruining your sleep.

Breathe (a.k.a. meditate). By this I mean breathe deeply and slowly. I like to meditate before bed. Sometimes it’s just five to ten minutes, but if I allow myself to be patient, the real magic happens when I melt into it and suddenly a half‑hour goes by. Breathing is the most important thing—inhale through the nose, exhale very slowly through the mouth. The buzz is better than alcohol and drugs. Instead of a hangover, you’re fresh and blissed out.

Make time for friends. I’m getting better at this. Before kids, I spent all my time with friends. While raising kids, that faded away. I’ve very consciously made an effort to reach out, make new friends, book lunches and dinners—and it’s been so nice.

Journalling. You can vent all your struggles into your journal. Let it all out. It’s very cathartic. But also make sure to write the reasons you have to be grateful, no matter what. It’s very grounding and healing.

Reading. I avoid business books; it’s just stressful and more work. I love biographies of musicians and comedians, historical fiction and non‑fiction spy novels. But the book I’ve read the most is A Thousand Names for Joy by Byron Katie—although it’s very metaphysical, so a better entry point into Byron Katie is Loving What Is. It’s a very simple, practical philosophy to cope with life’s challenges and it’s changed my life.

Travel. Travelling, especially overseas, is not free, but it is life‑changing and worth it. It is a good investment in personal growth and happiness. It makes you realise the world is a very big place with lots of different ways to do things. It expands your horizons and your perspective on life.

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…Learning

Over the years I’ve kept notes about the important life lessons I learn—and keep re‑learning. I keep coming back to these whenever I’m struggling. Here are a handful of my learnings:

• Enjoy the adventure—the biggest key to success is just showing up.

• Don’t take it all so seriously! Have fun while you’re young, because you’ll never be so young.

• Invest in happiness.

• Doubt your doubts—trust in the timing of your life. Trust the flow. Invest in the moment.

• The ordinary is extraordinary.

• Comparison is the death of joy. Gratitude is the source of all joy.

• Every moment is a struggle and a triumph depending on how you see it.

• The struggle is the reward—struggling is good and important, to get us to the next level, to grow and to experience the joy of overcoming.

• Adversity and good fortune are equal—they are both reality; both offer gifts and opportunities. Adversity is good fortune.

• Your work is not your life. To be successful requires a lot of things to go right and people to do their part, and lots of luck. It’s not up to you. Success is not up to you and failure is not up to you. It would be arrogant to think so.

• Real freedom and peace mean being open to anything and everything life brings—unconditional acceptance.

• This too shall pass. Everything is temporary. If things are good, enjoy it while it lasts. If things are hard, it’s just temporary—it will pass.

• You don’t need to achieve anything to experience peace—you just need to notice the peace that’s always there.

• Always realise how lucky you are and be grateful—there’s somebody out there who dreams of the life you have and the problems you have.

• Life is what you make it. Make it fun. Remember: challenges are fun. Puzzles are fun. Exploring is fun. Sharing is fun. Sitting in the sun is fun. Helping is fun. Listening is fun.

• It’s incredible just to be in the arena.

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To get in touch with Philip head over to Skyrize.com. You also might want to visit upstock.app/about to learn more what he’s doing at Upstock, and if you want to invest, contact investors@upstock.app.

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What Trent has been up to

I’m not really a runner, which is why my hobby of watching ultra-marathon videos on YouTube is a bit weird. (My faves: The Finisher, King of Moab, The Chase, The Kid). There’s something about the superhuman physical and mental endurance required to run so far, plus the race drama, plus the stunning locations, that I find very compelling.

Anyway, I guess at some point I had to get off the couch and do the next logical step, which is why I signed up to run the 53km Faultline Ultramarathon in April in Wellington. (Nobody replied to last week’s provocation, so I guess I’ll be Obama’s Elf.)