On your 7th birthday
I got you a trading account, a framed picture of Matilda, and trip to NYC.
All of these things fit in perfectly with what I hope for you in your life.
1. The trading account. Ella - money is important. It's important but not the most important thing. Health and happiness should come before money - but make no mistake money can make those things easier to attain. And here's what I've learned about money - working for someone else will never make you rich unless you make them obscenely rich. You can hope to maybe garner 5% of your worth for the person you work for. So if you make them $1m - you can hope to maybe get $50k from that - and while that seems like a lot of money. In the grand scheme of things - you need to ask yourself "Could I have made the same business as the person I am working for?" If the answer to that is yes - then what I hope to provide you with here is the start of the capital that will allow you to make that patient and risky decision. Always believe in yourself - I didn't. And while I make a good living - I was never taught to do anything OTHER than work for someone else. And that conditioning has - to this point - cost me my own financial freedom. And conquering your financial freedom before anything else will allow you bandwidth to pursue passions and joys instead of doubt and concern.
We'll start off with $5k - and we'll pick 5 stocks of companies that you like.
2. Matilda - You are my little Matilda. You are brilliant and kind. I love that you love her. I love that you search knowledge through books. I think Matilda is a good character to emulate early in life.
3. NYC - travel. See the world. You know sometimes I get said when I say that. Mostly because Baltimore is my home and I doubt I'll ever live anywhere else - I love it here. It makes sense to me - but you may not... especially if you see the world. Where you live is sometimes as important as who you live with. You can fall in love with a city, a country, a beach, a horse, the smell of the rain... you never know. And it concerns me because maybe you'll move away from me one day - and I won't see you as much - and that's selfish of me to say... but I want to be honest with you. I would miss you so much but I would also know that you would pursuing your own happiness and that would make me very very happy.
Happy 7th birthday my darling daughter. I can't wait to see what's next.
Love
Daddy