Summary of today’s issue

🔑 #1 - How to increase your Roth IRA

🔑 #2 - Cherish life with the “Last Time” principle

🔑 #3 - Remote sucks (for some)

🔑#1 - How to increase your Roth IRA

This is the tax advice I come for on Twitter. 👆

I’ve shared before that I like to invest for the long term out of my Roth. This allows me to pay taxes today, and avoid paying taxes on capital gains made from the investment.

To illustrate the value of this, let’s say my tax rate today is 40%.

If I put $100 in my Roth, I’ll pay $40 to the tax man.

If I invest the $100 in the S&P500 for 20 years, and it grows at 8% per year my investment will be worth $466 (or $366 of profit).

If I had to pay taxes on the profit that would be $146 of taxes, but I don’t need to pay those taxes because I invested using a Roth.

🔑#2 - Cherish the little moments

I had lunch with a friend on Friday. He got a call from his wife mid-way and said “sorry I need to takeoff early. My daughter is having her tooth pulled and she wants me by her side”.

He’s still her hero. Her protector.

And he seemed keenly aware that these special requests were numbered.

The tweet above hit a nerve for a lot of people.

Dozens of friends and strangers emailed me.

It seemed to particularly resonate for parents with young children.

Why parents? Parenting can feel like chaos and it’s hard. But it’s also beautiful and special.

This thread reminded those parents to cherish their little ones and even appreciate their cries for help or attention…because those will have a last time.

Anytime I feel pain or exhaustion, I think to myself “this could be the last time”, which helps me appreciate the moment.

To my readers: Do you ever apply the Last Time Principle in your life to deal with a difficult moment? Or how do you deal with stress and pain?

🔑#3 - Remote sucks (for some)

Remote work is a disadvantage in a few situations.

If you’re early in your career

If you’re in your 20s you need to absorb knowledge like a sponge. You also need your boss to build trust with you so they can heap more responsibility on you.

When you work from the office you get to see your boss work. You get pulled into random meetings. And, you get invited to lunch or happy hour.

When you’re at home, you attend virtual meetings all day with your coworkers. But you’re just a picture on a screen. It’s much harder to build a deep connection with a picture on the screen.

Meeting face-to-face allows you to get close with coworkers faster.

If you’re building an innovative start-up

Innovation is incredibly hard. And unlikely.

The best forum for innovation I’ve observed happens when a group of smart people sit in the same space together.

The reason for this is 1) fast communication 2) fast iteration 3) luck

Let’s start with the last one. For an innovative start-up to be successful you need to increase your chances of creating “luck”.

You can increase luck by increasing speed and ease of communication.

Sitting in the same room with my business partner allows me to workshop any idea immediately. This is far superior than scheduling a meeting over slack or zoom. By removing communication friction, you can workshop ideas outloud.

Fast iteration - this one is an extrapolation of communication.

If you’re attempting a new idea and it isn’t working, the act of being near co-workers allows you to quickly voice any challenges and iterate around those together.

All that said, I’ve been fully remote for 10 years. It’s afforded me incredible flexibility and has allowed me to hire people that are not “local” to me.

Pick your path…but if you’re in your 20s I suggest you show up to the office at least a few days a week.

Have a great week,

Sieva

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