Hi, there. If you’ve come across this blog and it’s interesting to you, I’m honored. I now write and speak via brianherriot.com. I’m also a financial advisor for entrepreneurs at Herriot Financial, LLC. I hope to see you soon!

It’s a question I have thought about for a long time and a lot lately.

I haven’t suffered.

I first realized it objectively.

I read about suffering in the biographies of great founders and celebrities. The true greats come from poverty or have won battles against personal demons.

That’s not me.

How does my life experience compare to these personal struggles that I read about?

I was born healthy and raised in a strong family by supportive parents. I was a good student and went to a good college. I haven’t put undo pressure on myself. I haven’t experienced anxiety or depression. I have no personal demons. I took a good job out of school in a good economy. I’ve switched jobs and climbed the corporate ladder without stress. I started businesses on my own terms. My personal savings have grown while skating through recessions and down markets. My parents are still living. I haven’t lost anyone who is close to me. I’m lucky.

Next, it was reinforced emotionally.

Over the years, three family members have pointed out that I lead a charmed life. These reminders are particularly memorable to me.

In the family conversations I’ve had, my good fortune was not admired. The frame was negative. The messages I took to heart centered on how I “just don’t get” struggle and how I “couldn’t possibly understand” its meaning.

So I’m conflicted. Is my lack of suffering good? Am I indeed lucky? Or…

Is it a bad thing to not have struggled?

That too could be true:

• Character finds its roots in suffering according to The Road to Character by David Brooks. With no suffering, do I also lose character? I want character.
• Without suffering through the bad, do I not value the good in life? I want to value life and lead one that is examined and meaningful.
• And back to greatness: Success is often rooted in suffering. Will I never be great? I don’t need to be huge or popular, but I want to be great at what I do!
  
  

My immediate reaction is that suffering is a part of life that I’ve been lucky to skip past (so far).

But maybe it wasn’t luck at all. Consider:

• My socioeconomic condition: I am a tall, white, well-educated, male living in the 21st century United States. It can’t get any better. I am privileged.
• My inherited personality: I dislike conflict and stress, and aim to side-step problems. I’m risk-averse and calculated in what I pursue. I’ve designed myself a “safe” life.
  
  

But gliding safely through life isn’t right either. My life needs meaning.

Could I be more conscious in seeking out difficult things, environments, and experiences? Do I pursue something that stretches my comfort zone but risks sadness and suffering?

I don’t know.

Is there a middle ground?

I want to challenge myself. Yet I don’t want to suffer for the sake of it. That seems pointless.

What if I risk a meaningful but painful experience and then manage the suffering?

Frank Ostaseski, co-founder of the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco, reminds us in “What it Means to Suffer, and Why it’s Important” that pain and suffering are related, yet different experiences.

The familiar adage says, “Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.”

Suffering is the result of a chain reaction: stimulus -> thought -> reaction.

We don’t have control over the stimulus that triggers pain. But we can influence our thoughts about the pain and our reaction to it. In doing so, we can reduce suffering.

To live a well-examined and purpose-filled life, I need to go big and risk some pain. And when the inevitable pain comes, I should think deeply and practice how I react.

Maybe this is the middle ground that I seek.

Tweet

Subscribe to get my posts sent to your Inbox. Thanks!

What is Fast Follow Investing?

• Start with buy & hold passive indexing.
• Then, 1) expand beyond stocks and bonds and 2) cut off severe market losses at the knees.
• Grow your lifetime savings at 12% to enjoy a 5% forever rate of withdrawal in retirement.
• Fast Follow Investing (based on Tactical Asset Allocation) is finally here for small investors like you and me.

So join me!

Use my slow travel planner to create your perfect getaway. Unplug from work, speed up your retirement travels, and expand your mind too.

This is a two-part blog.

Post 1 makes the case that we Americans should imitate European vacations. We need to take off one full month each year. To do so, you may need to own a micro-business, which I advocate as part of my Idols Framework for building wealth. I lay out a 10-step slow travel planner to get you started! Then, I share my June trip planning to Portugal as an example.

Post 2 dives deep into how to prepare a personal itinerary for your slow travels. I’ll share the detailed itinerary for our trip to Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra, and the Silver Coast in June. I also break down any language barriers that often bring fear. I share a simple method to practice pronunciation and key phrases to help you get around.

Here is a link to my slow travel planner. Please use it to plan your next adventure!

For the first 25 years of my working life, I have been heads down. Only in the last 3 years have I begun thinking bigger: Why do I work hard? Why do I save? What does it mean to live my best life?

Consider this: Wealth brings freedom. Freedom creates choice. Choice offers no excuses. And no excuses means “get on with living a great and full life”.

The world is very big. I am very small. A full life is one of many, varied experiences. So, I intend to travel while I can. At 47 years old, I hope I can do it for a long time.

I have much to make up for. My only true travel experience so far has been a two-week trip to Italy in 2018. Otherwise, I’ve only traveled for work or been confined to a luxury resort.

What is the European philosophy on vacation?

“See you in September.”

I found some statistics about Americans and vacation time. Was it different from my own experience? I have rarely taken more than 2-3 weeks of vacation in a year.

Here is what I found:

• On average, workers in the United States have only ten days off per year.
• Fewer than 40 percent of low-wage workers (in the private sector) receive any paid time off.
• In the U.S., it takes twenty years on the job to reach an average of twenty vacation days per year.
• Each of us works on average 1,740 hours per year. This is almost 25 percent more than our European counterparts.

I’m not so different.

Then, I read Why Europeans slack off in August in The Economist.

I looked into the European philosophy of time off and learned:

• Paid vacation time is mandatory across the European Union, with at least four weeks off.
• The average French worker takes thirty days of paid vacation per year.
• In Austria, people take twenty-five days of vacation, beyond thirteen paid holidays.
• Denmark mandates five weeks of paid leave, with vacation days accruing at a rate of just over two days per month.
• Italians, Spaniards, and Germans also take a lot of time off.
  
  

Slow travel takes time…at least four weeks

Europeans do it right. They embrace what is known as slow travel. Slow travel is counter to how Americans vacation. The typical American vacation is one or two weeks and packed with touristy sights to see. On vacation, our minds are often still at work, because how disconnected can we truly be when only away for a week?

Slow travel emphasizes connections to local people, cultures, food, and experiences. Trips are longer. A four-week vacation is likely the minimum. We experience the trip at a more measured pace. We learn more about the place we’re visiting and at a deeper, more emotional level. Our goal is full absorption within the experience.

How an American plans a European-style vacation

Taking four weeks off to slow travel in Europe isn’t something every American can afford. I understand this. But the limiting factor is not money. Slow travel, due to its pace and focus on local living, can be cheaper that a two-week trip to Disneyworld.

The challenge is time (for the reasons I mentioned earlier).

So you’ll have to first align your life to accomodate four weeks of vacation. Maybe you are a freelancer or digital nomad. Or, a micro-business owner. How does this help you? You take back control of your time.

There is nothing that I recommend more. Americans have to experience a one-month “holiday”. Europeans do this each August. My family will do it in June!

There are ten easy steps to plan one great month of slow travel:

1. State your reason for travel - Your trip should have a purpose. Is it relaxation? Partying? To build your photography skills? Try out a new place to live?
2. Establish travel principles - These guide your planning. With the family in tow, maybe you take in only a single sight per day. Is your trip centered on tasting local food?
3. Study the place, in general - Use online resources (and there are many) to understand the place. E.g., Italy is for cities and its art, while New Zealand is about natural beauty.
4. Determine the basics - Identify destinations, then get airfare and book lodging.
5. Handle administrative items - Address how to handle phone and internet, money, and insurance.
6. Generate big ideas - Always try to meet locals, visit the local markets and festivals, and plan to wander. Seek out local interest groups important to you (e.g. soccer/futbol).
7. Generate ideas by location - What are some “must do” activities by region? E.g. wine tasting in Portugal’s Duoro Valley, the Colleseum in Rome, etc.
8. Prepare a loose itinerary - Combine your general study, big ideas, and regional ideas into a loose itinerary. I’ll provide a sample in my next post.
9. Train yourself for the trip - Learn key pronunciation tricks and several important phrases that respect the locals and help you get around. Pack, watch movies, and read the local news.
10. Go with the flow! - Bring a few things with you each day. And never be afraid to break from your plans to do something interesting.
    
    

My family’s slow travel planner for June in Portugal

Next, I include the slow travel planner for our trip this summer. For each step, you can see what resources I found.

In my next post, I’ll share my detailed personal trip itinerary (step #8) and local language cheat sheet (step #9).

Click here to get my slow travel planner!

A satisficer’s approach to slow travel

Satisficers make a decision once their basic criteria are met. I am a satisficer. It doesn’t mean that I settle for mediocrity. But, once my trip itinerary meets the qualities I’m looking for, I am satisfied.

This is different from maximizers. Maximizers want to make the optimal decision. A decision cannot be made until after every option is fully researched. Only then is the best possible choice guaranteed.

In the excellent book The Paradox of Choice, author Barry Schwartz argues that satisficers tend to be happier than maximizers. Maximizers spend a lot more time and energy to reach a decision. And afterward, they’re often anxious about that decision.

Please keep in mind that I am a satisficer. My approach to slow travel planning is rooted in this approach. If you are a maximizer, you will no doubt want to spend more time planning than I do!

I’ll see you next week.

Tweet

Subscribe to get my posts sent to your Inbox. Thanks!

What is Fast Follow Investing?

• Start with buy & hold passive indexing.
• Then, 1) expand beyond stocks and bonds and 2) cut off severe market losses at the knees.
• Grow your lifetime savings at 12% to enjoy a 5% forever rate of withdrawal in retirement.
• Fast Follow Investing (based on Tactical Asset Allocation) is finally here for small investors like you and me.

So join me!

Last night, I watched Roadrunner, one of many great Anthony Bourdain documentaries. It is a tragic story. But, strangely, I finished it feeling inspired.

Tony was troubled but intensely driven. He did so much for the poor and underrepresented of the world. And he did it because he wanted to. He traveled the world. But he started first when shooting “A Cook’s Tour” in 2001 when he was 46 years old.

I’m 47 right now. I want to travel. And I want to lead a bigger life.

Steve Jobs said: “When you grow up you tend to get told the world is the way it is and … to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family, have fun, save a little money. That’s a very limited life.

Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.”

Great things start small. My post this week is short because I spent much of my time planning an adventure. Our family is spending June in Portugal. Thirty days to experience something completely new.

I’m taking aim at my inner monologue. It tells me that “I’m not the type of person who spends a month in a foreign country.”

It’s the hard things that are worth doing. Let’s see where it leads.

Tweet

Subscribe to get my posts sent to your Inbox. Thanks!

What is Fast Follow Investing?
Start with buy & hold passive indexing. Then, 1) expand beyond stocks and bonds and 2) cut off severe market losses at the knees. Grow your lifetime savings at 12% to enjoy a 5% forever rate of withdrawal in retirement.

Join me!

Today is my birthday!

I am made fun of for broadening its celebration. My birthday becomes my “birthday weekend”, my “birthday week”, and even my “birthday month”. I don’t know why I do this. I just love my birthday.

Birthdays are wonderful days to reflect on your life: What have I accomplished? Who am I now?

I’d love to tell you about my “Marissa Mayer Moment”.

In July 2012, I was six months into a new job. My first as a director! I was commuting 2.5 hrs per day. Waking up nightly to care for a 1-year-old. I was working hard, but managing it all pretty well… I thought.

Then Yahoo! named Marissa Mayer its CEO. We were both 37 yrs old.

I looked up her background. Marissa graduated high school in 1993 in Wausau, Wisconsin. This is only 100 miles from where I grew up, in rural Ripon, Wisconsin.

So, in late 1993, we both took off to school…and now she was the CEO of Yahoo!. It took her only 15 years after college.

It was the first time something shocked me out of the daily corporate grind: What am I doing with my career? What am I working toward? Is this a mid-life crisis?

My wife laughs at me: “That was the first time?”.

It’s crazy to think that was 10 years ago. In those 10 years, I decided to jump off the corporate track. I have been able to start a couple of (small) businesses and lead a relatively stress-free life. I like it. It fits me.

I google Marissa now and again. I see pics of what looks like a pretty normal life. And maybe we’re not so different. I mean, apart from her fame and the $ Millions… ;-)

P.S. Marissa Mayer- please don’t misunderstand me. You’re awesome!


Subscribe to get my posts sent to your Inbox. Thanks!

Spend one weekend alone to make plans for a full and well-intentioned life.

In 2022, I spent a December weekend in Alameda’s beautiful Gold Coast neighborhood.

What started during Covid-19 as a need for some “me time” has become an important, life planning event.

Some do it at the turn of the year. Others do it close to their birthday. My birthday is January 8, so I guess I do both!

I spent a recent December weekend at a local Airbnb reflecting on 2022 and making plans for 2023.

It was an entire weekend for me. An entire weekend not stuck in the daily grind. An entire weekend spent appreciating 2022 and dreaming about 2023.

Think of it as a strategic planning offsite…for you.

I recommend you do it.

Now in my 3rd year, I have insights.

One insight I didn’t expect is how the weekend helps me segment years. Before taking my annual trip, the years ran together.

Now, my life has chapters. The chapters help me fight time which has accelerated as I age. How is my son 11 years old, already?

My second insight tackles how to make the trip’s significance stick.

I propose keeping your life’s plan for the year simple. I prepare 4-5 goals for the year in a Google doc or in Word. You might even choose to handwrite your plan.

Either way, make a hard copy and display it at your desk. Don’t tuck away your life goals for the year!

Please feel free to use my template. I call it my “One Year Life Planning Guide”. You can access it here.

My life’s 46th chapter (2022) started at this humble Airbnb in Forestville, CA.

And one final insight. I find it helpful to create a personal theme for the year. For example, looking back…

My 2021 theme was Lay a solid personal financial groundwork. This translated to 1) Prepare a wealth plan, 2) Learn to invest better, and 3) Become tax efficient.

My 2022 theme was Simplify life by targeting the best opportunities. This translated to 1) Work on the right things and 2) Keep stress-levels low.

Looking ahead, my theme for 2023 is Live a full life and try out retirement. Our family is making a concerted effort to do new and memorable things. I’m going to take some time off work.

Happy planning! Here’s to a great 2023!

After you grab my “One Year Life Planning Guide”, you can check out some other freebies here.

Subscribe to get my posts sent to your Inbox. Thanks!

If you’re curious, here’s my thinking about the name and logo (or should I say mascot).

Fast Follower Technology

The “fast follower” in the name stems from the technology strategy.

A fast follower is not an innovator.

But when innovation takes off, the fast follower quickly jumps in.

The master of this is Microsoft. Its success speaks for itself.

Microsoft has been in the top 3 in market capitalization for over 20 years.

No other company can match it.

Credit Visual Capitalist

The Wall Street Journal again named Microsoft its top-managed firm.

How does it do this?

• Microsoft doesn’t have the biggest cloud business (Amazon Web Services) but they are #2 in market share.
• It isn’t Facebook or Instagram, but Microsoft owns LinkedIn.
• Its Xbox is #2 behind Playstation in gaming consoles.
• Now, Microsoft is moving into video gaming content with its proposed Activision Blizzard acquisition.

Of course, a fast-follower strategy doesn’t work in every situation.

Have you “Binged” anything online lately? Where is your Zune player? Some misses are inevitable.

But…a lot of 2nd place finishes, when added up, make for staggering and consistent success.

Translated to Investing

Fast Follow Investing aims to do the same thing:

• Find the trend that is working, buy into it, and grow with it.
• When the trend becomes unfavorable, get out.

A FastFollowInvestor.com portfolio is never the flashy 1st place finisher.

In fact, it will likely NEVER have the highest return in a given year.

Though stack up many high-place finishes year after year (especially in down years), and you become the winner.

The FastFollowInvestor.com portfolio will be the highest performer over 5 years.

Let’s Make This Fun

My second reason for the name is that Fast Follow Investor simply sounds better!

It’s a catchier name than “Tactical Asset Allocation” or “TAA” (or “T&A” as it’s often misheard.)

In my view, the strategy needs better marketing.

TAA is THE best strategy out there for investment success over the long haul.

Hands down.

But nobody knows about it! And this needs to change.

So maybe a little rebranding will help.

And That Cute Dog

Now, for my beloved mascot. The dog featured everywhere is my pup Izzie.

She follows me everywhere.

I think it has to do with her hearing loss in old age. For fear of being left behind, Izzie follows me all around my house. Upstairs. Downstairs. Inside. Outside.

Izzie puts a lot of trust in me to guide her.

And I know those who follow me do as well.

My wife and I have had Izzie since 2007. She’s almost 15 1/2 years old. :-(

As my mascot, Izzie gets to stay with us a lot longer.

Subscribe to get my posts sent to your Inbox. Thanks!

I guess it’s better to learn your lesson early in life, when you have less money at stake…

In 1985, I was nine years old and joined my dad for a 45-minute drive to an A&W restaurant in a neighboring town.

The A&W is still there. In fact, I drove through Wautoma, Wisconsin and saw it this summer.

My dad had a business meeting with a man named Vern Taggatz. While the two men spoke, I wasted time in the restaurant parking lot kicking rocks.

My dad was a “businessman”. He worked for Speed Queen, an appliance company, as a middle manager.

On the side (a side gig!), he and my mom invested in a couple of houses, flipping them. I helped paint. And I stayed out of the way.

At the A&W, my dad was discussing an opportunity to invest in a new apartment complex in Plover, Wisconsin.

I thought it was pretty cool.

Little did I know at the time I was part of something that is now all the rage: a commercial real estate syndication.

It took about an hour. Finally, the meeting was over.

On the drive home, I learned that my dad and Vern did the deal.

Years later, I learned that my dad invested about $20,000.

Even more years later, I learned that Vern defrauded my father.

In 1985, several small investors cut checks to Vern Taggatz who ran off with the money.

Ouch.

My dad was smart. He is still smart.

I try to be like him in many ways. Too much, in fact.

I’m in management (management consulting). I’m entrepreneurial. I love investing.

I bought a high-priced, whole life insurance policy right out of college that I did not need nor could afford.

Double ouch.

The lesson?

When presented with an investment opportunity, really question it.

• How exactly does it work?
• Where is the value?
• What is the downside?
• How well do I know this person?

If the investment opportunity doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t!

Subscribe to get my posts sent to your Inbox.

Hello!

I look forward to meeting everyone as I create a new community of do-it-yourself investors.

To start, let me introduce myself.

I’m a husband of 20+ years, father of 10+ years, and management consultant/ business owner.

Born and raised in Wisconsin, I now live in the San Francisco Bay Area.

I’m fascinated with investments and the economy. I have recently become intrigued by purpose and passion.

Why fastfollowinvestor.com? That’s easy… I’m introducing do-it-yourself investors to a personal investment strategy called Tactical Asset Allocation (TAA).

TAA generates investment returns for you to achieve financial independence. And it protects against losses so you can sleep well in this wonderful, new stage of life.

More DIY investors should know about it.

At fastfollowinvestor.com, I want my posts to show some personality and prove enjoyable to read.

If I do it right, we’ll also learn together and have fun doing it.

A little more about me:

1. Friends tell me that I’m great to watch a comedy with. They laugh at me laughing at the movie.
2. A storm in New Orleans flooded my car up to the steering wheel. A total loss.
3. You will want to cook dinner for me because every meal I eat is the best meal I’ve ever had.
4. I love swimming, skiing, and other fun on the lake. My grandparents owned a cabin in Northern Wisconsin, and now my wife and I do too!
5. My sister competed in the Miss America pageant!
6. My spirit animal is a dog. I’m a dependable and trusted companion, and I always live in the present (both good and bad).
7. Our terrier, Izzie, is over 15 years old and still escaping from the yard.
8. One regret I have in life is not traveling for long periods overseas when I was younger. I want to make up for that soon.
9. Life granted me a great many privileges and only in the last several years have I realized it.
10. I have been thinking about writing for a long time and now simply must do it. I’m very excited to start this adventure with you!
    
    

You can receive my posts on money, the economy, and Fast Follow Investing monthly by subscribing.

I can’t wait to get to know you better.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback! What interests you?