A Run For Investing

I am a runner and l run often. I try to target 30k a week. I saw a stat on my watch, saying that in the past year I’ve ran over 1000 kilometres and spent over 100 hours doing it.

This didn’t happen over night and l have been running for about 6 years now. Starting small and slowly increasing my distance over time as l learnt more about the art of running.

One thing I’ve noticed is that l don’t run fast anymore. When l was first starting out, l would try to break a PB every time l went for a run, chasing my next record.

Now, l run slow, not because l can’t pick up the pace anymore or can’t beat my own records anymore, I do it for longevity.

l do it so l can stay running for as long as l live. I do it to minimise the risk of an injury that puts me out of action for weeks or months or maybe even forever.

To paraphrase Morgan Housel.

If you understand the math behind compounding, you realise the most important question is not “how can l earn the highest returns?” it’s this: “what are the best returns l can sustain for the longest period of time?”

Just staying in the game, consistently, through the chaos.

This is true in investing and in running. The ability to do the average thing for the longest amount of time, will give you extraordinary results beyond your wildest dreams.

It’s one of the most obvious lessons in investing.

Looking back l never thought l would ever be a run fanatic or that l would be running the kinds of distances l do now on a regular basis and that we’d be investing regularly and consistently as often as we do.

These things need patience and trust in the process. The secret is compounding, discovering a path that fosters longevity and is sustainable over time.

I am the fittest l have ever been, financially and physically. Not through constant high intensity training where your body struggles to recover for the next session and not through using debt and some risky stock picking scheme hoping to get rich quick.

I do it through slowly and patiently compounding over time.

Thanks for reading.

J.H.Repetto