“By far the best investment you can make is in yourself” – W. Buffett
Awareness of safe investment is raising nowadays as the economic situation becomes more uncertain and volatile. Besides, rational people are more likely to try to maintain or even increase their net worth through prospective ways, including investment. When mentioning the term investment, investing in shares, bonds, mutual funds, real estate, golds, and other financial instruments would probably come first in mind. While investing in financial instruments might be necessary for the future, investing in the self is another pivotal investment that is often being neglected or underutilized albeit it has a substantial impact on someone’s wellbeing during the lifetime.
The thing or place where an individual would put his/her capital and invest in is an inviolable personal decision, and hence invest in the self might be considered as precious investment and as the right decision. Investing in the self means taking concrete actions that lead an individual closer towards the fittest self. Among many types of investment in the self, there are three particular things that an individual could invest in, which might be applied as soon as individual pay attention to, has sufficient resources, and might take lifelong time span: health and wellness, skills and knowledge, and social relationship.
The first investment is in health and wellness by applying healthy lifestyle through regular exercise and well-balanced nutrition intakes for the physical aspect and self-care practice for the mental aspect. From the physical aspect, managing a healthy lifestyle might benefit an individual not only for the body itself but also for his/her financial facet. In addition to a lower health care spending, particularly due to medical treatment, preferring healthy foods and exercising regularly could bring positive benefits to someone’s career as a study led by the University of California in 2017 reveals that individuals who manage their health through a well-balanced diet and exercise rise their productivity by 10 percent. Briefly, it is worth noting that individuals with improved health could perform better to keep focus and feel more enthusiast on the job which in turn leads to a better opportunity for promotion, raise, or bonus. In particular, it is suggested that following a healthy lifestyle would bring various benefits to physical health. Dima-Cozma et al. (2014) explain that practicing a healthy lifestyle, regardless of age, could help in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, lowering the incidence of obesity and diabetes, the risk of psychiatric disorders, and cognitive dysfunction.
Moreover, from the mental and psychological aspect, practicing self-care and short-term breaks could contribute to increasing productivity. This could be done through vacation or recreation, doing hobbies, practicing meditation, taking some walk daily, reflecting on personal life aspects and goals, and taking actions to solve underlying issues that could possibly hinder self-confidence, growth and progress. Frequent physical activities are associated with better psychological well-being as well, for instance, psychic state of less stress, anxiety, and depression (Dunn et al., 2001), which further, it is suggested that the wellness of the psychological state plays a pivotal role in the precaution of chronic diseases. Hence, it could not be denied that the human body is designed in such a way as to actively carry out physical activities.
The second investment is in the skills and knowledge through lifelong learning. Lifelong learning refers to various and diverse education including available sets of skills and knowledge which are internalized, adapted, and adopted to an individual. This concept covers the activities people held during their lifetime in order to develop knowledge, skills and competence in a certain field, with respect to personal, societal, or employment reasons (Field, 2001). Lifelong learning could also be perceived as strategies to create opportunities for people to learn throughout life span about almost everything essential in human survival.
Particularly, Tissot (2004) describes and elaborates three core concepts of various forms of learning. First is the Formal learning which refers to a learning process that is held and designed by an organized and structured environment, i.e. formal education or training. Second is the Non-formal learning which consists of the learning process that implanted upon planned activities that are not explicitly intended for learning, yet still possess the crucial learning aspects such as vocational skills acquired at the workplace. Third is the Informal learning which means the learning process gained from daily life activities and experiences in regards to family, work or leisure. The investment in skills and knowledge might be done by strengthening skills or learning something through those various forms of learning, e.g. enrolling in specific courses at educational institutions as well as training or workshop offered by experts or businesses. In addition, it is also worth to learn and gather informations through self-taught, given the advancement in technology and openness of access to knowledge and information resources such as online courses, videos and podcasts to acquire new skills and empower someone’s ability in a field.
Generally, the benefits of investment in skills and knowledge could be described as the ability to catch up with the fast-changing world needs, higher income and wealth by providing more revenue streams and better job opportunities, and enrichment and fulfillment of someone’s capacity and capability. The fact that there is a shifting in global market and trend into more of technology, invest in skills and education through lifelong learning could support people to keep in touch with the updated technologies which in turn helps them to increase their productivity, innovation, creativity and ability to survive and cope with any challenge.
Specifically, Hildebrand (2008) explains at least five benefits of lifelong learning, including sharpens the mind and improves memory. In general, it is suggested that learning brings positive impacts to the brain, for instance, research shows that the more education people have, the less probability of them having dementia in the elderly. Next, it builds confidence as skills or knowledge as well as experiences acquired from the learning process equipped an individual with sufficient information and prudence to deal with and overcome challenges. Third, it improves interpersonal skills through the opportunity to socialize when someone is engaged in the learning process and environment which eventually leads to an enhance in relationship with others. The benefit of a good social relationship and connection will be elaborated on the next subject of investment in the self. Fourth, it carves the career opportunities, especially for those who wish to move upward in career to the next level. Skills and knowledge from lifelong learning enrich an individual’s capability, especially with a specific skill, to have greater competence in the field. Fifth, lifelong learning enhances the ability to communicate, which is a basic but fundamental and necessary skill in any life feature.
The third investment comes in form of valuable and meaningful social relationships, networks, and connections. Evolving professional networks through job tasks or other channels and links put someone in connection with new people. This networking is an opportunity to develop a new relationship and make up new friends which could be advantageous if managed appropriately. Maintaining a good and healthy relationship with the social environment could bring benefit in accordance with the principle of sowing and reaping, even though the form of the benefit might appear in any kind for different individuals. For example, it is known that trust, particularly in the work environment, is built upon good social connection and network as one of several determinant factors.
Taking an example from the health aspect, good connections and social support systems are proved to boost an individual’s health and increase longevity. PLoS Medicine (2010) releases literature of studies regarding the biological and behavioral determinants which impact the health benefits of social connection and relationship with others. It suggests that numerous studies have shown that individuals with social support from family, mates, and community are happier, have fewer health problems, and increase life expectation, vice versa. One study indicates that the deficiency of healthy and strong relationships raised the premature mortality risk from all causes by 50% which arguably analogous to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, and larger than obesity and physical inactivity. On the contrary, another study shows that social connection and relationship contribute to reducing harmful stress levels, which in turn could boost the immune system. In addition, Holt-Lunstad et al. (2010) suggest that stronger social relationships are correlated with a 50% raised probability of survival over mortality on average in the course of the study.
Self-investment is arguably the most pivotal thing an individual could afford to develop his/her capacity and quality of life. It embarks with clear and relevant goals and objectives followed by a bit more specific plan of action. It is important to keep focus and on track with a positive and growth mindset as well as to regularly reflects on the progress that has made. It is often blurred that the main idea of a pursuit of a goal is usually more valuable than actually achieving the goal itself. Considering the positive benefits and the ease to do, the investment in the health and wellness, skills and knowledge, and social connection and relationships might be a prudent investment that someone could ever make that are worth it both for the current and the future self.
As a closure, investment in financial instruments needs a certain amount of money as initial capital. Likewise, investment in the self takes time – in addition to money – as valuable capital, which needs to be managed properly as people could not rewind the time like they regain the lost money. If time and money are considered as assets, probably it would be wise for someone to utilize it carefully and thoughtfully since after all, life is about a trade-off.
“If I gave you a car, and it’d be the only car you get the rest of your life, you would take care of it like you can’t believe. Any scratch, you’d fix that moment, you’d read the owner’s manual, you’d keep a garage and do all these things” – W. Buffet
References
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Dima-Cozma, C., Cojocaru, D., Gavriluță, C. and Mitrea, G. (2014). The importance of healthy lifestyle in modern society: a medical, social and spiritual perspective. European Journal of Science and Theology, Vol.10, No.3, 111-120
Dunn A., Trivedi M. and O’Neal H. (2001). Physical activity dose–response effects on outcomes of depression and anxiety. Med Sci Sports Exerc., 33:S587-97
Elkins, K. (31 August 2019). Billionaire Warren Buffett just turned 89—here are 6 pieces of wisdom from the investing legend. CNBC
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Tissot, P. (2004). Terminology of vocational training policy: a multilingual glossary for an enlarged Europe. Cedefop (Ed), Luxembourg; Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
Woroch, A. (5 March 2019). 7 Ways to Invest in Yourself. US News
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