Don't Blink

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Quote

“Quiet money compounds, loud money fades.” - WOLF Financial

Don’t Blink

Believe it or not 2025 is almost halfway over.

With the year flying by at this pace we’ll blink and it will be 2026. To make sure you don’t throw the next six months away I wanted to share the mid-year review process I recently completed.

I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a huge “goal driven” person, but I do think it is valuable to take a step back and analyze important areas of your life.

Completing an exercise like this only takes ~15min but helps you to identify what you can do better (and what you can stop doing).

The framework is based on our health, wealth, and energy. For each, you will answer one question on your current standing, and another on what you can do to improve.

Most people fail to do this then act shocked when another year goes by and nothing changes….

Let’s take a look at the questions. I’ve included my answers as an example.

Health

Q1: Has my health improved or declined over the last six months? Why?

Arguably the most important of the three is one’s health. It you doesn’t matter if you have a hundred million dollars if you don’t have the health to enjoy it.

Q1: Maintained. I’ve been more consistent working out thanks to our home gym. That said, with so much travel recently, I have been maintaining instead of progressing (too many vodka sodas and Michelobs consumed). Also nursing a rotator cuff injury that has limited what workouts I can complete.

Q2: What is one thing I can change to improve my health?

Easy wins: Working out X/week, getting more sleep, setting a step goal to hit everyday.

Q2 Answer: Get shoulder back to 100% by rehabbing 3x a week (ice, stretching, not doing exercises that could cause re-injury).

Wealth

Q1: Do I feel in control of my money?

If you’d like to get into the specifics such as percent of income invested, review spending by category, etc I think that is great. At minimum though, this question serves as a gut check for your financial situation. If you need a blueprint to follow read this post.

Q1 Answer: We feel in control but spent more money than we would have liked in the beginning of the year. Wedding, honeymoon, and travel for miscellaneous events were the main areas of spending.

Q2: What is one thing I can change to improve my wealth?

Easy wins: Creating a budget, discussing finances with your spouse, setting up auto investments, cutting back on eating out.

Q2 Answer: Book flights earlier for any remaining out of state travel this year to save money. Continue growing Chump Change (potentially with Youtube…hint hint).

Energy

Q1: What creates energy and what drains your energy?

Last but not least is finding what gives you energy and what takes it from you. I stole this one from Sahil Bloom’s quarterly planning advice. It’s a great way to identify what things are worth spending more time on, and which you need to cut.

Q1 Answer: Relationships with my spouse, family, and friends are great. Traveling in the first half of the year has also been fun. Currently feel I’m treading water at work due to company promotion freeze.

Q2: What is one thing I can change to improve my happiness/energy?

Easy wins or ideas: Diving deeper into hobbies, touching base with friends or family, joining clubs or groups with similar interests.

Q2 Answer: Continue planning events with friends and family. Explore job change and don’t ignore opportunities outside of current industry.

Conclusion

The first time doing these questions it felt dumb, but I did realize it was a good way to set one self up for progress. Give it shot. You might like the results.

Let’s win the second half. ~Cade

Cade’s Picks

Largest S&P 500 Companies - This graphic shows the 10 largest companies in the S&P 500 since 1985. Notice how not one of the biggest companies 2000 was still on the list in 2024. One of the main reasons I’m such a fan of index investing as losers are automatically cut and winners are automatically added.

Six Simple Businesses Anyone Can Start To Make $1M - My First Million Podcast episode where Shaan and Sam share cool business ideas anyone can start. One of these is extremely sad…but could crush. I won’t spoil it for you but it has to deal with pets.

QQQI vs JEPI: Which High Income ETF Should You Buy - If you have read my older posts you’ll know I’m not a huge fan of these ETFs as they will underperform over the long run. Though, if you are someone looking for cashflow, this is a great thread on the similarities/differences along with pros/cons of QQQI and JEPI.

Best Memes

I bought…just wish I would’ve bought more.

Golf bros will agree.

What it actually feels like right now.

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Nothing in this email is intended to serve as financial advice. Do your own research. Thanks for reading, if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, etc. about the email don’t hesitate to send me a reply.