What does it mean to you?
It may mean many different things to different people. But when I was speaking with my son about his
view on it he said that he interprets it the way it’s meant by the rap artists (that
frequently use this in their lyrics or communication with their fans). YOLO means do what you want NOW, or in
simpler terms: have the quality of life you want now instead of waiting until
_______ (fill in the blank).
This is kind of neat but (the but had to be there), if I
felt that way about cake and ice cream (I love sweets BIG TIME) I would be very
round, probably would get type II adult diabetes and die from some sort of
heart failure or just have a miserable life while I aged (perhaps) happily in
the midst of my favorite cakes and ice cream.
I am also a big fan of fast beautiful cars and have been
guilty of buying (or leasing) some very extravagant foreign makes (my last was
a hard top convertible cabriolet, black on black, with a “kompressor" aka
orgasm on wheels). What the experience
of owning those cars taught me was the fact that owning them did not make me
any better or happier with my life. It
simply taught me that they were
“HIGH MAINTENANCE”. In essence I spent
soooooo much time worrying about them getting scratched or damaged, also they
broke down (despite the assurance that these cars were indestructible), the
repairs and routine maintenance cost 5 time of a regular vehicle. So what was the result of me living once? I
was spending my discretionary income on maintaining my high maintenance cars! My cars were the high priced toys that owned
me!
YOLO can be better interpreted by assessing the reality of
economics and marketing. Once you
realize that you only live once and your life should probably be spent doing something
you view as important and valuable (something you love doing). So instead of spending your life BUYING what
the marketing professionals are selling you or more to the point, PAYING OFF
what you bought, you could focus on the less tangible pursuits.
A few years ago, I reassessed my life style and my
objectives. One of the major discoveries
was the fact that (with my personality) having F-You Money was important. Next I realized that my home and my cars
should not be liabilities (in other words I should not be spending more time
and money on them then I do on my family and my self). I downgraded from a house with a pool and a
huge back yard to a beach condo without a yard but huge grounds with ponds and
pool, a gym, and a spa. From my (toy) sports
car I downgraded to a practical silver SUV crossover (with 30+mpg). These changes allowed me to spend more
QUALITY time with my family and save more money by buying stocks, ETFs and
other investments. MY YOLO translated
into having more money (I happen to be a pretty good portfolio manager) and having
the ability to focus on the people that really mattered to me. Having a smaller home and a less impressive
car had absolutely no negative effects on my image. I was still as attractive to the opposite sex,
still had my friends and was able to make new friends just as easily. Go figure!
What’s your YOLO?
