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Friends,

Best-selling author Sebastian Junger (The Perfect Storm, Tribes, Freedom) recently sat down with a man getting out of prison after 25 years.

He asked a simple question:

"Is it possible to be freer in prison than out?"

It seems like a stupid question, but his answer was surprising:

Today's most powerful companies -- Meta, Amazon, Google -- are heavily incentivized to dominate our attention. Their flagship products -- Instagram, Prime Video, YouTube -- have been hyper-optimized to entertain you indefinitely.

We enjoy these products immensely ourselves (we even create a lot of content on YouTube), but we know these platforms carry a hidden cost. Without careful consideration, they can distract you so much that you never zoom out and ask yourself the big questions.

This is especially true with investing. If you only scroll through major finance websites, you're inundated with stimuli designed to make you click. Making you stop and think is rarely the goal.

You're never forced to confront big questions like:

• Why am I investing in the first place?
• What does my complete financial picture look like?
• How can I structure my finances to lead a better life?

It can take years -- if not decades -- to realize these un-asked questions are infinitely more important than whatever is happening in the markets today.

And if asking yourself these questions can help clarify your financial life, imagine how valuable it can be to ask yourself deep questions that address all other areas of your life, too.

Take some time in these last few weeks of summer to ask -- and answer -- these questions for yourself.

Wishing you luck in the process,

- Brian Feroldi, Brian Stoffel, & Brian Withers

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One Simple Graphic:

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One Piece of Timeless Content:

The Pareto principle indicates ~80% of results come from 20% of inputs (the "vital few"). This report from Blackstar Funds studied returns from 1983 to 2006 and concluded the top 20% (1943 stocks) accounted for more than 90% of the returns of the market.

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One Twitter Thread:

Sometimes the best advice is what not to do.

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One Resource:

Do you have a Roth IRA account? If not, we think it should be part of every American stock investor's toolkit. Learn all about the rules, limits, and how to get started with this tax-advantaged account in this article.​

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One Quote:

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More From Us:

👨‍🎓 Did you miss out on this cohort of Valuation Explained Simply​? You can buy the replays & materials here.

📗 If you've read Brian Feroldi's book, he'd love a review.

👨‍🎓 Want to learn how to read financial statements? Purchase the replays & materials for our live course Financial Statements Explained Simply.​

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