I was recently asked in a podcast interview:
“If you could travel back in time to when you were 18 years old and speak three words to your former self, what would you say?”
I know what I should say:
Invest AAPL MSFT
Also, be sure to use the ticker symbols when speaking to my former self, so I don’t accidentally invest in an apple orchard instead of the technology company.
It’s a good answer.
If I invested $1,000 in those two companies in 1987, I would have more than $10 million today.
Investing $1,000 might seem impossible for an 18-year-old in 1989, but I was already working full-time at McDonald’s — soon to be promoted to manager — with very few expenses, so saving $,1000 wouldn’t have been too difficult.
A month’s worth of paychecks would’ve probably gotten me close.
But no. Though the monetary gains would be enormous, there are three far better words to speak to my younger self:
Marry Elysha Green.
Yes, it’s true. If things continued as they did in real life, I would ultimately meet and marry Elysha, but given the chance, I wouldn’t want to risk something going wrong. One tiny alteration in the past, and who knows what could happen?
I’ve been known to be an idiot before, and it might happen again.
One small change of decision, and I might never meet her. Might never woo her. Might never find the courage to take her hand and join her on this life’s journey.
I’m not opposed to amassing an enormous fortune, but I wouldn’t want to do it without Elysha.
So yes. I’d tell my former self to “Marry Elysha Green.”
And hope her future self still agrees to my proposal.
