Impact Investing Tribute #2: 105-year-old Jokester Alf
My late father's cousin Alf turned 105-years-young on March 21st! I went to spend the day celebrating with him and we discussed themes relevant to my Impact Investing posts on how: "With TIME, everyone will be able to find Value in Impact Investing."
Alf is invariably curious AND remains a lifelong learner. But first and foremost he is an entertaining jokester who is laughing much of the TIME! He has binders and binders full of jokes he has collected over the years, and keeps his fellow tenants at the eldercare facility, as well as visitors, in stitches.
Alf has another secret to longevity and would likely win a bet with any reader of this post. With no disrespect and wishing each reader a long, healthy life; Alf is still likely to celebrate more birthdays than YOU in the future... jokester, right?
Alf takes a look in the mirror every morning and says: "Oh good, you're still here!" Then every single day he will wish himself a Happy Birthday! So dear reader, if he is still here in three months, he will have celebrated 90 more birthdays and won the bet! And if not, no one will be able to collect from him anyway :)
Framing for the best potential outcomes in life and in business is extremely important. Alf is not so certain about his chances of surviving to celebrate several more birthdays in the traditional sense - at 110 that would be just 5 more... so his daily celebrations allow him to live with joy and relative tranquility EACH AND EVERY DAY (as it relates to investing, I will demonstrate in a more detailed version of this post on my blog page that as individuals age the TIME Value of Money AND The Value of TIME become increasingly uncorrelated).
What this means is that in addition to everything the pension industry does based on fiduciary duty, there is always going to remain a compelling AND. There is always more that can be done to provide outcomes that are in the best interests of what retirees really need in addition to financial security in terms of community, optimism, health, engagement, legacy etc.... AND this will point us towards the "adjacent possible" of Impact Investing to contribute towards a more sustainable, enjoyable future for as many people as possible.
Spending TIME talking and laughing with Alf underlines the fact that as we age, taking a broader view on investing in double AND triple bottom line outcomes goes from initially seeming to be philanthropic (to many traditional investors) to an eventual realization that it is also self-interested at the same TIME. I believe committed Impact Investors know this AND are not waiting for TIME to prove that both are true.
I would like to wish Alf many more "Happy Birthdays" going forward! God bless you, Alf.
My upcoming Impact Investing Tribute #3 post will be to a special girl I knew over 30 years ago who was both 13 AND 78 years-young at the same TIME. A true hero of mine named "Brenda".
