I had a lunch a few weeks ago with the recruiter who placed me there and was quite transparent with my views of the organisation.

Anyway, word must have got back to the boss as the next thing I know, he’s inviting me out for a brunch to see how I’m going.

This was supposed to be only half an hour yet stretched into two hours!

During that time he told me of his plans for the organisation … how he’s networking wth some big players … how peptides are the go.

He had a laugh wth me about something and as I was beginning to relax a bit, he grabbed my upper arm and looked at me with that dead-eye “Children of the Corn” look and asked … “Are you with me?”

It was at that point I realised I’m working for Hank Scorpio.

For those unfamiliar with the name, Hank Scorpio was an evil genius and owner of Globex Corporation, in an episode of The Simpsons.

Homer accepted a job wth his corporation, unaware of his world domination tendencies.

The episode finishes with Hank and Homer having a heart-to-heart with knowing what you want in life, while he wields a flame thrower at government agents rappelling into his secret lair.

I currently feel like Homer.

Despite potential contrary opinion, evil geniuses do have their positive points.

As the name implies, they are geniuses … ’nuff said

They are go-getters, inspiring others to follow

They have diminished fear sensitivity, often leading to the accomplishment of major feats

They’re great salespeople … can convince people of almost anything

Always forward-thinking and looking to improve

But there are downsides as well.

Can tend to be blind to people’s sensitivities

Intolerant of anyone who doesn’t view world domination as a fundamental desire

Often blind to the logistical minutiae that’s required to achieve their goals

Tend to to churn through staff and thus no sustainability in their organisation

It’s a subtle skill to balance the madman tendencies of evil geniuses with the day-to-day bedrock of ensuring an organisation runs smoothly.

At the moment, I still feel unsettled and I really have no idea how long I’ll last.

But for the moment I’m earning money and learning things … both good and bad.

Whilst quietly experimenting and testing business ideas on the side.

Patience, my pretty … patience.

On the road to rebuilding one’s life, I’ve spoken to a few people about how they managed to rebuild successfully.

Perhaps surprisingly, most of them were emphatic that saying no more often than yes played a crucial role.

This strongly aligns with a belief I’ve often held.

Saying no more often than yes is beneficial for many reasons:

✅ It protects your time so you only perform actions that aid you in recovery and beyond

✅ It builds confidence, allowing you to practice declining offers in a graceful way that don’t align with your future goals

✅ Saying no alleviates the inner stress and pressure that’s immediately built-up by feeling forced to say yes (see Never Split the Difference)

In addition, with the world being a more hurried and frenetic environment, it’s easy to unconsciously succumb to other’s desires at the expense of your own.

A person’s innate desire to help others is a high danger signal that one’s own health may be put at risk in such a case.

But most people are afraid of saying no.

They believe this places them at a disadvantage and will bring-forth undesired consequences.

This stems from people’s ability to instantly conceive the worst possible outcome as the only possible result.

But such thoughts usually discount the benefits of acting in such a manner, as mentioned above.

Indeed, one’s time really is the most precious commodity of all.

I’ve been subtly experimenting with saying no in different ways to people, so it is accepted by them.

The trick is to make them believe that if they don’t accept your no, it’s not in their best interests.

There’s a lot of psychology in how I do this and I may open-up more in future in how I go about this.

But for now, I would encourage you to learn to say no more frequently.

Yes, you will feel discomfort at the beginning.

But it’s only through discomfort that we begin to grow. 🤫

We have two young ladies working for us now.

They started at the beginning of the week and as part of their onboarding they have to provide details of their retirement fund.

That way, contributions can be made by their employer.

They both came to me because this is the first time in their careers that they’re having to deal with this.

The questions they had really revolved around what investment options they should choose.

Most retirement funds in my location have investment options based on some variant of the following:

✅ Cash

✅ Balanced

✅ Growth

✅ High Growth

We discussed what to look for to help them make an informed decision.

But it got me thinking 🤔

Firstly, whatever decision they make they have to own it.

But the reality is, it’s best to simply make a decision and start contributing to any fund.

I mean, we’re not talking millions of dollars here.

So if an economic event wiped-out 30% of the value of their retirement funds in the next year or so, we would not be talking much, in absolute terms.

Which brings me to my next point, in relation to which investment option they should consider.

With time on their side (both are in early 20s), now is the time to take risks.

With a growth or even high growth option, they stand a chance of greater reward, albeit on a minimal investment base.

If their retirement funds are severely reduced from an economic event, they won’t be losing much.

But a growth or high growth option might also allow them to benefit from a quick recovery.

Whatever they choose will be their own decision; not mine.

But if I had a Time Machine and went back to visit myself when I was in my 20s, I’d tell him to take more risks.

If their retirement funds go up one day and down the next, it doesn’t matter.

They won’t be looking at it daily and they have far more important things to focus on in the mean time.

And whilst I’m not them … it’s what I wish someone had told me in my 20s.

It’s now been roughly two months since I started full-time work again.

So I think I’m at an appropriate point to reflect on how I’m going with my “rebuilding from burnout” plan.

As I’ve previously set out my Four Pillars approach, I’ll address my reflections under those parameters.

✅ Financial 🏦

It feels good to be earning a wage again after so many years.

Money coming in after years of it simply going out takes a weight of the shoulders.

But at what expense? 🤔

Putting it delicately, this is not the long-term place for me.

The culture is very different to what I’m used to working in in years past and that’s a reflection of the personalities that abound.

Simply, I don’t agree with how some things are done here, but after reflection, I’ve decided to stick it out for a year.

That’s assuming I don’t get the tap on the shoulder before that, but until then I’ll simply treat it as an income generator while I focus on other more long-term pursuits.

✅ Health & Fitness 💪

What health and fitness??!!

A sad consequence of returning to full-time work is that the time I have spent on ensuring my health and fitness is maintained has been drastically reduced.

I always knew that would occur but I’m concerned that there are nights where I don’t even feel like doing a 10 minute session.

This has been my major worry and I think it’s simply a case of reframing things in my mind so i think about the adverse consequences of not doing 10 minutes a night. I tend to feel guilt with some things so may as well extend it to exercise as well.

✅ Technology 🧑‍💻

I’m satisfied with how I’m keeping up-to-date with technology.

Currently, I’m studying automation workflows and I try and do a bit each night after I come home from work.

Between automation and learning more about AI, I feel I’ll be in a good place for when I launch my own venture at some point in future.

Until then, I’ll just maintain the consistency and keep the progression at a steady pace.

And finally …

✅ Social Relationships 🥰

This has been my most difficult pillar to rebuild, for a number of reasons:

🔑 Work is currently all-consuming as I try and bed myself down there

🔑 Between trying to fit everything in on weekends, I’m finding I’m time-poor

🔑 I’m realising I don’t really like people as much as I thought 🫤

A consequence of recovering from trauma is that you tend not to accept fake values or people as easily as you might once have.

One’s tolerance to deal with such individuals wanes over time and in such cases, you find yourself quickly cutting all ties.

After all, time is the most precious commodity of all.

However, this has left me in a quandary, in that I’m now seeing less of the people I want to, since work is consuming nearly all my time, but I’m not meeting new people.

And the type of people I need to meet are those I can learn from so I can progress outside ventures, as well as … well … someone I can share myself with.

For years I looked after most people and was the go-to person.

But now … well … let’s just say it would be nice if I had a go-to person in private life.

Despite eventually wanting a business that serves a number of customers/clients, I really only want three key people in life.

A best friend … an intimate partner … and a mentor.

If i were to rank myself on how I’m going with my four pillars, I’d give myself a 6 out of 10.

Plenty of room for improvement and I have to apply myself a bit harder to get to about 7 or 8 out of 10.

The honeymoon period is over.

Expecting big improvement on next report card!

This humble financial detective digital avatar decided to conduct a bit of an experiment recently. 😬

I asked four friends to name three companies they own through their retirement fund.

Can you guess what happened? … You probably can …

Only one could do it.

So there you have it … that’s the entire article!

(Well no … not really)

But you may justifiably be asking … “So what?”

Well, imagine owning stocks in …

❓A weapons manufacturer 🗡️…

❓ Or a gambling joint 🎰…

❓ Or a private prison 🏦

(Sorry, couldn’t find an emoji for a jail so I went with something close)

Now it be fair, you might not care … just as long as the return each year on your retirement fund is to your liking.

And let’s face it … for a lot of “sin” stocks, the returns are incredible. 😳

🔑 A study from 1980-2019 found sin portfolios outperformed the S&P 500 in both mean return and risk-adjusted return. 

🔑 And a European study showed sin stocks outperformed the broader market by 4.7% annually, between 1985 and 2015.

In fact, looking at the tobacco industry, Altria Group, the owner of Marlboro, generated an annualized average return of 20% from 1968 to 2017, with reinvested dividends.

Not to be outdone, the defence industry has also generated worthy returns.

🔑 The SPADE Defense Index increased 48% since the Russia-Ukraine war started and gained 11.5% through June 2024. 

🔑 And over 27 years, defense stocks recorded positive gains in 22 years and outperformed the U.S. stock market in 18 of those years.

The irony …?

Many public employee pension funds (teachers, firefighters, civil servants) unknowingly own weapons manufacturers while their members advocate for peace. 🤫

There’s an uncomfortable truth to be faced with retirement investments.

The most profitable investments for retirement funds have often been companies that:

✅ Kill their customers (tobacco)

✅ Profit from human conflict (weapons)

✅ Damage the environment (fossil fuels)

✅ Exploit addiction (gambling, alcohol)

This creates a perverse incentive where retirement funds … meant to secure people’s futures … profit from industries that actively harm society and increase the very healthcare and social costs retirees will face.

It’s the ultimate conflict of interest: your retirement fund gets richer while society gets sicker.

But if you’re socially amoral, this could also arguably be the best retirement fund investment strategy around. 💰

It’s a vicious system … that took years to perfect!

Do you know what companies your retirement fund is invested in? (Spoiler: If you don’t know, that’s exactly the problem.)

With my recent concerns about returning to work and the organisation I’ve joined, at least one thing has improved.

I’m physically getting stronger!

With health & fitness being one of my four pillars for rebuilding, I’ve been ridiculously pleased that I achieved a major milestone for me.

I can now do a freestanding handstand for 8 seconds. 😬

I’m a big believer in body weight exercises.

You don’t have to have a gym membership and you can bust out some exercises no matter where you are.

(Still best to do these at home and not on, say, a crowded bus .. you get strange looks)

When I first started an updated body weight exercise regime four months ago, I couldn’t even do a raised L-sit off the ground.

Now I can hold one for 5 seconds.

With everything else that’s currently going on with trying to get back on track and the road-bumps I’m experiencing, this is a noticeable win.

I also find that any stress I’m encountering with work matters is being somewhat balanced when I have a physical exercise win.

All the more reason to persist with my exercise regime and raise my goals. 💪

None of what I’ve mentioned is really a surprise to me … it what I was hoping to achieve with my health and fitness pillar.

And it’s backed by a JAMA Psychiatry reference here. 

But it’s only just reinforced that my health is of over-arching importance to me and that I cannot let it fall by the wayside with work demands.

I know there will come a time when I will be tested with that.

But I also hope by then I have a more concrete plan with how to move forward with other business opportunities that may arise.