“Teeka, there are too many signs to ignore.”

My oncologist had told me that two weeks earlier.

I still hadn’t gone in for the test. If I had what she thought I had… I was looking at four or maybe five more years to live. I pride myself on throwing myself into difficult tasks. But I just couldn’t face this one.

Over the last 18 months, I’ve ended a 24-year marriage… I was misdiagnosed with brain ischemia… I developed potentially life-threatening deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in my left leg… and now I had this cancer scare.

On top of all this, I’ve seen my cholesterol levels skyrocket. Plus, I’ve been told I have worsening cysts on both of my kidneys.

I can wholeheartedly say I’ve never been more aware of my own mortality.

I bring this all up because each of us is at very different parts in our lives. And the phase of life we’re in drives how we manage our money.

Being confronted with my own mortality has forced me to reevaluate how I want to spend my life and how I want to spend my money.

So today, I want to share some ideas with you that will help you align your wealth-building goals with your most important desires.

The Specter of an Early Death

I found the specter of an early death had a clarifying effect on my mind.

I got very clear on what is important to me: Spending high-quality time built around unique experiences with my children, my friends, and the new lady in my life has moved to the top of my priority list.

You can bet that’s had an impact on my investing.

I’ve bar-belled my portfolio with a slew of dividend-paying blue-chip stocks on one side… and bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) on the other.

My goal is for the blue-chip stocks to fund lifestyle desires such as travel, boating, and fishing. And I plan to pass down my bitcoin and Ethereum holdings to my descendants.

Unless something meaningfully changes, I don’t know if it’ll ever make sense for me to sell bitcoin or Ethereum. To me, they’re akin to owning companies such as Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway 25 years ago.

So long as you didn’t have an immediate need for money, it’s never made sense to sell them.

If you put $100,000 into each company 25 years ago, it’d be worth $212 million today. Sure, along the way you had some crazy volatility with drops of as much as 94% in Amazon and 51% in Berkshire… But over time, these two stocks have made their owners very wealthy.

And I think the same will be true of bitcoin and Ethereum.

But what if you need money now and you don’t have millions of dollars in blue-chip stocks paying you six figures in dividends per year? What then?

This is where your personal situation comes into play.

If you’re 50 and in excellent health… you might have another 40 years of productive life left ahead of you. Assets like bitcoin and Ethereum could ensure you never run out of money.

In this case, I’d say keep working at least part-time to keep a flow of fiat dollars coming in. That income will fund your lifestyle and medical insurance… and allow you to continue to grow your crypto holdings that you can tap into later.

If you’re older or in a different situation with your health, then you need to do a serious assessment of how long you expect to live.

If your realistic assessment is 5–15 years… then my suggestion is to get really clear on how you want to spend those last 5–15 years. (By the way, we can all benefit from this type of self-assessment, regardless of age.)

What do you want to do? How do you want to spend your time? Who do you want to spend that time with? What do you love doing?

Figure all that stuff out and write it down. Figure out how much it’s going to cost (a lot of it might be much cheaper than you originally thought).

Then look at your investments. Will they carry you through the next 5–15 years? Or will you need another source of income to fund your dreams?

I want you to have the freedom that comes from getting clear on what you want… and taking the actions to get it.

My “Come to Jesus” Moment

As to my current health, eventually I went in to get my blood drawn. While waiting on the results (along with my self-imposed delay), I had a four-week period to come to terms with the possibility I may only have 4–5 years to live.

On the one-hour drive to my oncologist to get the results… I had a “come to Jesus” meeting with myself.

In that moment, I came to terms with the potential reality of a cancer diagnosis. If the doctor told me the worst… I realized I’d be ok. I felt a flood of peace wash over me. I experienced real acceptance.

I realized knowing when you’re going to die can be a gift. So many of us are suddenly snatched away thinking we have decades to go. At least I would know my end date… and could plan accordingly.

Thankfully, the oncologist informed me I’m cancer free.

However, this experience has changed me. My views on what matters in my life have forever shifted. My dearest wish is that you take a deep look at your life and get really clear on what matters to you.

It bears repeating: What do you want? Who do you want to spend time with? What do you love to do? Are your investments supporting the life you want?

I’ll continue doing all I can to put you in a position to have the financial flexibility to build the life you want, not the life you feel you must settle for.

As many of you are now rich from my crypto recommendations… it’s important you take this time and do some deep reflection on how you’ll use your newfound wealth to improve the quality of your life.

And that is the greatest value I hope to give to you.

A Final Thought on Retirement

As I mentioned above, I plan to leave my crypto gains to my descendants, and use my blue-chip stocks to fund a lifestyle and experiences I can share with my family…

I’ve also been fortunate enough to have the opportunity and insight to get into many life-changing investments before they really took off.

But if you haven’t reached your retirement goals yet, I understand how daunting it is to look at where you want to be… while knowing you’ve missed out on once-in-a-lifetime investments like Amazon in 1997, or bitcoin in 2013.

The good news is that your American Dream retirement could be a lot closer than you think… And it’s all because of a 42-day investment “Anomaly Window” that opens every few years.

During this period, you can make up to thousands-of-percent gains on a handful of boring, blue-chip stocks… and you won’t have to hold them for decades.

That’s why on Wednesday, April 21, at 8 p.m. ET, I’ll share those stocks with you for free, and tell you all about the Anomaly Window and how Wall Street has been using it for years to make billions of dollars while average investors are left with the scraps.

It’s a rare opportunity to buy back 20 years of your life using everyday blue-chip stocks.

Click here to reserve your spot and learn more.

Let the Game Come to You!

Teeka Tiwari
Editor, Palm Beach Daily