Earners,

One of my favourite sports broadcasters, Colin Cowherd, was doing a monologue on the NBA on his show Monday morning. He was chatting about a guy named Dan Hurley and how he was the front runner for the Los Angeles Lakers head coaching job.

The consensus was that he was going to take it. Hurley, the best basketball coach in the NCAA, currently coaches the UCONN men’s team and they have won back to back national championships. His current contract with UCONN is 6 years, $32.1 million. A cool $5.35 million per year - not too shabby.

The Lakers, however, offered him 6 years, $70 million… $11.66 million per year, more than double what Hurley is making. Pretty easy decision, right?

The Richest Opportunities Aren’t Always So Obvious

Some news came out shortly before the decision. Sources were saying that Dan was unsure on the flight home, was reaching out to folks around him to get their perspective and overall didn’t know if this was the right opportunity for him.

WHAT?! HOW? How could someone get offered a job that pays them DOUBLE in the biggest league in the WORLD and have even a tiny bit of reservations?

Well, because how and when you make your money matters.

The Lakers job pays more - sure. But it’s also a much more difficult, unfair role. Great coaches have had very short stints there because of how demanding the team can be. Without getting into specifics, LeBron runs that team and the second you have a stink to him, you’re probably gone.

Hurley also must have realized that this is far from the last time an NBA job will open up for him. The $11.6 mill would make him 5th-6th highest paid in the NBA among head coaches, but the Lakers don’t have as much money as a lot of other teams due to their ownership group. Hurley is as great of a candidate, if not the top guy for any other NBA job. There’s a very real possibility he could come back to UCONN, three-peat as an NCAA champion, then shortly after get a more lucrative contract with a better team, paying him TRIPLE what he makes right now.

Another consideration? Hurley is probably pretty happy with where he is at. He’s the man in college, I’d imagine has immense power/control at his role, makes wonderful money and does what he loves. How much would a few extra million really impact his life when he’s already making multiple millions a year? To me and you, it’s obvious - but not much would really change for him.

Upon news that Dan was a little unsure, Colin stated he didn’t think Hurley would take the job. He stated a lot of the reasons above but then said something that I’ve heard him say before, but for some reason struck me different this time: “Don’t try to get happier than happy”. It is such a simple statement and yet I find it so profound and can apply to so many things in our lives.

I encourage all of you to pursue riches, hustle your face off and try to make a boatload of money while you have your youth and energy. However, I do fundamentally believe that you should always remember that having more money won’t really significantly increase pleasure or happiness, unless it’s early on in your journey and you’re on your way to six figures. At that level, I would argue you are legit more happy as you make more money. I would say beyond $250,000 per year, it probably levels off quite a bit and has significant diminishing returns. After that, it just gives you better problems but you’ll need vastly more sums of money to even get a sliver of an increase in happiness as opposed to before when an extra $100 as a student made your head spin.

The Patient Get Stupid Rich

I’m lucky enough to have done pretty well at a young age. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to keep earning more and more money. But one thing I think I am pretty good at is not delusionally thinking that earning more per year will make me happier. I feel blessed. I am already really happy and grateful for my life. My ambition for more money is more so to maintain the happiness that I already have - to secure my family, my future and prepare for the financial trials that inevitably come throughout your life. In sum, I am preparing to preserve my life - not trying to radically change it by earning more money. I’m not trying to get happier than happy.

Time and time again, I see the patient among us get rewarded. I often hear push back around “patience” as if patient people don’t work really hard. No, patience doesn’t mean “lazy”. It means thinking long term and aligning yourself to that vision. You’re still going to be grinding in the immediate term, but you’re willing to say no to short term dollars for the long term treasure chest.

Please keep busting your ass out there. It’s worth it. But just remember that we are grinding to secure our life - not trying to chase some high that eventually will depart. Be patient. It’s coming.

Earn more,

Nate