Building Beats Investing

Sam Parr expresses frustration with traditional investing, viewing it as often meaningless financial arbitrage. He believes people with capital should focus on creating meaningful impact rather than just seeking returns.

• Pure Financial Investing is Unfulfilling:

  • Finds financial arbitrage boring and soulless
  • Tired of discussions about carry fees and profit margins
  • Dislikes "mechanical" investment approaches that just check boxes
  • Views shows like "Billions" as glorifying meaningless financial games

• Better Uses of Capital:

  • Start companies (even if not running them directly)
  • Create things that make real people's lives better
  • Focus on meaningful impact over pure financial returns
  • Help solve actual problems people face

• When Investing Makes Sense:

  • Only valuable with significant capital
  • Should be used as leverage to influence positive change
  • Better to invest in yourself if you have limited capital
  • Can be a tool for allocating resources to meaningful causes

• What Really Matters:

  • Making a difference in people's lives
  • Having an exciting and wonderful life
  • Creating value for others
  • Getting out of the "financial arbitrage circle jerk"
  • Building something cool rather than just seeking returns

• Mental Energy:

  • Too much time spent thinking about optimizing returns
  • Better to focus mental energy on creating, building, or helping others
  • Wants to avoid excessive focus on financial metrics and percentages