March Madness
When I look back on my life, I can identify critical moments. Mistakes, jobs, relationships, estrangement, military service, Henry. In many of these moments, my youth, inexperience, immaturity, and stupidity precluded me from embracing their impact. I lacked proper guidance as a young man.
In March of 2026, I was given a 30-day sabbatical from work. An amazing benefit awarded every five years of service. My tenure was almost twelve years, however my company had been acquired a little over five years prior to my leave. It was fantastic. I spent 50% of the month with my son, read, went to the gym, and cleaned my house from top to bottom. And by that, I mean moving every single thing out of every room and cleaning everything during reassembly. It took five days.
World of Warcraft Anniversary released The Burning Crusade expansion during my leave. This was the expansion that I have always felt the most longing for. I thoroughly enjoyed leveling through it again during my time off. We are currently in Phase Two, raiding TK and SSC. I play an Arcane Mage, Jmonie. It's bittersweet.
Nebraska Basketball.
I love Nebraska Basketball. My earliest Nebrasketball memory is asking my father if twenty wins was good for our basketball team. I was eight or nine years old. He told me it was, and it is. For the purposes of this blog, it would be impossible to fully explain the satisfaction this season provided. At some point, my love for Husker athletics will become clear, but it simply cannot be captured in a few paragraphs. Just know that Nebraska's historic season formed part of the backdrop for one of the most memorable months of my life.
Nebraska defeated Troy and Vanderbilt and made it to the Sweet 16.
And so you have the scene. A 30-day vacation. Reading. Bench pressing. World of Warcraft. A 50% month with my son. Nebraska Basketball making the Sweet 16. I cried. I could cry now.
Through speculative trading in the stock market during my time off, I made a little over $50,000. This is not life-altering money in and of itself, but it sparked an awakening. These gains were largely generated inside a tax-deferred account that is mostly managed. The full story is that I turned $15,000 into $50,000 in my 401(k) and $2,000 into $17,000 in my taxable account. Naturally, this caused my net worth to increase by considerably more than $50,000 over the course of the month.
None of this is particularly remarkable by a millionaire's standards, but it forced me to ask questions I had never seriously considered before. What should I do with this money? Where should it go? How should it be invested? What are the tax implications? What is the best way to build wealth over decades rather than months?
The gains themselves did not change my life. The questions they created did. What followed was a deep dive into investing, retirement planning, taxes, asset allocation, and legacy. Looking back, the money was merely the catalyst. The real value was the curiosity it created.
