Sleep In, Stay Broke: Wake Up Earlier for Financial Success

I’m convinced that if you wake up just one hour earlier every day for the next 10 years, you’ll not only accomplish far more, but also build significant wealth and unlock countless opportunities in life

Conquering the magic of the morning—while most are still asleep—will give you a massive edge

Bombing of Iran and what we should do—I failed to fully execute

Here’s what I wrote: Repercussions of War on the The stock market has a complicated but often surprisingly resilient relationship with war

So far, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and the Iran Tehran Stock Market Index have held up relatively well despite rising tensions

Historically, have often digested the onset of conflict and refocused on earnings, monetary policy, and economic fundamentals—unless the war leads to longed uncertainty or global disruption

Let’s hope diplomacy can re-emerge, but as always, we must prepare for a wide range of outcomes—both economically and personally

Here’s how the Israeli and Iranian stock have performed

We're talking all-time highs

So the takeaway from this unfortunate event is simple: buy the dip—if there is one

How I see the most ly scenarios playing out, in order of bability: 1) Bonds rally first, driving down interest rates

The stock market may sell off slightly in response to the initial uncertainty, but then recovers as yields decline and investors reposition for risk. 2) Both stocks and bonds rally

Risk-on investors anticipate more fiscal spending, increased certainty now that war has been declared, and potential windfalls in defense and energy earnings

Meanwhile, risk-off investors are still drawn to relatively high guaranteed yields, viding support for bonds

I don’t expect both stocks and bonds to sell off simultaneously—but we’ll see how the market digests the news this week

Another consideration is how the Trump administration apaches tariff negotiations

The majority of investors now believe Trump will back off on aggressive tariff hikes with continued delays

However, with the administration going from talks of peace a couple weeks ago to bombings this weekend, maybe our trading partners will be more ready to negotiate

That should be a net positive for the U

Failed to Wake Up Early to Deploy Capital Usually, I'm up no later than 5:30 a. , reading the news and writing my thoughts on Financial Samurai before the stock market opens at 6:30 a

It's very helpful now with wife and kids, who wake up between 6 a

But there was just one blem—here in Honolulu, the U

Stock open at 3:30 a. , not 6:30 a

As it does in San Francisco

Of course, I knew this beforehand

But after eight days in Honolulu, I had fully adjusted to the time zone

It also didn’t help that I played a couple of hours of pickleball Sunday morning, ed by another hour and a half of pickleball and tennis starting at 8:45 p

Because I didn’t wake up in time for the market open, I missed the opportunity to buy the dip in the first 10 minutes—just as I had predicted

By the time I got up at 5:30 a. , the market had already ramped and then begun to fade, so I was uncertain on what to do

Time To Be A Father By 7 a. , my wife and kids were awake, and I wanted to spend time with them before I drove them to school, departing at 7:35 am

Wake up earlier because family, hobbies, and outside responsibilities will distract you from making maximum money

I should have got up at 3:25 a

And I’ve always tried to take action based on my beliefs

But this time, I barely did—due to a lack of discipline and a failure to adapt quickly to a new environment

Hawaii is a fantastic place for early risers, especially in the summer when it gets uncomfortably hot by 10 a

However, as a capital allocator, you need to be up at an unnaturally early hour—before 3:30 a

Local time—and be sharp

Otherwise, you risk missing opportunities

You can come up with all the investment theses you want

But if you don’t take action based on your convictions, your thoughts are meaningless

You will not have a chance to make money

Yes, for the most part, you should buy and hold index stocks forever

But if you want to potentially outperform the masses who do with the experience and knowledge you have, you should try and take further action

We don’t get paid for analysis

Instead, we get rewarded only when we actually put our precious capital to work, generate passive income, and earn returns that enable us to stay free

But during that time, I also managed all of our family's investments—a role that sometimes feels a full-time job

So in reality, I wasn’t a traditional, fully dedicated stay-at- dad

I still had a strong desire to do something ductive beyond fatherhood

The only way I could make it all work was to wake up earlier—to write for a couple of hours before the family woke up

Then, I’d reply to s and s sporadically throughout the day, and often put in another one to two hours after the kids went to bed

I wasn't satisfied with only full-time parenting

So I ext my day to get more done

There were definitely moments when I wondered how much more I could accomplish if I didn’t have childcare responsibilities

But in the end, I found a happy medium: writing 15–20 hours a week and then spending time with family

Being OK with this dual role of being both a writer and a stay-at- dad ly stems from my experience getting an MBA while working full-time in banking

I was putting in 60 hours a week at the office and another 20 hours on school for three years straight

I knew what was possible, so I just kept going

Since the pandemic, plenty of people have taken on two full-time remote jobs to double their income—simply because they can

The notion that we must work only 40 hours a week and get eight hours of sleep every night is, in many ways, an artificial construct. 5 hours of sleep and personal care seems a lot

Source: BLS The Hidden Danger of Always Waking Up Before the Sun Time is your most precious commodity, and since none of us knows how much we have left, waking up early is a hedge against an early death

Waking up one hour a day literally gives you 15 extra days to a year

It gives you a head start, helps you accomplish more, and can lead to a richer, more fulfilling life

If you get sleepy during the afternoon because you're getting up so early, try to take a nap somewhere

But there’s a hidden danger in always being the one who rises before the sun: resentment—both from others and eventually, perhaps, from yourself

If you work a traditional job, colleagues or subordinates may begin to resent your 5 a. s or your consistent early ductivity

It can create unspoken pressure on them to rise earlier than they’d or work longer hours than they believe is fair

Over time, this quiet tension can grow

But perhaps the most emotionally charged form of resentment comes from your significant other

If they consistently wake up one, two, even three hours after you, they may start the day feeling behind—while you’re already fully in gear

You might wonder why they can’t just wake up 15 minutes earlier to better prepare for the day, instead of always rushing to be on time

On weekends, you may feel out of sync—ready for a morning hike while your partner is still in dreamland

If you’re both retired, drastically different schedules could slowly create emotional distance instead of deeper connection

So be mindful of the downsides of waking up much earlier than your peers or life partner

You bably know by now that “I’m not a morning person” is often just a convenient excuse for not wanting to get up early

It’s no different from someone saying, “I’m not an exercise person” when they never go to the gym or for a jog

We can find excuses for anything if we want to—it’s what we do with our time that defines who we are

If you do rise more than an hour before your partner, remind yourself that the true reward is intrinsic—clarity, peace, and purpose—not validation or praise

Stay grounded in your why, and use your extra time to strengthen your life, not create quiet divisions within it

If the tension between you grows too great, your partner may eventually make an effort to wake up earlier to preserve the relationship

But if they don’t, it could be a sign that they’re not willing to meet you halfway

Remember, you can't change people until they want to. @donaldking_ rise and grind early or stay broke #startup #saas #NYC ♬ Sunset Lover – Petit Biscuit Get Into the Habit of Waking Up Earlier For Your Sake If you want to build more wealth and accomplish more in life, start by waking up earlier

Work while the world sleeps

In the quiet hours of the morning—without distractions—you’ll unlock a level of ductivity that’s hard to match

No more rushing to get out the door

Early mornings give you the time and mental space for deep focus

Whether you’re working on a side ject, learning a new skill, or building a , your gress will accelerate

Life will conspire against you to build wealth—through hobbies, family obligations, and unhealthy distractions

If you want to outperform the average person, start your day before they do

Stay consistent, and in 10 years, you’ll ly surpass even your own expectations of what’s possible

Readers, why do you think more people don’t wake up earlier to get things done

With only 24 hours in a day, why spend a third of it sleeping

Wouldn’t you rather wake up early, knock out important tasks, and gain momentum before the workday starts or your kids need you

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Background: I’ve been in stocks since 1996 and spent 13 years working in equities at Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse

I manage our public investment portfolio that helps cover my family’s living expenses so we can remain free from full-time work

Everything I is grounded in firsthand experience and real-world knowledge

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