Good Investments Can be More Than Just About Money

When most of us hear the term investments, we immediately think of money: invest in our retirement funds, put money in our savings accounts or CDs, our homes, antique cars, wine, jewelry, good art, our kids’ or grandkids’ college savings plans. It’s all about the almighty dollar. Invest, invest, invest. Your money will grow. You will be OK in old age.

We concede that investing money is important but this blog addresses investing in a different guise. Why not take the same mindset about money and invest in ventures without a monetary return, all the social, psychological and physical benefits that money can’t buy. The payoff is limitless. 
Here are 10 suggestions for 2025: 

Invest in education. Investing in education isn’t just about learning. It’s an investment in yourself with high returns and yes, it can help you earn more money or get a better job. Education taxes your brain and expands brain width, can improve your mental and physical health and opens up one’s mind to a world of possibilities. Take classes, attend lectures, read books, magazines and newspapers whether hardcopies or digitally, learn new computer skills, a language, difficult music, how to knit and pearl, ways to fix a broken appliance, how to play golf better. Get on the education bandwagon and ramp up your brain power. This has an amazing ROI (return on investment) and offers fun as well.

Invest in exercise. Take an hour each day and invest in exercise. It’s an investment in YOU and puts you on the path to a longer and healthier life. It is fodder for a well-functioning immune system. Regular exercise—and that can include walking and jogging--can prevent chronic conditions, strengthen the body systems including bones/skeleton, boost circulation, moderate blood pressure and cholesterol, reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease and, an additional return, buttress memory. If you do it with a friend or instructor, you add the benefit of conversation and camaraderie—two for one. And you can also exercise simply by walking around your home or climbing stairs up and down.

Invest in spirituality. This may help you learn to relax and maybe overcome problems or whatever is bothering you. Doing so will help you live a longer and happier life with improved health and mood. Spirituality doesn’t necessarily mean religion. The list can include meditation, yoga, prayer, journaling and Tai Chi. 

These activities also offer a spiritual community. By attending a group or religious institution, you may find a place that offers a sense of belonging and a support system. It’s a great way to meet new people, which is also good for one’s mental well-being, and a way to cut down on isolation and loneliness. Try different places if you haven’t been in a while or are new to an area. Introduce yourself to others. 

Invest in time and our older age. Many of us are retired and for the first time, we can do what we want. It’s an enormous opportunity to improve our quality of life. Aging, which is just another term for living, can be a healthier and more equitable experience for all with good use of our time. This is our time to revel in fun, new experiences, adventures, or time to reflect or grieve if you’ve had a big loss. 

But the clock is ticking. So, try to use your time intentionally. There are no rights or wrongs or downside to doing so. Take a trip—even a day or weekend getaway, buy that purse you’ve eyed forever or a box of expensive chocolates, delicious French Burgundy, or do a volunteer gig. Whatever makes you feel better. There is no reason to feel guilty if you want to just sit and stare at nature or even your four walls—six if you add in the ceiling and floor. Because we’re on the clock, try to live in the moment before your timecard expires.

Invest in patience. If we can slow down, we might live healthier, longer, more fulfilled lives. It’s not too late for us to perfect our patience. So many things we do require patience whether dealing with children and grandchildren or engaged in something as prosaic and boring as brushing our teeth with an electric toothbrush for two minutes, working hard to meet a deadline, volunteering to tutor a pre-teen, figuring out the best way to deal with the current political situation, or listening to a friend vent to us on the phone and not judge them. 

Take the time to invest in patience with a new friend; don’t judge on the first meeting; give the person another try. Tell the person to take a class with you or come have coffee, tea or wine. We’ve joked in the past that our patience comes and goes sort of like a love affair. We fall in love and want to stay, but that isn’t always the case. As we’ve aged, our patience has dialed down. We wonder why and figure it’s related to a poor sense of timing, our manic behavior when we’re faced with technology we don’t understand and the expectation that everyone moves at the same pace as we do. Well, they don’t.

Invest in maintaining good health. Having an illness sucks. However, you can get a jump start on your health by following a few dictates: get annual checkups, teeth cleaned at least twice a year, necessary vaccines, stay on top of your vitals—blood pressure, cholesterol, sugar levels, heart health, and also yearly skin checkups to detect skin cancer, a concern from all those years of sitting in the sun when we were young. And if you do have an illness you’re fighting, try to filter out the negative and invest most of your time and energy in establishing the moral, physical, cogitative and emotional foundation necessary to get better. A positive mindset can be the best medicine of all.

Invest your time to help others. Give your time to improve our country, states, cities, villages and towns, healthcare and educational systems, workplaces and public parks. There is no single best volunteer opportunity or action. It’s really about figuring out your passions. Do you like to mentor—according to Big Brothers Big Sisters, which tracked results, there’s an economic benefit to those who are mentored. Many go to college and find good paying jobs. 

Other ways to invest you time is to do office work, teach art, drama or crafts, tutor or support learning, chair events and be a steward and sit on special non-profit boards. Nothing feels as good as doing good. You most likely will gain the opportunity to change yourself by working with others and leaving a legacy. A legacy isn’t about having a statue built in your honor or your name placed in a big bold font on a building. It’s about making a big difference in the here and now and after.

Invest in sportsmanship rather than just sports. Sportsmanship teaches life skills such as self-control, empathy, and resilience that apply to everyday life. Learning to control your emotions during a heated game can help you manage stress and conflict in other areas of your life. When teammates respect and support each other, they are more likely to work together effectively. In this context, it’s like an orchestra when all the players come together to meld the notes and sounds into one harmonious piece of music. That sense of connection and belonging is crucial for mental well-being.

Invest in fun. Too many of us, especially as we age, get so serious about life with illness, death, loneliness. Snap out of it and have some fun with joy. Do something new. Go see a fun movie or play. Take a cooking class and bake a cake. Do something you’ve never done such as watch a tennis match or football game. Grab a friend or grandkid and go to a pottery painting workshop and try your hand. Try a new restaurant, which may mean a funky diner not necessarily a swank trattoria. Or go visit a winery for a day or take a hot balloon ride.

Invest in manners and kindness. Both of these actions are free and last forever. It’s one way of showing others respect and consideration of their feelings and actions. What about a simple, “Please” or “Thank you,” when someone does you a favor even if it’s as ordinary as holding a door open or letting you get on the bus in front of them on a snowy day. Kindness is easy and when you perform an act of kindness, it tends to become contagious. You give up your seat and others start to do so; you give to a homeless person and others follow suit. Also, keep in mind the adage: Treat someone the way you’d like to be treated.” Ask people their names, whether your UPS or mail carrier or the person behind your favorite coffee shop counter. Everyone likes to become an individual rather than a number. Let’s get a kindness movement started.

Invest in yourself, in others, in your neighborhoods, communities and society as a whole that will result in changing and improving lives. No amount of money can achieve these very positive, upbeat returns. You can bank on that!