Return on Effort
What If Better Returns Required Less Effort?
Dear Investor.
Zee here. This piece is a reflective piece. Numerous students and investors have asked how do I measure my investing success. Here is my answer:
Key Takeaway: Measure your investing success not just by how much your money grows, but by how much of yourself you have left after achieving those returns. Sustainable investing beats high-stress outperformance every time.
The Breaking Point
Picture this: A dedicated investor spends every evening analyzing stocks, tracking fifty different companies, and consuming endless market news. The portfolio performance? Decent. The personal cost? Unsustainable.
This was the reality for many active investors who discovered that impressive returns don’t always translate to a better life. The constant monitoring, the anxiety over every market swing, and the mental exhaustion that bleeds into personal relationships, these hidden costs rarely show up on brokerage statements.
A Different Way to Measure Success
Traditional investing focuses on one number: Return on Investment (ROI). It measures how much your money grows over time. But there’s a critical metric that gets overlooked, the effort it takes to achieve those returns.
Think of it like fitness. Someone might burn 1,000 calories with an intense workout routine, but if they can’t sustain it beyond a few weeks, what’s the point?
The same applies to investing. An elaborate strategy, requiring to take 100 trades per month, that generates 18% returns might seem impressive until you realize the S&P 500 delivered 15% with zero effort required.
The Real Cost of Active Investing
High-intensity investing strategies often come with invisible price tags:
Mental exhaustion: Constantly processing market news and price movements drains cognitive energy that could be used elsewhere.
Fragmented attention: Every notification and price alert pulls focus away from work, family, and personal projects.
Emotional volatility: Portfolio swings begin affecting mood and decision-making in completely unrelated areas of life.
Time disappears: Hours spent researching obscure stocks and timing market entries add up quickly.
When investors step back and calculate the actual effort invested, not just the money, many realize they’re working a second unpaid job with diminishing returns.
The Simplification Strategy
Moving toward a more sustainable approach involves deliberate choices:
Trim the watchlist: Focus on fewer, higher-quality investments that don’t require daily oversight.
Structure matters: Build a core portfolio of index funds and stable dividend stocks, with a smaller allocation for active positions that genuinely interest you.
Set boundaries: Establish specific times for portfolio review rather than constant monitoring. Many successful investors review holdings quarterly or even semi-annually.
Automate where possible: Use automatic contributions and rebalancing to remove emotional decision-making from routine tasks.
What Actually Improves
Counterintuitively, reducing effort often leads to better results:
Fewer impulsive decisions based on short-term noise
Better ability to hold quality investments through temporary downturns
More mental clarity for important strategic decisions
Improved sleep and reduced stress levels
Time freed up for career growth, relationships, and other pursuits
Designing a Sustainable System
Smart investing isn’t about maximizing activity, it’s about optimizing for consistency. Ask yourself:
Can I maintain this strategy for the next twenty years without burning out?
Does this approach require me to be constantly vigilant?
Am I trading life quality for marginal performance gains?
Would a simpler system deliver comparable results with less friction?
The Bottom Line
Investment success has two components: financial returns and personal sustainability. A strategy that delivers strong ROI while consuming your entire life isn’t truly successful, it’s a form of debt that compounds in the wrong direction.
The goal isn’t to stop thinking about investments or abandon all active management. Rather, it’s about finding strategies you can execute consistently without sacrificing your wellbeing, relationships, and other life goals.
Your portfolio should work for you, not the other way around. The best investment strategy isn’t the one with the highest theoretical returns, it’s the one you can actually maintain while living a full, balanced life.
Sometimes the most profitable move isn’t finding the next big winner. It’s choosing a system that lets you sleep peacefully and focus your energy where it matters most.
All information here is for educational purposes only. This is not financial advice. Please do your own research and speak with a licensed advisor before making any investment decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. How we invest may not suit your investment goals and risk management profile.