Hey, it’s Frank, Jerry, and Zoltan from Third View Private Wealth, and welcome to the Third View Next Gen Newsletter. This newsletter is designed to simplify personal finance, investing, and wealth building for next-generation wealth holders just starting their financial journey. Hope you enjoy this month’s edition and learn something new.

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In April of this year, in the midst of the Iran conflict, we saw the market drop 10%, only to recover all 10% in just 11 days. 11 days to recover a 10% loss is the fastest EVER. This is why it’s a bad idea to make emotional decisions about your investments. Volatility is part of the game. But more on that later in this newsletter…

Building wealth has less to do with picking the perfect stock or riding hot trends and more to do with getting a few mindsets right while you’re young. Nail these five before 30, and you’ll be on your way to building real, lasting wealth.

The years you are invested matter more than the dollars you start with. That’s the power of compounding.

Compounding just means your money earns money, and then that money earns money too. The catch is that our brains tend to think in straight lines, so we actually underestimate just how powerful compounding is.

Take $10,000 growing at 10% a year. Most people picture that $10k earning $1,000 / year every year. So, in 20 years, that $10k would turn into $30k.

In reality, at a 10% annual growth rate, that $10k would turn into $67,000 in 20 years. As the growth keeps building on itself over time, that compounding creates a completely different result.

So start now, even if the amount is small.

Trying to hop in and out at exactly the right moment can feel tempting, and it almost never works. In fact, missing just a handful of the market's best days wrecks your long-term returns, and those best days tend to show up right after the rough ones.

A dollar invested in the S&P 500 back in 1950 grew to about $400 if you simply stayed put. Miss the 50 best days along the way? You end up with $28 instead. Crazy. The problem is, there’s no proven way to predict when those best days will come.

Remember the graphic from the top of the newsletter? A 10% drop was recovered in 11 days.

The winning move is to remain disciplined: stay invested and let the clock do the work.

Since 1990, the S&P 500 has finished the year positive most of the time, yet it still had a stomach-churning dip inside almost every one of those years.

There’s plenty of cases where the market dropped over 10% at some point in the year, only to finish somewhere between 10%-20% up at the end.

So you have to realize that pullbacks are normal and even in great years, there were likely some down moments.

This comes back to discipline… panic selling during the drawdowns is what actually costs people money. So, as a long-term wealth builder, expect the turbulence. Just know it’s normal and don’t let it fly the plane.

It can be tempting to read the headlines and try to predict what to do with your money based on what you’re hearing or reading. News, election results, and doom predictions all feel urgent, but they have proven to be unreliable reasons to move your money.

For example, let’s look at one of the most common reasons people try to predict market success or drops: Presidential Elections.

A dollar invested in the S&P 500 since 1950 grew to about $400 if you stayed in, no matter who was in the White House. Meanwhile, only investing under one party would have left you with a fraction of that total—$46, or just $9, depending on your party of choice.

Read the news, pay attention to what’s going on, and stay curious, but don’t let those things influence your day-to-day decisions with your money.

NVIDIA is up over 850% in the last 5 years. So if you want more money, you should invest all your funds into a stock like NVIDIA, right? Well, that level of concentration might feel amazing when it’s skyrocketing, but then, one day, it isn't. Then what?

Remember, wealth building is a long-term game. So while certain companies might be performing well now, you can’t forget that you’re on a 30-40 year investing journey. A lot can change in that time.

Spreading your money across different investments smooths out the ride and keeps you in the game through the rough patches. The chart below proves that while certain stocks (like the Mag 7) may deliver the biggest gains in short periods, they also come with significant volatility.

So the best bet is to diversify your investment portfolio to create a more stable base. You’ll still capture the benefits of winners, and you’ll also use other investments to smooth out some of the ups and downs along the way.

None of these wealth-building mindsets require a finance degree or deep insider knowledge. They just require starting early, being consistent, and staying disciplined. The more you embrace these mindsets now, the better off you’ll be down the road.

Great question, and between the three of us, we've made most of these ourselves. The same few come up again and again:

Waiting to be told what to do. The people who stand out spot the next problem and solve it before anyone asks.

Overlooking communication skills. How you write, speak, and deliver a message shapes your career more than almost any technical skill. Start sharpening it now.

Being inconsistent. Reliable beats brilliant. How you do anything is how you do everything, and that reputation compounds.

Not investing in yourself. Graduation is the starting line, not the finish. Invest in your development as a professional, a communicator, and a leader. Those early investments pay off decades down the line.

Neglecting networking & relationships. It’s not just about who you know, but who knows you. Your network, if built and invested in, will open so many doors for you. Build them before you need something, not after.

Everyone is going to make mistakes, and no one is perfect. Nail these early, and you'll be on a great path.

Have a question you’d like us to answer in a future newsletter? Simply reply to this email to submit it to us.

Check out the new office space we’re building in Westport, CT. Zoltan posted a video preview on LinkedIn 👀

That’s all for this month. If you enjoyed the newsletter, the greatest compliment would be to forward it to someone you think would like it too.

- Frank, Jerry, and Zoltan

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Past performance is not indicative of future results. The material above has been provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as legal or investment advice or a recommendation of any particular security or strategy. The investment strategy and themes discussed herein may be unsuitable for investors depending on their specific investment objectives and financial situation. Information obtained from third-party sources is believed to be reliable though its accuracy is not guaranteed, and Third View Private Wealth makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of the information, which should not be used as the basis of any investment decision. Information contained on third party websites that Third View Private Wealth may link to is not reviewed in their entirety for accuracy and Third View Private Wealth assumes no liability for the information contained on these websites. Opinions expressed in this commentary reflect subjective judgments of the author based on conditions at the time of writing and are subject to change without notice. No part of this material may be reproduced in any form, or referred to in any other publication, without express written permission from Third View Private Wealth. For more information about Third View Private Wealth, including our Form ADV brochures, please visit https://adviserinfo.sec.gov or contact us at (203) 408-0098.