This Week in Beyond Wealth
Where high earners land compared to their FIRE numbers.
What to do when work stops motivating you.
Oil and gas investing 101.
Navigating Wealth Podcast
Is private placement life insurance right for your portfolio?
David Valcourt of Financial Architects Partners has brokered private placement life insurance for nearly 20 years. David joins host Tad Fallows to break down PPLI and discuss whether the tax you save beats the fees you pay.
Listen on: YouTube · Apple Podcasts · Spotify
Money & Markets
How close am I to my FIRE number?
We asked the Long Angle community how close they are to their personal FIRE (financially independent, retire early) number. The poll had one of the biggest turnouts all year, at 620 respondents.
55% say they've already reached the number where they could comfortably retire if they chose to. The more interesting group is the remainder who still fall short.
Over a quarter of respondents are nearly there, needing 1-2X their current wealth to support the lifestyle they seek in retirement. Another 16% are still very much in accumulation mode, hoping for 3X or more.
We also asked if their FIRE number had moved over the years. Roughly three quarters said it increased.
Many agreed their number always seems to sit near twice their current wealth. Several who hit their number still felt nervous about stretched valuations and sequence-of-returns risk (the danger that markets drop early in retirement).
Others were surprised to find their drive faded once the goal arrived, and happily redirected it toward family, health, and new projects in retirement.
Life, Health, & Family
What do I do once work is optional?
When you reach a level of wealth where work becomes optional, the question shifts from how to succeed to what to do next. Bestselling author Dan Pink, who wrote Drive, When and The Power of Regret, joined hundreds of Long Angle members last year for a private session on exactly that.
"If you're not floundering, you're probably doing it wrong."
Pink's argument is that you can't plan your way through a transition. People “act their way into knowing.” They try something, observe how it feels, then iterate.
When figuring out what’s next, fixating on achievements can leave you unfulfilled. Instead, Pink encourages people to ask themselves how they can make the biggest contribution.
His last caution: don't rush to fill the discomfort with a new title. Sit with it, experiment, and let the next chapter show itself.
Private Market Perspectives
How does oil and gas investing work?
Private oil and gas investing means backing a fund that buys producing wells and undeveloped acreage across US basins, earning returns first as production income and later when the assets are sold.
The oil and gas value chain splits into three stages: upstream (finding and producing), midstream (moving and process), and downstream (refining and distributing).
Most private capital goes into upstream.
Upstream has 4 investible components:
Mineral rights: royalty income with no drilling costs. Lowest risk/return.
Exploration: searching for unproven reserves. Highest risk/return, and a small role today.
Development: drilling new wells on proven acreage. High risk/return, and execution-dependent.
Production: operating wells that already flow. Moderate risk/return.
Long Angle’s investment thesis for an upstream oil and gas allocation rests on two pillars. The first is a tactical market opportunity: tightening oil supply supports durable prices, growing natural gas export capacity unlocks higher-priced global demand, and recent capital dislocation has led to lower entry points.
The second is the asset class’s structural portfolio benefits: hard assets have a valuation floor and are a natural inflation hedge, energy assets distribute cash as an income source, and low correlation to equities provides macro diversification.
Around Long Angle
Two Member Retreats in 2027: Marco Island and Carlsbad
Roughly 350 Long Angle members joined us in Austin for our largest Member Retreat yet, bringing the conversations that matter most to our community in-person.
We had four days of programming, peer discussion sessions, expert-led breakouts, and plenty of unstructured time together.
For 2027, we're splitting the Retreat in two so more members can come while keeping the smaller-group feel.
Marco Island, Florida in the spring and Carlsbad, California in the fall.
The Retreats are a members-only gathering. Membership is free and the application takes five minutes.
Published by:
Chris Bendtsen
Insights Lead, Long Angle
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This material is for informational purposes only and is not investment advice regarding any security or investment strategy. Long Angle does not provide legal or tax advice, consult your attorney, CPA, or tax professional regarding your situation.
Long Angle Management, LLC (Long Angle), is an SEC registered investment adviser firm. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or endorsement. Investing involves risk, including potential loss of principal. Past performance is not indicative of future results.