The Hidden Life Lessons Halloween Can Teach Us

Investing into actively managed mutual funds with a 1.25% fee might sounds like a treat until you run the numbers and realize that could cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars across your financial timeline by the time retirement hits.

How about the first time you signed up for a credit card in University? Did the promo staff on campus offer you a free Frisbee as part of the registration package? With no understanding of the basics of money management and a card with a $5,000 limit you might’ve unfortunately fallen on the wrong side of trick or treat.

Every decision has a consequence and simply putting out your proverbial pillowcase could land you anywhere on the spectrum of trick or treat.

Remember the neighbourhood house that was overgrown with bushes and owned by the creepy old guy, Mr. Smith, who’d lived there forever with the big dog?

On Halloween with some extra spookiness in the air that stop was even scarier.

Only the most daring of your group of friends would approach the door only to run off after you thought you heard something in the bushes.

As you got a little older and walked by that place more often maybe you had a discussion with Mr. Smith. You probably even threw the ball for his giant dog with the slobbery mouth. Every Halloween after that you convinced the local kids that there was no need to be scared.

Just like Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone 2 with the pigeon women in Central Park. You overcame the uncertainty and turned it to a positive.

We as humans tend to overestimate how “scary” the unknown is without realizing we have an innate ability to adapt, push through and overcome.

Eventually you learn to embrace the fear and those moments provide the greatest opportunity for growth.

How often does a community come together like Halloween?

Strangers in costumes knocking on each other’s doors to receive free candy and get complimented on their outfits. Parents looking out for each other’s kids as they navigated the dark sidewalks and driveways. Block parties with fireworks, hot chocolate and sparklers. People driving the streets that night knowing to keep it slow and safe on all local roads.

It’s a powerful feeling that might lose touch with as you get older.

Are we losing that community spirit? Do we receive strangers with skepticism the other 364 days of the year instead of the optimism and support we do on Halloween?

It was such a rewarding feeling to pull together a vampire or sailor moon costume that was built entirely from the hands of you and your family. Not to mention when you’d all sit around the table and masterfully slice away at a pumpkin to display at the door.

It was your vision, your work and your effort that brought it together.

You’ve likely felt that as an adult and have even further appreciation for when you can do-it-yourself.

Sure it might not go as planned sometimes, just like your Halloween costumes. However, when you get it right, that feeling of pride is hard to match.

There are also cost-savings, skill development and a sense of ownership rooted in DIY.

From changing the oil on your car or painting the living room of your first home, that intrinsic reward of using your own hands (or mind) carries forward from youth throughout the rest of your life.

With age might come side hustles to earn extra money , working overtime to prove your value to an organization in order to receive a promotion or just sheer willpower to work harder and provide for your family.

There’s no substitute for hustle, especially hustling smartly. Knowing where the big payoffs come from to deliver you the best returns (like the full size chocolate bars) will be key in your personal and professional life.

Working hard and working smart is that 1-2 punch you helped learned as a kid trotting the streets on Halloween.