Investing March 29, 2026 0 Comments

Unlocking Wealth’s Greatest Secret: What Time Reveals That Money Gurus Won’t Tell You

You ever get that feeling watching an anime where the pace is so slow, you wonder if the story’s stuck in molasses? Well, that’s exactly what drew me to Frieren. Sure, some folks might gripe about its slow start in season two, but trust me, that’s the whole point — it’s like life itself, slow and deliberate with moments that feel like “useless quests.” What’s fascinating is how Frieren makes you sit back and actually think about the concept of time — and as an investor and entrepreneur, isn’t that something we wrestle with daily? How long is “long-term” in investing? How far ahead should income plans stretch? Heck, what does multi-generational wealth even look like day-to-day? Watching the characters trek on, battling mundane frustrations and small victories, you get a gritty reminder: success isn’t just about big wins or epic battles — it’s about patience, persistence, and the bridge you build, log by log, over years. So what if your investing journey mirrored that dwarf who’s been building a bridge for 200 years? Maybe the very act of building it, not the destination, holds the real value. Fancy a deeper dive? LEARN MORE

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If you read Investment Moats long enough, you would know that I am a fan of this anime call Frieren. It’s season 1 currently tops My Anime List’s All Time Top Anime. Frieren is into it’s second season currently and some would have mixed feelings with its slow start.

Then again, that was what I thought for the first season until episode six changed my mind.

Actually, the charm of Frieren may be in its deliberate moves to have so many episode where gamers will feel like they are doing useless quests.

I like Frieren this way because if you think deeper, it makes you think further or shorter, make you ponder about the concept of time.

What may fxxk up a lot about investing is also about the concept of time:

What is long in long term investing?
If you wish to do income planning, how long do you plan for?
How do you setup your portfolio, if you are not planning for retirement in just your lifetime, but multi-generations?
But if you think so far, how does every day life look like?

That is where Frieren shines.

In a way, the slow episodes of Frieren reminds us of real life.

As you compound your money, the daily grind involves thinking about what to eat at lunch, how this colleague forever cannot get what you are talking about, and would your daughter be able to get through her oral exams with less problems.

Many shows and anime sped up so much that they skip things like this.

The latest episode 10 of season 2 is no different.

The episode starts off with the party of 3 needing to cross a canyon that is 3,000 meters deep. The very windy conditions mean that they cannot just use spells, levitate and get across.

The party would have to take a big detour, which puts weeks on their journey.

Fortunately, Frieren remember someone was building a bridge and wonder if it is done:

It sure is.

This dwarf in the background by the name of Gehen has been building the bridge for 200 years.

Between you and me, that is a long long long time to do something.

Frieren encounter Gehen on their way to slay the Demon king but the bridge was not ready. That must be at least 50 years ago.

While going to kill some big birds that were preventing people from making use of the bridge to cross safely, Stark wonders why was Gehen so dedicated in building something that will take such a long time.

Well firstly, Gehen is a dwarf so he will live for longer than many of us.

Frieren opines that Gehen build the bridge due to some regrets. Gehen’s village used to be around there but the village was attacked by demons so he lost everything.

The closest army was across the canyon, had there been a swifter access, his village could have been saved.

Unfortunately, back then, he had ran out of funds to built.

Himmel, the leader of the original party, decide to give a bag of money to Gehen as funds.

Long story short, Frieren, Fern and Stark got rid of the birds. Gehen was glad that now people can freely cross the canyon with the bridge.

Frieren asked Gehen what he will do now.

Gehen, said that he will spend his old age in the village at this side.

The scene follows up with the 3 following Gehen back to the village.

Gehen started building the bridge alone, but along the way, more people helped him.

200 years is enough for a village to be built.

Episode 10 is never going to be as awesome as Genau and Stark’s fight against the Demon Revolte in Episode 8. In fact, for those who like action, Madhouse brought their a-list director for that episode (will share the vid at the end).

But what I continuously find fascinating was how it made us consider the difference in time.

In a way, many of us would be like Gehen.

We may have some regrets, but no one can explain well that our regrets, guilt may get better naturally as time passes. You could neve explain that to Gehen initially and he would feel better.

He would probably only realize that he doesn’t need the bridge to be completed anymore a long way into the journey.

But in a way, if he didn’t set out to build the bridge, he might not have the people that he have now.

Accumulating wealth so that you have enough for your financial goal is no different from building a bridge. The image of Gehen pushing the logs up the mountain, tolling through tough weather conditions may mirror your experiences of trying your best to make sense of how to invest, how to manage money, all the while not having a clear idea how the final picture looks like and when you would see the final picture.

There might be little lessons that you would only learn if you have tried and you have time to stumble, trying to get right.

If you get the money, without the hard part, you might not learn the lessons to keep whatever that you have.

There are things along the journey that should be worth appreciating. I would not have gotten so far especially in the days of individual stock investing if I had not have people to bounce ideas off. Many would prefer to say it is better to be lucky and make your money fast, but the old school me thinks to keep the money, you would have to embark the same journey or learn the hard way by losing some of the money back to the market.

Even Himmel’s action to give the reward money they just painstakingly earned to a random stranger so that he can build a bridge, that they cannot use in their quest should make us reflect whether we can or in what conditions would we give sizable amount of money that may be important to us away.

Can we be as considerate with our money and less self-focused?

I pondered about this more often than last time.

I think almost all the episodes that I wrote about on Frieren happens to be the non-action ones. It is not that I only prefer these (there is a good healthy mix), but I find them more reflective about life.

Interestingly, this is suppose to be a pretty weak arc but even this arc has some pretty interesting writing. The writer manage to make Genau, a character that you would not find likeable before this arc, show so much depth.

This is Stark and Genau vs Revolte but I think it is not as good as the full episode:

Full Episode

That fight in 4K

If you want to know the difference between Manga and Anime, you just have to see how this fight look when ‘animated’ in Manga:

They really delivered.

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Kyith is the Owner and Sole Writer behind Investment Moats. Readers tune in to Investment Moats to learn and build stronger, firmer wealth foundations, how to have a Passive investment strategy, know more about investing in REITs and the nuts and bolts of Active Investing.

Readers also follow Kyith to learn how to plan well for Financial Security and Financial Independence.

Kyith worked as an IT operations engineer from 2004 to 2019. Currently, he works as a Senior Solutions Specialist in Fee-only Wealth Advisory Firm Providend. All opinions on Investment Moats are his own and does not represent the views of Providend.

You can view Kyith’s current portfolio here, which uses his Free Google Stock Portfolio Tracker.

His investment broker of choice is Interactive Brokers, which allows him to invest in securities from different exchanges all over the world, at very low commission rates, without custodian fees, near spot currency rates.

You can read more about Kyith here.