Investors continue to seek simplicity even as Wall Street keeps coming up with more complicated financial instruments and derivatives. The reason is simple. Once you reach a certain age (or perhaps a certain net worth), you start to realize that your time is better spent pursuing your dreams with friends and family. Simplifying your investments becomes important because it can free up your limited time for more important things.

The ways that many people invest are anything but simple, and they cost you time even when they save you money. Picking winning stocks isn’t necessarily worthwhile if you would rather be watching your grandchildren than watching the market. If you’ve had success with active trading, you’ve probably been able to avoid the massive losses that others suffered in the stock market over the last two decades. Nobody likes to lose, but there is an easier way to protect yourself. Losses can also be limited by holding a diversified portfolio of ETFs, mutual funds, gold, and perhaps bonds. 

Even if you invest in something that you love, your investments may become too difficult to manage as you grow older. A part-time business pursuing a passion can be the key to making an early retirement work. However, what was fun and exciting in late middle age can become a burden as you grow older. Owning properties that generate a steady stream of rental income is another popular option among early retirees. Finding tenants, collecting rent, and doing repairs (especially if you do them yourself) are all examples of work that you might not want to do later in life. When you reach that point, it’s time to sell and simplify.

Finally, simplifying your investments can also be an important part of estate planning. Your heirs may lack the knowledge and patience to sell physical assets at market prices. Rental properties can take months or even years to sell. Classic cars, rare coins, and other collectibles are routinely sold at estate sales for far less than their market prices. If you want to be sure that your family receives full value for your real assets, you may have to sell them yourself. Letting go of some of your possessions can be the hardest part of simplifying your life, but the reasons aren’t entirely sentimental. There is a certain comfort that comes from owning real goods that can never be duplicated by paper promises.