It's Friday again, when I give myself some latitude to write about non-investment topics. Martin Amis (pictured here) once compared life as it is lived, to life as it is presented in novels.

He said: "The trouble with life is its amorphousness, it's ridiculous fluidity. Look at it: thinly plotted, largely themeless, sentimental and ineluctably trite. The dialogue is poor, or at least violently uneven. The twists are either predictable or sensationalist. And it's always the same beginning; and the same ending."

What's the takeaway from such insights? Your life will start and end like everyone else's, and probably won't be very exciting, when seen from the outside. It's up to you to live it on your own terms and make it meaningful to yourself and those who love you.

The rise of AI is going to change the way we do things in many spheres of life, especially in the workplace. Are you worried that AI could impact your job or your business? I feel that in most cases, if you embrace it and learn how to use it effectively, AI will be a help, not a hindrance.

I also believe that personal relationships will become even more important. There's no way of replacing a human when it comes to real engagement. At Vestact we might use AI to help analyse stocks, generate an image or to calculate client returns. But the personal relationship we have with our clients is crucial.

For example, if the market crashes and you ask a chatbot what to do, are you going to feel better if the programmed answer is "hold"? Probably not. But if you called one of us at Vestact, who has personally lived through many market slumps, and we can soothe your nerves through a one-on-one conversation, that's much more meaningful.

Make sure your relationship with your clients is strong, it is going to be more important than ever.

Work-life balance is a very subjective topic. Do you have enough time in your day for family, sleep, entertainment, social life, gym and getting work done? For younger generations, the 8/8/8 model, which breaks the day into three 8-hour segments, of sleep, work, and everything else, doesn't seem to work anymore.

Many business leaders say that to be successful, you'll have to make sacrifices. Zoom's CEO says work-life balance doesn't exist for him. He only has time for family, sleep and work. For this phase of life, that is fine for him. Perhaps when he's older, there will be much less work and lots of everything else.

Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn co-founder, sees work-life balance as a luxury that people running startups, especially in their early, critical phases, simply cannot afford. He believes that extraordinary success demands extraordinary effort. For the average person though, building a global business isn't a life goal.

Life is about trade-offs. Each person is willing to make different trade-offs to follow their priorities. The important thing is knowing what is important to you, and then deciding the level of sacrifice that you can tolerate to get there.

There's something intoxicating about the pursuit of financial freedom. It starts with tracking your spending on a spreadsheet, and before long, you're trying to optimise your sleep cycle using a cost-per-minute efficiency ratio. You've got six different accounts, a tax-free savings plan, and a retirement annuity you started at 22. You're grinding. You're winning. But are you living?

It's very easy to get stuck on the personal finance treadmill. If you're not careful, it turns into a race to accumulate forever. You're always chasing a bigger number: R10 million, then R15 million, then "enough to never work again." The problem is, there's no finish line. And when there is, you might be too old or too tired to enjoy what you built. To paraphrase MJ DeMarco, don't be the richest person in a wheelchair.

Money is meant to be used, not just stored. And some of the best uses are for joy and generosity. That means spending a bit of it on things that light you up. On causes that change someone else's life completely. That high you get from a major portfolio win is nothing compared to the feeling of funding a student's tuition, or helping a friend start a business, or taking your parents on their first international trip.

And if you've been living like a spreadsheet monk, maybe it's time to loosen the reins and explore what your money can actually do for you. Travel to places you've only ever seen on screens. Go hike the Drakensberg (izintaba zokhahlamba) or take a cooking class in Sicily. Learn a language that forces your brain to work differently - Spanish, isiXhosa, Mandarin, whatever opens new worlds for you.

Financial independence isn't the destination. It's the platform. Just make sure your cashflow can support the lifestyle, and then live a little. Wealth isn't only what's in the bank. It's the freedom to live wide, deep, and well.

The richest person you know, knows someone richer. Everything is relative - How to talk about money with your wealthier friends.

Cancer survival rates are climbing. This is thanks to better medicine and earlier screening - We might be winning the war on cancer.

Asian stocks climbed this morning, with the MSCI Asia-Pacific index hitting its highest level since September 2021. The rally came despite a weak data point out of China, where industrial profits dropped sharply in May, highlighting ongoing pressure from US tariffs and persistent deflationary trends in the world's second-largest economy.

In local company news, Growthpoint posted a 3.9% rise in distributable income per share. This was helped by better local property fundamentals, and a strong showing from the V&A Waterfront. Offshore income dipped, however, following the R2.4 billion sale of UK-based Capital & Regional.

US equity futures are higher pre-market. The Rand is trading at R17.86 to the US Dollar.

Have a top weekend. If you are in Joburg, wrap up and stay warm.