HEROISMS: 8 Pillars to a Life of Passion, Beauty & Creativity

By Peter Boronkay

From white-water rafting to innovative portfolio management Peter includes you in an honest, thought provoking, and enjoyable life reflection. This book offers a combination of: an inspiring autobiography, compelling insights, and actionable ideas to explore your own passionate journey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Peter Boronkay
• Release date: Aug 28, 2020
• ISBN: 9781777346614

Book preview

HEROISMS™

8 PILLARS TO A LIFE OF

PASSION, BEAUTY & CREATIVITY

PETER BORONKAY

Copyright © 2020 Peter Boronkay

All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication, reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recoding or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system without the prior written consent of the author is an infringement of the copyright law.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication is available upon request.

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-777-3466-0-7

ebook ISBN: 978-1-777-3466-1-4

Photo credits courtesy of:

Canadian Olympic Committee - Olympic Academy of Canada

Dave Roels - Photographer - Bill Clinton and author

Loyola High School

Matt Nest - Photographer of author

Peter Nilas - Photographer of wedding

TEDx Abbotsford

Toronto Stock Exchange

Published by IngramSpark

Peter Boronkay wrote this book in his individual capacity and not as a registered representative of Raymond James Ltd. (RJL) or any of its affiliates. It expresses the opinions of the author and not necessarily those of Raymond James Ltd. This book is provided as a general source of information and should not be considered personal investment advice or financial planning advice. It should not be construed as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any product and should not be considered tax advice. We are not tax advisors and we recommend that clients seek independent advice from a professional advisor on tax-related matters. RJL recommends any individual seek independent advice from an investment advisor prior to making any investment decisions and from a professional accountant concerning tax-related matters. Statistics, factual data and other information are from sources RJL believes to be reliable but their accuracy cannot be guaranteed. This book is furnished on the basis and understanding that Raymond James Ltd. or any of its affiliates are to be under no liability whatsoever in respect thereof. This book may provide reference to third-party services. Raymond James Ltd. is not responsible for the availability of these external services, nor does Raymond James Ltd endorse, warrant or guarantee the products, services or information described or offered. Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with mutual funds. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. Securities-related products and services are offered through Raymond James Ltd., Member - Canadian Investor Protection Fund. Insurance products and services products and services are offered through Raymond James Financial Planning Ltd., which is not a Member - Canadian Investor Protection Fund.

Russell Investments returns are in percent. Risk/volatility is defined as Standard Deviation. Standard Deviation is a statistical measure of the degree to which an individual value in a probability distribution tends to vary from the mean of the distribution. The greater the degree of dispersion, the greater the risk. Based on Russell Investments Market Conditional Capital Markets assumptions as of December 2019.

To Geraldine, for her love and patience while we explore a life of HEROISMS.

An interesting read of Peter’s life journey with experiences in the art and science of designing and building a successful, fulfilling, and rewarding life.

Michael Chambers,

Lawyer, Past President Canadian Olympic Committee

Peter weaves you through anecdotes on how to successfully balance career and lifestyle which are important life lessons. He illustrates that by being courageous to aim high, develop clearly articulated goals, and by executing your plans whether it be in investments, sports, or life may lead with all its twists and turns to the accomplishments of your visions.

George Hungerford, OC, OBC,

Olympian Gold Medalist

In HEROISMS, Peter Boronkay shares an inspiring personal account of lessons learned from his own life experience of devotion to family, dedication to public service, and deep commitment to helping others benefit from the wisdom of sound wealth management. Drawn from the clarity of his relentless caring, Peter’s reflective insights are filled with practical tips for how anyone can turn hopeful vision into a meaningful life of joy, wealth, and success.

Frank Borowicz, QC,

Lawyer, Governor of the Vancouver Board of Trade

Peter is clearly original, creative, and forces us to rethink some of our own attitudes.

Bill Brind,

National Film Board Documentary Filmmaker,

Genie Award Recipient

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION - HEROISMS

CHAPTER ONE - Background

CHAPTER TWO - 100 Life Visions

SEASONALITY OF LIFE

8 PILLARS OF HEROISMS

CHAPTER THREE - HEALTH – The First Wealth

Medical

Fitness

Nutrition

CHAPTER FOUR - EDUCATION – Life-Long Learning

College

Undergraduate

Graduate

Professional

CHAPTER FIVE - RELATIONS – Family and Friends

Bachelor

Family

Marriage – A Unity of Souls

Parenthood

Family Relations

Friends

CHAPTER SIX - OCCUPATION – Your Mission

Starting Out

Lifeguard

White-Water Rafting Guide

Career

Computers

Computers and Architecture

Wealth Management

CHAPTER SEVEN - INTERESTS – The Spice of Life

Sports

Hockey

Running

Martial Arts

Swimming

Skiing

Curling

Golf

Motorcycling

Creative Expression

Hypnosis

Music

Temple of Love

Reading and Writing

Cottage Life

Canoe Trip on Forest Lake Loop

Travel

Pope John Paul II at the Vienna Airport

Blizzard on the Icefield’s Parkway

Marooned on Jedediah Island

CHAPTER EIGHT - SOCIETY – Our Interconnectedness

Olympics and Paralympics

Montreal 1976

Calgary 1988

Olympic Academy of Canada 2004

Torino 2006

Beijing 2008

Vancouver 2010

Meeting a US President

TEDx Abbotsford

Making a Difference

CHAPTER NINE - MONEY - A Means to Your Visions

Financial Independence

Emotions and Investing

Investing Revisited

Asset Allocation

Six Investment Models™

Fixed Income

Equities

Alternatives

Sustainable Investing

How Younger Investors May Build a $1 Million Dollar Portfolio

Real Estate

Home

Cottage

Investment

CHAPTER TEN - SPIRITUALITY – Your Inner Journey

Being in the moment

Positive Attitude

Meditation

Openness to your true self

Interconnectedness

Learning

EPILOGUE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

APPENDIX

A: 100 Life Visions

B: Health History

C: Countries Visited

D: Tax-free Savings Account Scenarios

E: Peace – Fourth Proposed Olympic Pillar

SOURCES

INTRODUCTION

HEROISMS

Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.

Goethe

Each year between Christmas and New Year’s I reserve a day of solitude where I sit by a crackling wood fire, sip a finely aged glass of Tuscan Cabernet Sauvignon, watch snowflakes dance on our windowpanes, and reflect on my 100 Life Visions.

The purpose of this list is to stay on track with what I want to engineer in my life. I also establish ten goals to accomplish in the coming year. I take two goals from my 100 Life Visions and then set another eight goals to achieve during the calendar year. I choose ten goals because, with 12 months in the year, I allow myself two free months as a break from the continual effort.

At the time of this writing I have accomplished 83 of my 100 Life Visions. By tackling two life aspirations a year I may be able to complete my list within a decade.

Sir Isaac Newton and Shakespeare wrote their best works during plagues, and that inspired me to push ahead and complete this book during the COVID-19 global outbreak of 2020. The purpose of this book is to provide you with a framework for answering the following question: should your primary focus be on the grand vision for your life or your day-to-day tasks?

I have observed that many people display well-organized agendas prominently on their desks. Appointments, errands, and projects are clearly listed, but when the person is asked about their overall life plan, a clear answer is often lacking. I maintain that your life vision requires your dedicated attention to enable you to pursue an optimal existence on your own terms.

When I was 26 years old, the inspiration to live my visions led me to start a journal that I have kept up for over 32 years. My writings evolved from daily thoughts and observations to big picture thinking, which led me to develop a system for reflecting on life goals.

HEROISMS is an acronym for the eight pillars that support reflection and planning. These pillars are: Health, Education, Relations, Occupation, Interests, Society, Money, and Spirituality.

All aspects of your life may be incorporated into these pillars. Like many people, you may be over-confident about what you may achieve in the short term but underestimate what may be accomplished in a lifetime.

From white-water rafting to portfolio management I write to you my learning lessons on life with anecdotes, insights, and practical takeaways. I invite you to use this book to help you boldly tackle life on your own terms so that you can pursue your own HEROISMS.

CHAPTER ONE

Background

My parents immigrated to Canada from Hungary in 1951 after a three-year stay in Switzerland. My father, Dénes, a lawyer by education, and my mother, Margit, a dress designer and artist, left their homeland in Budapest along with their children after the communist takeover in 1948 and sought out better opportunities. They settled in Ottawa and lived on a side street beside the Governor General’s residence. My brother Denis told me how he used to play on the grounds of the Queen’s representative and sometimes an RCMP officer would come by to check what he and his friends were up to. My mother was introduced to a strong network in Ottawa. Two wives of Canadian prime ministers, Mrs. Pearson and Mrs. Diefenbaker commissioned dresses from her. My mother once said that both women, who were from different political parties, came over to our house to meet on neutral ground and discuss political matters. After a good start in Ottawa my family moved to Montreal so my mother could be closer to her sister, who was the first member of the family to come to Canada.

Moving from an established noble life in Hungary to enduring WWII, then followed by the oppression of the communist takeover was horrific enough for my parents but difficulties indeed tragedies did not end there. Shortly after while setting up a new life in Canada. My parents had a daughter, Julia, born in 1956; however she passed away in 1959 from a hole in the heart defect. My mother and father had first-hand experience in black swan events that derailed their lives. This did not stop them from fighting to move forward. These past lessons learned and survived are the genesis for the ideas of this book, namely that even in the most difficult circumstances, one should strive to pursue a meaningful life of competence in each of your life pillars of HEROISMS.

I came into this world in the spring of 1962 and at the time my family lived in an attractive stone-faced home that they rented on Bruce Avenue in Westmount close to downtown Montreal. When I was only two years old my father took a reference law librarian post at Harvard University and we moved to Newtonville Ave., Newton, a suburb of Boston. My first recollection in life was at age two when my father was driving and he pointed to the house where our family would live in this established hilly neighborhood I grew up in until age eight.

After four years in Massachusetts, my father, then 53 fulfilled his dream of buying a country property near Stowe, Vermont. I shared his deep passion for country living and later in life, my wife Geraldine, and I bought our own place on a lake on the Sunshine Coast, BC when I was 48.

While in Boston, I attended a preschool in Chestnut Hill where deep piles of fall leaves were gathered for pick-up along a road of towering mature trees that stretched over, creating a canopy over the road. Jumping in and out of the leaves is delightful when you are five. One day when my father was collecting fall leaves into large bags on a grassy slope across the street from our home, I thought it a good idea to use the bags of leaves as target practice for a bow and arrow I had received as a gift. I took aim from the other side of the road to shoot, well away from my father but the arrow curved to the right and pierced one of the large bags very close to my father’s left side. It was fortunate that he did not notice and I was able to retrieve the arrow without earning his legendary wrath.

In 1969 I watched the events surrounding the Apollo 11 landing on the moon. After the astronauts touched down, Neil Armstrong finally emerged from the capsule at 10:56 p.m. EST, though I had to go to bed before that iconic moment. I am sure that as a seven-year-old kid and hearing this news of the millennium, I was not alone in wanting to be an astronaut at that time. That same year the Boeing 747 airplane was close to being introduced into commercial service and a cereal brand had taken up a promotion to receive a model of that plane if you sent in three box flaps. As soon as the groceries arrived, I cut out the flaps to send away. I was thrilled to receive the model 747 plane in the mail soon after. Although I enjoyed living in Massachusetts, in 1970 my mother decided to move back to Montreal to be close to her sister and away from my father, as they were on the verge of separating, likely due to my father’s difficult temperament, one that was impacted by his life’s challenging circumstances.

I was eight years old when my mother and I moved back from Boston to Montreal. With my parents’ separation there was a noticeable decline in the financial standard of living we had previously enjoyed. Eventually, my father did move up to join us, but after two years my parents permanently separated, but never divorced. After decades apart they would again live in the same building but in different rooms at St. Margaret’s seniors’ home in Westmount until my father passed away at 97 ½ in 2012 and my mother at 99 in 2017. Although they did not get to see 100, they came close. I researched the actuarial odds of a married couple both living to 100 and it was 1 in 6 million! Because of this many people comment that I have good genes, and I hope they are right. However, in high school I ate too much junk food that I hope I have since recovered from.

My two brothers and sister were mostly out of the house by now being 26, 25, and 22 years old, while I was