Visiting the Future (and Ignoring the Madness of the Crowd)
- February 13, 2026
- by Dennis McNamara
“Community is a form of wealth. And like any form of wealth, it compounds when you nurture it.” - Dennis McNamara
I was at a water park with my family this weekend, floating along the lazy river, when a strange sadness set in.
And no, it wasn’t because I suddenly started doing the mental math on how many children had almost certainly peed in the lazy river. I had already made peace with that.
What unsettled me was something else entirely.
As I looked around, it struck me that the overwhelming majority of people, easily 80 to 90 percent, appeared metabolically unwell. Not in a dramatic or judgmental way. Just clearly struggling.
What struck me most was how normal it all looked.
And sadly, these bodies were the natural outcome of the inputs everywhere around us.
Fried food.
Sugary drinks.
Alcohol. Yes, even at a family water park.
When everyone around you is drifting off course, irrational behavior can start to feel normal.
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
This experience brought to mind Charles Mackay’s book, written nearly two centuries ago but still uncomfortably modern: Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.
Mackay chronicled episodes where large groups of intelligent, well-meaning people collectively lost their bearings. The most famous example is Tulip Mania, where 17th-century Dutch citizens bid the price of a single tulip bulb up to the equivalent of a house.
The book is full of similar stories: speculative bubbles, mass religious fervor, crusades fueled by false beliefs, and financial schemes everyone “knew” were safe, until they weren’t.
His core insight was simple and enduring:
People think in herds, go mad in herds, and only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.
The unsettling part is that these people were neither stupid nor immoral.
They were responding to the culture they were immersed in. When everyone around you is living the same way, sanity starts to look like eccentricity.
While this clearly applies to physical health, it applies just as powerfully to money, careers, relationships, and how we spend our attention.
We live in a culture where:
• Carrying high-interest debt is normal
• Lifestyle creep is rampant
• Short-term pleasure routinely beats long-term stability
• Exhaustion is worn like a badge of honor
When those behaviors dominate the environment, opting out can feel extreme, even antisocial. And yet, the long-term consequences are painfully predictable.
This is where I invite you, dear reader, to buckle up for a bit of space travel.
Space Travel?
Yes. Well. Kind of.
No rockets required.
What I’m really talking about is something called episodic future thinking.
Episodic Future Thinking
I first encountered this concept through Sahil Bloom’s book The Five Types of Wealth. The idea itself traces back to a TED Talk by Jane McGonigal, who explains that the goal isn’t to escape reality, but to play with it.
Instead of asking, “What feels good or normal today?” you ask, “Is this a future I want to wake up in?”
One way to practice this is simple.
Close your eyes.
Take a deep breath.
Imagine you’re at your 80th birthday celebration.
You’re seated at a long table surrounded by your favorite people.
Cards.
Flowers.
Big smiles.
Your favorite drink.
Your favorite meal.
Then the background music fades, and your song comes on. The one tied to a lifetime of memories.
Your foot starts tapping under the table.
People stand up and drift toward the center of the room. They’re looking at you.
What happens next?
Are you able to stand up and join them?
Or does poor health force you to stay seated, enjoying the music from your chair?
That image contains an enormous amount of information about how you’re living right now.
Because your body, much like your finances, is not something you occasionally visit. It’s the structure you’ll be living inside for decades.
And most outcomes are not the result of a single catastrophic decision. They’re the result of thousands of small, seemingly reasonable ones made in alignment with the crowd.
The Upshot
The hopeful truth is this: while genetics, luck, and timing matter, the majority of outcomes, both health-wise and money-wise, are driven by behaviors within your control.
The rest is noise.
You don’t need perfection.
You don’t need extreme discipline.
You don’t need to reject society or become smug about it.
You simply need to decide which future you’re quietly investing in.
The madness of the crowd will always be there. But you can rise above it by prioritizing the small, boring, consistent investments that determine whether you’re dancing at that table or watching from the sidelines.
You don’t have to follow the crowd.
You just have to visit your future often enough to care about it.
The Raad Life: Top 5 Takeaways
Normal is not the same as healthy. Cultural norms often produce predictable, avoidable outcomes.
Crowds drift slowly, not suddenly. Most decline happens through small, socially accepted decisions.
Future clarity changes present behavior. Episodic future thinking is a powerful filter for daily choices.
Your body and finances are long-term structures. You live inside them every day, whether you plan for them or not.
Consistency beats intensity. Small, boring investments compound into freedom, vitality, and choice.
About the Author:
Dennis McNamara helps successful professionals design a life they can thrive in. He believes this is achieved financially, mentally, and physically. A seasoned fiduciary with deep expertise in evidence-based investing and long-horizon planning, he blends wealth management with longevity science to help clients build both net worth and well-being. Co-founder of wHealth Financial Advisors, Dennis is known for translating complexity into clarity and guiding people toward a future they’re genuinely excited to live.