What To Do With Unexpected Money
What To Do With Unexpected Money
Larry Keller The Physician Philosopher
A lot of us have an idea of what we should do with money that we earn on a regular basis from our physician jobs. Oftentimes it goes towards our typical cost of living expenses: bills, debts, savings, investments. But what about money you get that you weren’t expecting?
Because yes, most of us will, at some point, get at least a little money that we didn’t expect. Regardless of the source – whether it’s an inheritance, a tax refund, or a bonus at work – we end up with one question.
What should we do with this extra money?
What To Do With Unexpected Money
Larry Keller The Physician Philosopher
A lot of us have an idea of what we should do with money that we earn on a regular basis from our physician jobs. Oftentimes it goes towards our typical cost of living expenses: bills, debts, savings, investments. But what about money you get that you weren’t expecting?
Because yes, most of us will, at some point, get at least a little money that we didn’t expect. Regardless of the source – whether it’s an inheritance, a tax refund, or a bonus at work – we end up with one question.
What should we do with this extra money?
Deciding on a plan for your extra money
I haven’t been fortunate enough to get an inheritance, but I have received bonuses from my job. In anesthesia at Wake Forest, we qualify for bonuses by working additional shifts, which I did for a few years to pay off student loans. Since then, as I’ve transitioned to working more on my business and not taking on extra shifts, I get nonclinical incentives for performing academic work.
When it comes to receiving extra money, it doesn’t have to be a large sum for you to be intentional about how you use it. Whether you’re getting extra money from a new bonus system implemented at work or you got a bigger tax refund than you were planning for, it helps to have a plan for how you want to put the extra money to use.
Apply the 10% rule for unexpected funds
The 10% rule is what I used when I first finished medical school. If my wife or I came into additional money, we would take 10% of it and spend it however we wanted to, guilt-free. This could be on anything you want: tennis issues, a television, a new sofa, a grill.
You can apply the same rule for an increase in pay. For example, if you make $4,000 per month post-tax as a resident, and it turns into $14,000, now you’ve got a $10,000 gap. Take $1000 a month and spend it on whatever you want.
But with that other 90%, I encourage you to lay a solid foundation: pay off student loans and start saving a significant portion of your money.
I paid $10,000 a month to pay off my student loans on average for the first 19 months after I finished training. So I really did take 90% of that extra money (working extra shifts and collecting bonuses by doing that) to pay off my student loans.
An option like a taxable brokerage account is an optimal way to invest some of that 90%. The money in these accounts is easier to access than retirement accounts, and it does actually offer certain tax advantages despite its name.
Five ways to use your unexpected funds
Spend it.
Save it.
Give it.
Invest it.
Pay debt.
Personal finance is personal. Many of us physicians have student loan debt, so maybe you’d use it to pay down some debt. Maybe you’re using it to pay down your mortgage or your car loan. The right answer for each person often varies, and it can vary even more based on your current stage of life.
Maybe when you were younger a lot of your extra money went towards your loans, but now you no longer have loans, and you’re able to spend or give or invest more of that money than you used to in the past.
Lisha’s value shift around handling extra money
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
10 Harsh Money Lessons That You Never Learned in School
10 Harsh Money Lessons That You Never Learned in School
By Martin Dasko / STUDENOMICS
“They should teach personal finance in college.”
“I wish I learned more about money in school instead of studying all that useless stuff.”
I’ve seen a variation of this message on social media over the years. Personal finance is one of those topics that we have to figure out on our own as we go through life, and it can be highly frustrating. This is why I wanted to look at what you likely weren’t taught about money as a high school or college student that you should know.
Here’s what college and high school never taught you about money that you need to know.
10 Harsh Money Lessons That You Never Learned in School
By Martin Dasko / STUDENOMICS
“They should teach personal finance in college.”
“I wish I learned more about money in school instead of studying all that useless stuff.”
I’ve seen a variation of this message on social media over the years. Personal finance is one of those topics that we have to figure out on our own as we go through life, and it can be highly frustrating. This is why I wanted to look at what you likely weren’t taught about money as a high school or college student that you should know.
Here’s what college and high school never taught you about money that you need to know.
Money lessons you didn't learn in school
I can’t tell you how many times a reader or friend complained about how they learned nothing about finances in school. You have to figure out credit scores, mortgages, credit cards, investing, retirement planning, budgeting, being able to afford a Friday night with soaring inflation, and career advancement all on your own.
You don’t learn much about personal finance and money management as you go through the education system. You go from trying to get by as a broke college student to being thrust into the real world, where you suddenly have to worry about paying your bills, all while trying to figure out how to balance between saving for your retirement one day and trying to afford all of these weddings that you have to attend.
Let’s go over what every young person should learn about money right now that you probably won’t learn in college or high school. These are ten money lessons that should be taught to all young people.
Lesson #1: The World Is Designed To Separate You From Your Money.
“I firmly believe that everything in this world is designed to separate you from your money.”
An economics professor dropped this gem on us one morning (so I technically learned this in college). Since hearing this, I can’t stop thinking about it because it’s accurate. He described how everything is happening around us to take our money.
There will always be something to spend money on. You can’t scroll social media for more than two seconds without being sold something. There are ads for everything, and the ads are targeted to promote something you likely discussed an hour earlier or thought of in your mind.
What can you do about this?
Save first. Always pay yourself first. Have money automatically come off your paycheck. Don’t attempt to save when you don’t spend after getting paid. Save first.
Hide/lock your money. I call this the Houdini System. I hide my money in an investment account and ensure I cannot access it.
Stop saving your credit card details with every online retailer. It’s ridiculously easy to spend money these days. Don’t save your credit card information with Amazon. You don’t always need everything delivered to you in minutes.
Set priorities. I’ve learned that you can have anything you want, but you can’t have everything you want.
Whatever you do, never rely on willpower. Hide your money and set it aside. The world is designed to take your money from you. On top of finding ways to keep more of your money, you also have to ensure that you don’t get scammed. The video below covers this…
Lesson #2: You Must Figure Out Where Your Money’s Going.
“I have no idea where my paychecks go.”
I’ve heard this from many friends over the years, and it’s always startling. I understand why this happens, though. Life comes at you fast, and everything that you want to do is expensive. Suddenly, you’re a week removed from payday and have no idea where your money went.
You don’t have to track every penny, but knowing where your money’s going is essential. You don’t want to be confused as to why you’re broke. You have to figure out where your money’s going.
How do you figure out where your money’s going?
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
We’ve Waited Nearly 15 Years For This
We’ve Waited Nearly 15 Years For This
April 19, 2023 Simon Black, Founder Sovereign Man
Thousands of years ago on the 27th of July, 54 BC, the famed Roman senator Cicero wrote a letter to his friend Atticus complaining about all the corruption and bribery that was destroying Rome’s political system. There was an important election taking place that year for Roman consul, which had once been considered among the highest political offices in the republic.
But by 54 BC, the consuls were just political stooges… because the real power was held behind the scenes by none other than Julius Caesar, and his rival Pompey the Great.
We’ve Waited Nearly 15 Years For This
April 19, 2023 Simon Black, Founder Sovereign Man
Thousands of years ago on the 27th of July, 54 BC, the famed Roman senator Cicero wrote a letter to his friend Atticus complaining about all the corruption and bribery that was destroying Rome’s political system. There was an important election taking place that year for Roman consul, which had once been considered among the highest political offices in the republic.
But by 54 BC, the consuls were just political stooges… because the real power was held behind the scenes by none other than Julius Caesar, and his rival Pompey the Great.
Caesar and Pompey both spent enormous amounts of money to make sure their people won the elections; it was very similar to how today’s biggest political donors spend millions of dollars to push their hand-picked candidates into office. The politicians are just puppets; the real power is the money behind them.
Caesar and Pompey were certainly wealthy guys at the time. But the election of 54 BC set off a financial arms race between the two, with each one trying to out-spend the other to manipulate the election.
One of Pompey’s candidates-- a man named Scaurus the Younger-- was actually charged with extortion.
Two other candidates allegedly attempted to bribe a large voting bloc known as the centuria praerogativa for a whopping 10 million sesterces; this would be the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars today.
Another candidate alleged that the two outgoing consuls had been bribed with four million sesterces. The bribery allegations went on and on.
The election of 54 BC was so corrupt and cost so much money that Caesar, Pompey, and their candidates had to borrow heavily from investors to finance all the bribery.
And this is what led Cicero to remark to his friend Atticus, “Bribery is raging. And I will show you a sign of it: the interest rate has gone up from 4% on the 15th of July to 8% [on the 27th of July].”
In other words, the politicians and their financial backers spent so much money to rig the election that they had borrowed nearly all of the capital in Rome’s financial system… causing a spike in interest rates.
This makes sense when you think about it: the election of 54BC created a sudden, overwhelming demand for loans; Caesar and Pompey borrowed heavily in a very short period of time. Just like the basic law of supply and demand, that surge in demand for capital caused an increase in the “price of money”, i.e. interest rates.
Now, imagine being an ancient Roman businessman in the summer of 54 BC looking for a small business loan, perhaps to finance expansion or fund the season’s agricultural harvest.
But then you find that there’s no more money… or only very expensive, high-interest loans available... because the politicians had already borrowed all the money in the financial system.
Economists call this the ‘Crowding Out’ effect, i.e. what happens when someone borrows so much money that there’s very little capital left over for everyone else.
In modern times that ‘someone’ is typically the government, i.e. government borrowing is so extreme that they monopolize all the liquidity in the financial system, thus causing interest rates to rise and ‘crowding out’ the private sector from accessing capital.
And we’re starting to see the Crowding Out effect in our daily lives.
For most of the past 15 years, the Federal Reserve kept interest rates in the US at nearly zero. Capital was infinite. And if the government wanted to borrow more (which they did every year), the Fed simply created more money.
Between 2008 and 2022, in fact, the size of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet soared from $850 billion to $9 trillion… a more than 10x monetary expansion.
One obvious effect of such reckless monetary policy has been historically high inflation… which ultimately prompted the Fed to reverse course and hike interest rates.
What few people talk about, though, is that the Fed has also begun the lengthy process to reduce the size of its gargantuan balance sheet… essentially draining liquidity from the financial system.
Right now the Fed’s balance sheet stands at around $8.6 trillion, down from a peak of $9 trillion a year ago. So there’s still a looooooong way to go before they get back to the 2008 level of $850 billion, or even the pre-pandemic $4 trillion.
And this takes me back to the Crowding Out effect.
We all know the federal government is addicted to unsustainable spending. Just look at the debt ceiling fiasco-- the Treasury is weeks away from default, and yet the guy who shakes hands with thin air refuses to make any spending cuts.
The Congressional Budget Office currently projects an average $2 trillion annual budget deficit, EVERY YEAR, for the next 10 years. And this estimate is probably quite optimistic; it doesn’t take into consideration any exigent funding requirements like war, natural disasters, or pandemics.
Nor does it take into consideration the multi-trillion dollar bailout required to save Social Security in only a few years’ time.
But even if we go with the government’s own projection of $2 trillion per year, that’s STILL a lot of money to borrow.
For most of the past 15 years, the government never had to worry about borrowing; the Federal Reserve was always standing by to create more money and lend it to the Treasury Department at record low rates.
But now the Fed has reversed course. They’re not loaning any more money to the federal government… meaning Uncle Sam has lost its #1 lender.
One of the government’s other top lenders-- Social Security-- is also out of the picture. Social Security has loaned trillions of dollars to the federal government over the years. But now the government is going to have to pay back those loans in order to keep the program funded, PLUS provide an additional bailout on top of that.
Another major lender-- China-- is also off the table. In fact China has SUBSTANTIALLY cut its holdings of US government debt, from a peak of $1.3 trillion, down to $848 billion today… a reduction of more than 34%.
You’re probably starting to see this ‘Crowding Out’ effect; with nearly all of its top lenders gone, yet absolutely no plans to restrain spending, the federal government is already starting to monopolize debt markets.
The amount of available capital in the financial system is falling due to the Fed’s new monetary policy. And the government is sucking up every available penny for themselves.
That leaves very little capital (compared to the last several years) available for businesses… which is actually fantastic news for investors.
Over the past decade when the money supply was expanding and capital was abundant, businesses could easily raise money from investors or borrow from banks.
And the investment terms were usually very one-sided in favor of the business; companies with no hope of ever turning a profit commanded valuations going into the tens of billions of dollars. And some businesses even sold bonds with negative yields.
But today’s conditions are totally different: businesses have to compete with the government for scarce capital. And as a result, many deals are now outrageously good for investors.
Just because the economy has slowed doesn’t mean there aren’t great investments out there. Quite the contrary. There are incredibly productive and innovative businesses all over the world that can achieve enormous success, regardless of economic conditions.
In fact the most successful company in the world today-- Apple-- is a great example. Even during peak stagflation of the 1970s, Apple earned sensational profits after releasing its highly innovative Apple II.
There will most certainly be similar examples from today’s businesses. And yet, because of this Crowding Out effect, they’re all having to roll out the red carpet to investors in order to raise money.
Well it’s about time. Investors have spent the last several years overpaying for stocks, bonds, real estate, NFTs, and just about every asset under the sun.
But right now, finally, investors can get fantastic deals on great businesses. We just don’t know how long these generous conditions are going to last.
Personally I think the Federal Reserve is going to chicken out-- and we’ve talked about this before.
Their rapid interest rate hikes have already caused so much financial destruction, including multiple bank failures. Next up we’ll probably see defaults in commercial real estate, corporate bonds, municipal bonds, and even a sovereign government or two overseas.
Most importantly, though, the Fed’s higher interest rates will eventually bankrupt the US government. The national debt is already $31.4 trillion, and it increases by $2 to $4 trillion per year. They simply cannot afford to pay 5% interest.
The Fed knows this… which is why I expect them to chicken out and start slashing rates again. The survival of the government depends on it.
And when they do, financial conditions will reverse again. Companies will easily be able to raise capital, and the deals that we see now will no longer exist.
To your freedom, Simon Black, Founder Sovereign Man
https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/weve-waited-nearly-15-years-for-this-146858/
People Don't Change
People Don't Change
Jared Dillian Apr 11, 2023
If there is a person in your life whose behavior bothers you—
It’s probably not going to get better.
People don’t change. Someone who is an alcoholic will always be an alcoholic. Someone who is a thief will always be a thief. Someone who is a sex addict will always be a sex addict. Someone who is a gambler will always be a gambler. Someone who is an adulterer will always be an adulterer. Unwanted behavior keeps going, and going, and going.
People Don't Change
Jared Dillian Apr 11, 2023
If there is a person in your life whose behavior bothers you—
It’s probably not going to get better.
People don’t change. Someone who is an alcoholic will always be an alcoholic. Someone who is a thief will always be a thief. Someone who is a sex addict will always be a sex addict. Someone who is a gambler will always be a gambler. Someone who is an adulterer will always be an adulterer. Unwanted behavior keeps going, and going, and going.
How often have you seen this play out: parents are dismayed to learn that their 15-year-old is smoking pot. They ignore it for a while, thinking it is harmless, but then it turns into Adderall, pills and cocaine. Soon the teenager has a full-blown drug problem, and he is flunking out of school. The parents ride to the rescue, going to the school to talk to his teachers to convince them not to fail him.
The kid swears he will never do drugs again, but he is caught again within a few weeks. They take the kid to a therapist first, but 15-year-olds don’t do so well in therapy, so that eventually fails. They take the kid to outpatient drug treatment, to no avail. Finally, the kid goes to rehab for a month. Swears he will stay clean. Mom and Dad think that things are finally back to normal. Caught with drugs again two weeks later.
This continues a decade-long cycle of jails and institutions, with the parents bailing him out every step of the way. After years of this, the parents eventually tire of rescuing him all the time, and let him fail. The kid (now 25 years old) becomes homeless, where he is robbed, raped, and assaulted. Unspeakably awful things happen to him.
And then, magically, he gets sober. And it sticks.
People don’t change…until they do.
People don’t change, until they do. And when they do, it is a miracle. But inevitably what has to happen is that person has to hit bottom, where things absolutely cannot get any worse.
Bottoms vary for different people—people with a high bottom get to keep their jobs and spouses. People with a low bottom have to lose everything before they learn.
It may seem as though I am focusing on addiction. I’m talking about all behavior that we find unpleasant. It could be chewing your fingernails. It could be obsessively washing your hands. It could be yelling at your kids. It could be watching porn.
Behaviors have a tendency to continue until there is a significant emotional event. Until you lose, or are about to lose, someone or something you care about.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
35 Gifts Your Children Will Never Forget
35 Gifts Your Children Will Never Forget
Written By Joshua Becker · 294 Comments
“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.” —Kahlil Gibran
I have countless holiday memories. Most of them center around faith, family, and traditions.
Very few childhood memories actually include the gifts I received. I distinctly remember the year that I got a blue dirt bike, the evening my brother and I received a Nintendo, and opening socks every year from my grandparents. But other than that, my gift-receiving memories are pretty sparse. Which got me thinking… what type of gifts can we give to our children that they will never forget?
What gifts will truly impact their lives and change them forever?
35 Gifts Your Children Will Never Forget
Written By Joshua Becker · 294 Comments
“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.” —Kahlil Gibran
I have countless holiday memories. Most of them center around faith, family, and traditions.
Very few childhood memories actually include the gifts I received. I distinctly remember the year that I got a blue dirt bike, the evening my brother and I received a Nintendo, and opening socks every year from my grandparents. But other than that, my gift-receiving memories are pretty sparse. Which got me thinking… what type of gifts can we give to our children that they will never forget?
What gifts will truly impact their lives and change them forever?
To that end, here is an alphabetical list.
35 Gifts Your Children Will Never Forget:
1. Affirmation. Sometimes one simple word of affirmation can change an entire life. So make sure your children know how much you appreciate them. And then, remind them every chance you get.
2. Art. With the advent of the Internet, everyone who wants to create… can. The world just needs more people who want to…
3. Challenge. Encourage your child to dream big dreams. In turn, they will accomplish more than they thought possible… and probably even more than you thought possible.
4. Compassion/Justice. Life isn’t fair. It never will be – there are just too many variables. But when a wrong has been committed or a playing field can be leveled, I want my child to be active in helping to level it.
5. Contentment. The need for more is contagious. Embracing “less is more” is the antidote. Therefore, one of the greatest gifts you can give your children is an appreciation for being content with what they have, who they are, and who they can become.
6. Curiosity. Teach your children to ask questions about who, what, where, how, why, and why not. “Stop asking so many questions” are words that should never leave a parents’ mouth.
7. Determination. One of the greatest determining factors in one’s success is the size of their will. How can you help grow your child’s today?
8. Discipline. Children need to learn everything from the ground-up including appropriate behaviors, how to get along with others, how to get results, and how to achieve their dreams. Discipline should not be avoided or withheld. Instead, it should be consistent and positive.
9. Encouragement. Words are powerful. They can create or they can destroy. The simple words that you choose to speak today can offer encouragement and positive thoughts to another child. Or your words can send them further into despair. So choose them carefully.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://www.becomingminimalist.com/35-gifts-your-children-will-never-forget/
A Helpful Guide to Becoming Unbusy
A Helpful Guide to Becoming Unbusy
Written By Joshua Becker · 132 Comments
“Those who are wise won’t be busy, and those who are too busy can’t be wise.” ― Lin Yutang
It was in this video from Jeff Shinabarger that I first heard the phrase, “‘Busy’ has become the new ‘Fine’.” As in, when you ask somebody how they were doing, they used to answer, “Fine.” But nowadays, everybody answers, “Busy.”
Seemingly, busy has become the default state for too many of our lives.
A Helpful Guide to Becoming Unbusy
Written By Joshua Becker · 132 Comments
“Those who are wise won’t be busy, and those who are too busy can’t be wise.” ― Lin Yutang
It was in this video from Jeff Shinabarger that I first heard the phrase, “‘Busy’ has become the new ‘Fine’.” As in, when you ask somebody how they were doing, they used to answer, “Fine.” But nowadays, everybody answers, “Busy.”
Seemingly, busy has become the default state for too many of our lives.
But is the state of busy really improving our lives? Certainly not. Statistics indicate 75% of parents are too busy to read to their children at night. There is a rising number of children being placed in day cares and after-school activities. Americans are having a hard time finding opportunity for vacations these days. 33% of Americans are living with extreme stress daily. And nearly 50% of Americans say they regularly lie awake at night because of stress. This is a problem. We have become too busy.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Busy is not inevitable. (tweet that)
Each of us can take intentional steps to unbusy our lives.
Consider this Helpful Guide to Becoming Unbusy:
1. Realize that being busy is a choice. It is a decision we make. We are never forced into a lifestyle of busyness. The first, and most important, step to becoming less busy is to simply realize that our schedules are determined by us. We do have a choice in the matter. We don’t have to live busy lives.
2. Stop the glorification of busy. Busy, in and of itself, is not a badge of honor. In fact, directed at the wrong pursuits, it is actually a limiting factor to our full potential. It is okay to not be busy. Repeat this with me: It is okay to not be busy.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
The 10 Most Important Things to Simplify in Your Life
The 10 Most Important Things to Simplify in Your Life
Written By Joshua Becker ·
Plant in clear vase on a simple white table - how to simplify your life
“Purity and simplicity are the two wings with which man soars above the earth and all temporary nature.” —Thomas à Kempis
Simplifying your life will bring balance, freedom, and joy. When we begin to live simply and experience these benefits, we begin to ask the next question, “Where else in my life can I remove distraction and simplify life to focus on the essentials?”
Once we’re able to answer that, we will understand what is important in our own lives.
The 10 Most Important Things to Simplify in Your Life
Written By Joshua Becker ·
Plant in clear vase on a simple white table - how to simplify your life
“Purity and simplicity are the two wings with which man soars above the earth and all temporary nature.” —Thomas à Kempis
Simplifying your life will bring balance, freedom, and joy. When we begin to live simply and experience these benefits, we begin to ask the next question, “Where else in my life can I remove distraction and simplify life to focus on the essentials?”
Once we’re able to answer that, we will understand what is important in our own lives.
How to Simplify Your Life
Based on our personal journey, our conversations, and our observations, here is a list of the 10 most important things to simplify in your life today to begin living a more balanced, joyful lifestyle:
1. Your Possessions – Too many material possessions complicate our lives to a greater degree than we ever give them credit. They drain our bank account, our energy, and our attention. They keep us from the ones we love and from living a life based on our values.
If you will invest the time to declutter the non-essential possessions from your life, you will never regret it. For more inspiration, consider Simplify: 7 Guiding Principles to Help Anyone Declutter Their Home and Life.
2. Your Time Commitments – Most of us have filled our days full from beginning to end with time commitments: work, home, kid’s activities, community events, religious endeavors, hobbies… the list goes on. When possible, release yourself from the time commitments that are not in line with your greatest values.
3. Your Goals – Reduce the number of goals you are striving for in your life to one or two. By reducing the number of goals that you are striving to accomplish, you will improve your focus and your success rate.
Make a list of the things that you want to accomplish in your life and choose the three most important. Focus there.
4. Your Negative Thoughts – Most negative emotions are completely useless. Resentment, bitterness, hate, and jealousy have never improved the quality of life for a single human being. Take responsibility for your mind. Forgive past hurts and replace negative thoughts with positive ones.
5. Your Debt –
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://www.becomingminimalist.com/the-10-most-important-things-to-simplify-in-your-life/
A Better Path to Contentment
A Better Path to Contentment
By Joshua Becker · becomingminimalist
People look for contentment in any number of places.
Some look for contentment in a high-paying job, yet show their discontent the first time they are passed over for a raise. Some look for it in a large home, yet show their discontent by requiring countless improvements. Many have sought contentment in a department store, believing that one more item will finally match their desire, but they are always disappointed, despite the promises made in ads.
In our consumeristic culture, where discontent is promoted and material gratification is encouraged, learning to be content can be difficult.
A Better Path to Contentment
By Joshua Becker · becomingminimalist
People look for contentment in any number of places.
Some look for contentment in a high-paying job, yet show their discontent the first time they are passed over for a raise. Some look for it in a large home, yet show their discontent by requiring countless improvements. Many have sought contentment in a department store, believing that one more item will finally match their desire, but they are always disappointed, despite the promises made in ads.
In our consumeristic culture, where discontent is promoted and material gratification is encouraged, learning to be content can be difficult.
It is a personal journey we all must travel—and nobody’s journey looks exactly the same as another’s. There is no one-size-fits-all, seven-step program to fully attain contentment in your life. I’m not here to offer one.
I do, however, want to raise a question that I think can be helpful to all of us in our pursuit.
What if we have been looking for contentment in all the wrong places?
What if contentment is actually found in the exact opposite of the place where we have been told to look?
That is, what if contentment is not found in accumulating more for ourselves but in giving more to others?
That would change everything!
Benefits of Generosity
We can quickly picture how contentment would lead to generosity—the less we need, the more we can give away. That’s the way most of us think about it.
But could it be that the inverse is also true? That the more we give, the less we need?
And that generosity is the quickest pathway to contentment?
Consider for just a moment why this might be the case:
Generous people appreciate what they have.
People who give away some possessions hold their remaining possessions in higher esteem. People who volunteer some of their time make better use of their time remaining. And people who donate money are less wasteful with the money left over.
They understand the full potential of their resources—and tend to value them more highly because of it.
Generous people live happier, more fulfilled lives.
Studies have shown that generous people are happier, healthier, and more satisfied with life. And once they find this satisfaction through generosity, they are less inclined to search for it elsewhere.
Generous people find meaning outside their possessions.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://www.becomingminimalist.com/a-better-path-to-contentment/
Be Like the Smiths
Be Like the Smiths
Adam M. Grossman | Apr 16, 2023 HumbleDollar
NETFLIX BEGAN AN experiment in 2003 that seemed crazy to management experts. It instituted a policy of unlimited vacation time for its employees. In the years since, a number of other companies have followed Netflix’s lead, offering employees unlimited paid time off.
The results have run counter to intuition: Employees who are offered unlimited vacation end up taking less time off than those working for companies with traditional vacation policies. Why? A common explanation is that people struggle when they lack clear guidelines.
Be Like the Smiths
Adam M. Grossman | Apr 16, 2023 HumbleDollar
NETFLIX BEGAN AN experiment in 2003 that seemed crazy to management experts. It instituted a policy of unlimited vacation time for its employees. In the years since, a number of other companies have followed Netflix’s lead, offering employees unlimited paid time off.
The results have run counter to intuition: Employees who are offered unlimited vacation end up taking less time off than those working for companies with traditional vacation policies. Why? A common explanation is that people struggle when they lack clear guidelines.
In this case, it appears that—in the absence of a defined policy—employees are doing what seems safest. By taking less time off than they could, they’re trying to protect their professional reputations. They want to be seen as hard workers. By contrast, when employees are told that they have, say, 15 days off, they’ll tend to take all 15 days off. In short, people do better with structure.
This idea applies in nearly every domain. I recall taking a family vacation to a destination where both food and lodging were included for one flat rate. The result: Without the usual mealtime structure, I found myself with a stomachache and a desire never to go back.
This same dynamic applies to our personal finances. Limits can be helpful. Counterintuitive as it might seem, if you have a surplus in your budget—or assets that exceed your foreseeable needs—budgeting can be tricky. “Can I afford this?” If the answer to that question is “yes” in virtually every case—or every reasonable case—it’s harder to know how to set boundaries.
For better or worse, financial decision-making is more straightforward for those with limited means. A new iPhone, for example, is either affordable or it’s not. But if you can easily afford a new phone or a new car or maybe even a new home, it’s harder to know how to establish limits. This might sound like “a good problem to have.” But in reality, it applies to many retirees, who have ready access to their life’s savings.
How do folks handle this situation? Among those who have achieved financial independence, people tend to fall into one of three categories.
The first look something like the Vanderbilt family. In the 1890s, the Vanderbilts were the wealthiest family in America. With that fortune, they built the Breakers in Newport, Rhode Island, the largest of the Newport mansions, with 30 bedrooms just for staff. In North Carolina, they constructed the Biltmore Estate, which—at nearly 180,000 square feet—is still the largest home in the U.S. And, of course, they endowed Vanderbilt University. The unhappy result, however, was that the family’s fortune dwindled in a surprisingly short period of time.
The second group couldn’t be more different from the Vanderbilts. They look something like Ronald Read. A resident of Brattleboro, Vermont, Read spent most of his career as a gas station attendant. But when he died in 2014, he left an estate of nearly $8 million, owing mostly to his frugality.
When he drove into town, for example, he would park a few blocks away from his favorite coffee shop to avoid parking meters. When the buttons fell off his jacket, he used a safety pin to hold it closed. His appearance, in fact, was such that a fellow restaurant patron once paid the tab for his meal, believing he was destitute. In short, Read took frugality to an extreme—far beyond what was necessary.
What about the third group? We might call them the Smiths—because they don’t look too different from their neighbors.
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What Do Fitness and Finance Have In Common?
What Do Fitness and Finance Have In Common?
APRIL 11, 2023 Financial Pilgrimage
What do physical fitness and personal finance have in common? On the surface, there are a lot of differences between your fitness program and financial wellness. One involves income, spending, saving, and investing. The other involves physical activity, nutrition, and overall health. The reality is that financial fitness (and just fitness) are some of the most critical areas of our lives. It’s no coincidence that there are striking similarities between fitness and finance once you start digging in.
What Do Fitness and Finance Have In Common?
APRIL 11, 2023 Financial Pilgrimage
What do physical fitness and personal finance have in common? On the surface, there are a lot of differences between your fitness program and financial wellness. One involves income, spending, saving, and investing. The other involves physical activity, nutrition, and overall health. The reality is that financial fitness (and just fitness) are some of the most critical areas of our lives. It’s no coincidence that there are striking similarities between fitness and finance once you start digging in.
Financial Fitness is Behavioral
Fitness programs have always been a big part of my life. So when referring to fitness, we’ll discuss both sides of the equation, including physical activity and nutrition. Being raised by a dietitian and having a love of sports had me interested in both early on. Looking back, I feel fortunate to have built habits in both areas at a relatively young age.
Growing up in a house with two younger brothers and a junk food-loving dad, the competition for unhealthy food was fierce. My mom would grocery shop every ten days, and the one bag of chips or a package of cookies would be gone within a day, sometimes minutes. That would leave us with rice cakes, fruits and veggies, and other healthy options for the rest of the week and a half. It was rough.
We had home-cooked meals that consisted of protein, carbs, and vegetables most nights. But, as I got older, I realized that having home-cooked meals was a rarity compared to other households.
We’d still get fast food on occasion. My dad was a fast-food manager, after all. With three kids in the house, sometimes the easy thing was to bring home a big bag of burgers and fries so we could eat and then make our way to evening activities. This taught me that one of the most critical nutrition lessons is “everything in moderation.” Eating fast food, sweets, or potato chips is fine occasionally as long as most of what you put into your body is more healthy.
Whenever a new diet fad becomes popular, I’ll ask my mom about it to get her thoughts. Usually, she rolls her eyes. Over the years, there have been so many diet fads—Atkins, Paleo, Intermittent Fasting, Mediterranean, South Beach, and on and on. Almost everyone will swear by one of these diets and back it with “science.” I understand that some diets result from personal beliefs or food allergies. However, most people latch onto these fad diets, stick with them for a while, and then end up right back where they started. We’ll hit on this topic more below.
Personal Finance is Personal – So Is Fitness
When attending FinCon, a conference for personal finance nerds like me, the theme was “personal finance is personal.” This statement means that everyone’s situation is different. It’s one of the reasons I believe there are so many personal finance bloggers, as we all connect to other people differently. I’ve learned through personal finance that if you want to change your behavior, you must change your habits.
Financial and fitness programs are behavioral and they’re personal.
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https://financialpilgrimage.com/fitness-and-personal-finance/
What’s Your Answer?
What’s Your Answer?
Jonathan Clements | Apr 15, 2023 HumbleDollar
COMMENTS FROM READERS are one of HumbleDollar’s greatest strengths. Just finished perusing an article? If you don’t scan the comments posted below, you’re often missing out on some savvy financial insights and eye-opening personal stories.
With an eye to tapping into this strength, I launched the Voices section two years ago. My hope: The questions—now 133 in total—would offer a way to organize readers’ collective wisdom and become a go-to resource for those seeking help on a particular financial topic.
What’s Your Answer?
Jonathan Clements | Apr 15, 2023 HumbleDollar
COMMENTS FROM READERS are one of HumbleDollar’s greatest strengths. Just finished perusing an article? If you don’t scan the comments posted below, you’re often missing out on some savvy financial insights and eye-opening personal stories.
With an eye to tapping into this strength, I launched the Voices section two years ago. My hope: The questions—now 133 in total—would offer a way to organize readers’ collective wisdom and become a go-to resource for those seeking help on a particular financial topic.
To be honest, the Voices questions haven’t garnered as much reader participation as I’d hoped. Still, I find the answers fascinating and, fingers crossed, perhaps the section will eventually catch fire with readers. Meanwhile, here—in order—are the nine questions that have so far generated the most responses:
1. What’s the best financial book you’ve ever read? Among the 45 comments, there’s a wide array of books and authors listed. But perhaps the most mentioned are The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and William Danko, John Bogle’s books, Burton Malkiel’s A Random Walk Down Wall Street and William Bernstein’s books.
Incidentally, Bill has a new edition of The Four Pillars of Investing coming out in July. I had the privilege of writing the foreword. Bill also contributed an essay to My Money Journey, the HumbleDollar book that’ll be published later this month.
2. What percentage of a stock portfolio should be invested abroad? This has long been a raging debate among investors, and the responses reflect that, with folks suggesting foreign-stock allocations ranging from 0% to 50%. After strong U.S. stock returns over the past decade, maybe it isn’t surprising that many folks are content to have no money invested abroad. But if foreign markets have the edge in the decade ahead, will they feel differently? I, for one, would be happier. As I’ve mentioned before, my single biggest fund holding is Vanguard Total World Stock Index Fund (symbol: VTWAX), which has 41% allocated to foreign markets.
3. What’s your favorite financial quote? This question generated a slew of entertaining and thought-provoking responses. Among those offered, my favorite—given today’s inflation—originated with comedian Henny Youngman: “Americans are getting stronger. Twenty years ago, it took two people to carry $10 worth of groceries. Today, a five-year-old can do it.”
4. What costs are you most loath to pay?
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