A simple path to financial peace of mind - seven dollar millionaire
Through the simple, we can understand the complex. That through nothing, we can understand everything.
The secret to lasting happiness does not come through "more stuff" but less desires: the less we want, the happier we can be. If it is impossible to cling to nothing, less clinging equals more happiness
"Happiness is results over expectations" which looks to me very much like the following, even simpler, equation. Happiness = Get/Want
Some very basic mathematics will tell us that we can become happier, increasing the happiness number in the equation above, by doing two things: we can increase "gets" to make the happiness number go up, or we can decrease wants.
Infinite Happiness = Get/Zero Wants, Wanting nothing, clinging to nothing whatsoever, can lead to infinite happiness.
As Epictetus, the Greek philosopher who had been born a slave, outline in the Discourses, the chief task for happy life is separating the things you can control from the things you can't, a sentiment repeated by the famous serenity prayer.
Infinite Financial Happiness = Income/Zero Spending
Financial Freedom = Investments = 25x spending
A complex thing is generally made up of lots of different parts, most of which will likely be very simple to understand; a complicated problem might not have many parts, but it will be difficult to understand.
Viewers enjoyment of a show increased when there was advertising, in large part because the commercials put a break in the enjoyment, re-setting the base. Without the breaks, enjoyment levels slowly diminish, just as tiredness increases as we exercise, or as we run without a walk-break. It turns out that while we hate the ads, the breaks make us like the show more. For happiness, removing the thing we are becoming used to, if only temporarily, can be so much more effective than looking for the next thing that will thrill us before we become used to it again. Stepping off the chocolate treadmill is far more effective, and enjoyable, than keeping on running on it.
The zen path - If we think zen is denial, it will not work. If we don't want less, it will not be more. It will be less. If we pursue something else, we won't think about the white bear, or smoking, or spending money, the thing we are "giving up", we will think about the other thing. If we try to change paths without wanting to go down the new path, we will eventually find ourselves back on our old path.
The store function of money is vital for our own lives, because we won't always have enough energy, or the time that it takes to produce the energy we need, so having if stored will be life changing. When we don't have time or energy, and we desperately need it - to help someone, or to help ourselves, it can achieve miracles. This is what money can do. What it cannot do is buy love, happiness, status, excitement, friends, joy, commitment, loyalty, compassion, connection, peace or even status. It can buy peace of mind, but only if you know what that costs; if you don't , you can't buy it. If we can direct our money from what it can't do, to what it can, we can have better lives.
One of the keys to saving money is to get more value from the things we already own. Too often we buy something out of a sense of excitement that is relieving a momentary boredom, and then fail to get full value from it. And so we then buy something else, and something else, and endlessly repeat the cycle,
Saving always comes first. When saving is a priority every movement towards that goal will feel like success, boosting our mood and sense of achievement. It must be an action priority, with our saving money being separated from our spending money as soon as we receive it, to make sure it doesn't get mingled and spent.
What are we saving for? I think of saving as having three different levels as targets. Your first target is to have enough money to cover an emergency (if you have no savings or debt, this is your level)). The second target is to have enough money to start investing. The third is to build that fund to the point it can pay for you never to need to work again - 25x your annual spending.
Steps
- Saving comes first
- Count to 10
- Write down your spending
- Breathe more
- Collect Receipts
- Build the faith
- Look back, look ahead
- Make a zen tracker
- Important... Notice
- Secret zen tracker
- Better get a bucket
- Imbue
- Degrees in needs
- Think about the week
- What is it like?
- Easy as pie
- Crawl before you walk
- What else could i do?
- Triangular breathing
- Take a picture
Taking the photograph can replace the act of purchasing and remove the stress hormones and emotions from our system. We may remember, we may forget, because we have overcome the stress of that moment. But we will feel better, and we will still have our money! - How does this feel?
If you get lost when walking, the smartest thing to do is go back to the last place you were certain you knew where you were. The same thing with learning too. Go back to where you're 100% certain. - Sit, walk, don't wobble
- Go for a walk
There is a more intentional walk. Set out knowing the route you will take, and decide you want to think about a particular thing. It could be planning an event, or deciding between two investments. Bring some way of making notes, your folded zen tracker notebook will be perfect. You could instead choose to walk and notice more, engage your mind in its surroundings. Plan to see more, look for more, have the intention to focus on what is going on around you. All of these work. - Box Breathing
Perhaps start by counting to 3 as you breathe in. Then hold you breath in your lungs as you count to 3, breathe out as you count to 3, and then pause for 3 seconds before breathing in again. - Because you're Worth it
It is useful exercise to calculate what the financial value is of all your assets, minus all your liabilities. Put more simply, if you had to sell everything you own today, and pay back all your debts, do you know how much you would have left?
Assets equal: "X in my cash account, Y in my savings account, Z in my investment fund" - Wobble!
- Give yourself Permission
- Look back down the path
What you need to do, above all else, is to recognise you might be wrong. This is not the same as constantly living in doubt, being so uncertain as to move forward. You can move forward, expecting to be in roughly the right direction, but know you will occasionally need to change course a little or walk back a couple of steps and get back on the right path for you . This is reality. - Write this down
- Who have i become?
- Zero-risk fallacy
- Breathe the ocean
- Mindful screen use
- Mindful Spending
- Where are you?
- No spend days
- Fast Gains
- Breathe
- Work for free
- Read another little book