Here is a great link to financial podcasts I just found.
The list is posted on the blog of Jim, who is retiring at the end of 2018 at the age of 43, and moving to Panama!
As the weather deteriorates, I do some my evening walks inside my open plan living room-kitchen and educate myself by listening to some great financial podcasts.
It is never too late to learn!
Every blog has a human story – the story of its creator.
Although I realize that the human story behind a blog is sometimes the greatest attraction and a moving force in a blog, I decided not to reveal my identity until I am employed.
However, I enjoy reading other people’s blogs and stories. They are the most motivational and inspirational force in my life.
I have written about resources on financial independence and I continue following all these sites. However, there are new websites that I discover every day, and would like to share two new ones I recently found and started following:
Dividend Mantra is a blog that I found through Mr. Money Mustache’s site. I loved the story of the guy.
Eff You Money is another blog of someone who is starting on his road of financial independence, and he also has a great story to tell.
What attracts me to blogs dedicated to financial independence (FI)?
I have noticed that it is not the advice on how to save, invest, and grow financially that is most interesting to me. The financial strategies are certainly something to emulate and achieve.
However, what is most engaging is that the road to FI is usually a road of a personal growth and self-improvement in many different aspects: diet, health, physical activity, relief from stress, low or no consumerism, better outlook in life, care for friends and family, and sharing wisdom. And this is why I find FI blogs most inspirational. So, money must have a soul?
Most of our worries and troubles originate from money problems. I have read books and magazines on how to become financially stable/independent. I have also listened to countless financial advisers and gurus on YouTube and TV to find the road to financial freedom. From these wasted hours, I have boiled everything down to this list:
1. Too little or too much money = pathology. Extremely rich and extremely poor people are prone to get into similar troubles (e.g., drugs, self-inflicted diseases, mental problems, crime, etc.).
2. However, it is also possible for money to equal freedom, except for the obsessed with money people, for whom money equals slavery (there is no a wealth limit that is satisfactory to such people).
3. The best way to make money is to become an entrepreneur. The perfect case is when your business is also your passion.
4. You could be financially stable, and even financially independent, as an employee, if your salary is good, and you are prudent about spending and wise about investing.
5. If you do not know anything about investing, it seems that it is best to invest in stable companies that pay dividends.
All other financial advice is maddening, since the “gurus” calculate that you and I will work for 40+ years, and promise that we will achieve a consistent 7% return on our investments from now on! The reality is that very few of us would like to work until age of 65, and the stock market will not bring anything close to a 7% return in the future.
If we go back to the anxiety part in our financial situation, I like Chip Conley’s formula:
Anxiety = [powerlessness] x [uncertainty]
According to this formula, one can tackle anxiety by acquiring at least a smidgen of power (in this case, by saving like crazy) and eliminating some uncertainty by putting together a series of plans for financial stability (plan A, B, C, etc., since at least in my case, plan A is rarely achievable).
How to accomplish this? I found useful leads and inspiration in the blog of Mr. Money Mustache, a guy who retired at age of 30, and now advises hopeful retiree-wannabes on how to accomplish the same. The study of financial independence is in fact a quest for happiness, according to his philosophy, which is briefly summarized in this YouTube talk: Mr. Money Mustache Interview - Early Retirement Made Easy.
