I enjoy reading a number of blog posts every day, and like to highlight some of my favorites in a (mostly) monthly post. However, life got busy in December, and I fell behind. Below are some of the posts that resonated most with me over the past five (!) months. Considering all of the upheaval in my personal life, I am not surprised to see that only a few are purely about money.
Over at Humble Dollar, Adam Grossman wrote an excellent list of financial tasks to complete, in Ten Steps for 2023. I was particularly interested in his download for the “just in case” list (see step #6). Since I still haven’t filled out a full In Case of Emergency file for Mr. PiN, this shorter list, filled out and hidden somewhere secure (but not so secure he can’t find it if he needs it) looks like a great idea.
Wealthy Doc reran a post of his from several years ago titled Pay Yourself Last. I kept the tab open for a while until I had time to read it–I was not sure what to expect, as I have found ‘paying myself first’ (automating my savings) to be a highly successful way of building wealth and curbing lifestyle inflation. The upshot: instead of taking your savings off the top, and feeling free to spend the rest, he proposes to pay yourself your salary first, and then arrange for everything else to be sent to savings. The trick is to pick a monthly deposit that you can live on, and that still leaves plenty left over for savings. I am going to think about this; I might even take his advice in a few months.
Mel at Broke Girl Rich writes about the holidays from her perspective, which isn’t so awesome ever since her mom died on Christmas Eve. Her Thoughts on Christmas, Grief and Money stuck with me for a while.
I was directed by another blog to this post by Sahil Bloom. I am so impressed with the advice he received from (much) older people about life. I definitely would like to keep and revisit these Life Lessons from 1,000 Years. I think working on #1 and #7 may end up in my near term goals.
The energy crisis in the UK is not really a laughing matter. However, the Accumulator at Monevator had me snorting and giggling as I read FIRE: Emergency Midwinter Broadcast. I am not ready to follow his sartorial advice, but I am quite happy to break out my sweats and extra throw blankets this winter.
Given how much I enjoy spy movies, and my interest in women advancing in previously male-dominated fields, it’s no surprise I was engrossed by The secret lives of MI6’s top female spies (Financial Times). This is a pretty long read, but so interesting.
For the title alone, I was interested in 6 Lessons Learned From My Year of Piano (I am still working on clearing space in my home for my own piano). The lessons learned, however, are applicable even if a musical instrument is not involved. I particularly liked lesson number 6, and the realization that By making piano my One Big Thing, I’ve unintentionally reduced my endless yearning. The accompanying cartoon is wonderful.
I very much enjoyed this post by One Frugal Girl on focus and someone’s whole life. Or, the difference between the highlight reel and the whole show. Or, how important it is to work at the important things (spoiler alert: relationships and connections). Forget me trying to summarize the post and just go read The Grass is Greener Where You Water It.
In a similar vein, this post by Robin Powell reviews the importance of building a different sort of retirement portfolio: of friends. It seems to be on an investment company’s site (no endorsement of that company is implied by this link), but go read Six Ways to build a network of friends.
At More to That, we have a beautiful piece The Levers That Money Can’t Pull. It’s not all about emotion, but a very logical essay (with tugging on heartstrings) reviewing the aspects of a life that impart value (to the person, to others), and which ones money can help with. Hint: not all of them.
In the end, I think we all want to be happy. Pursuing FI (financial independence) can take away some stressors, and retiring early (RE) should hopefully allow us time to spend more time doing things we enjoy. Dr. Ellis wrote a great piece at White Coat Investor about his experience with The Happiness Index. The post, and the comments, gave me a lot to think about.
Do you have any favorites?