As I will be ending my training contract tomorrow and will have quite a battery of updates this week, I will keep this week's installation short.
We all worry because evolution has kept us anxious about what the future has for us. Needlessly worrying about something reduces the quality of our lives and shortens our lifespan.
This section has three practical solutions to dealing with our worries.
a) Keep a diary to track our biggest worries and concerns.
I think keeping a blog is not such a bad idea because many readers face the same concerns.
b) Buy insurance.
No, don't buy insurance from a commissioned agent, because then you would have to start worrying about paying premiums every year. Buy insurance for worries that you really care about after giving it some thought. Personally, I think joblessness and retrenchment are bigger concerns than critical illness but this is often uninsurable.
In such a case only investing can resolve your problem.
c) Focused work
This is probably the best way to deal with your worries but based on my experience, the ability to induce flow in the workplace is now limited to just a few high tech and high touch jobs. The rest is bureaucracy and paperwork.
If your work is bullshit, all the more you need to save your hard earned money.
Amazingly, the author does not mention F.U. Money as the most effective antidote to personal worries.
Ntuc income came out with a basic unemployment insurance during Sars period but couldn't make it profitable enough. Probably needs critical mass & sufficient sustained contributions.
ReplyDeleteChristopher,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your blog!
I appreciate all the insights you have shared. Blogging consistently for so many years must be no easy feat - what more with content as rigorous and comprehensive as yours.
It is amazing that you achieved financial independence at 39, where your investment income started to exceed your monthly take home pay. I sincerely believe that more people should know of your content as it is definitely beneficial for those seeking to improve their financial literacy.
If you have additional thoughts on the financial assets you invest in, such as equities, forex or even crypto, I hope that you can consider sharing them on Tradably as well - I started it as an investment idea sharing/discovery platform for people like you who are not afraid to be forthcoming and transparent.
Here are some salient points about us:
- Tradably's mission is to fight fake news and bring accountability and transparency to the investments space.
- Everything is tracked and tied to actual market-values, in real-time. See the full profitability of every user.
- We silently launched on app stores about 1 month ago.
- We currently have about 150 daily active users, all sharing their own investment ideas and insights.
- Our top users are seeing up to 20% annualized returns.
- It is 100% free. No gimmicks.
On Tradably, you can connect with hundreds of other legitimate and savvy investors who will see what you write and share their own opinions with you. Your thoughts will either be validated or challenged, but regardless, I believe that this is a great way to widen your reach but most importantly, improve your own and everyone else's financial literacy.
I sincerely believe that our community will be blessed to have you, so feel free to reach out to me anytime should you have any queries.
Regards,
Nigel Teo
CEO, Tradably
P.S. Did I mention that we also have a Facebook community with about 400 members? A lot of knowledge sharing going on. We'd love to have you there as well! Simply search "Tradably Investor's Club" on Facebok. 😉
Nigel,
ReplyDeleteYou may want to engage the BigScribe community instead. A group of financial bloggers collectively incorporated a company so that we can collectively bargain better.
Regards
Hi Christopher, I've been following your blog since last year, having stumbled upon it from investment moats.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on completing your training contract! Will be happy to meet you over a cup of coffee to discuss your thoughts on FI life and investments.
From me and the investment enthusiasts in the XFERS team :)
Wow ! I am a XFERS customer !
ReplyDeleteSamson,
ReplyDeleteI'm quite free moving forwards. My personal email is waichung.ng@gmail.com. Lemme know when you are free.
Regards
Hey Christopher!
ReplyDeleteThank you for getting back.
Any idea on what's the best way to engage the BigScribe community? Do you guys have a common email that I could reach out to?
Cheers! :)
Pop me a private email. I will introduce you to the directors.
ReplyDeleteHi Christopher,
ReplyDeleteThe third point is the most valid point to address the worries. Having the FU money enables one to have the alternative options. If the work environment is too toxic, one can choose to leave at any point of time. Even if one is still in the work environment, the cushion provided by the FU money will make the feeling positive all the time. Of course, this is based on my perspective.
One will need to keep the expense low and the FU money will be eventually be low with the assumption of 4% rule. As you have mentioned before, a single will have better chance of FI than married personels. I agree that the married personels can also achieve likewise the same results as long as he/she adopts the same approach i.e. keep the expense low and save as much as FU money as possible. This will include eliminating the unneccessary purchases ad adopting a minimalist lifestyle.
Ben
I got research that a couple has more room to economise so much so that they can reduce their expenses by 18% by living together and splitting some fixed costs.
ReplyDeleteThis of course assumes that a guys can find a significant other who is as frugal as he is.
My wife is more frugal than me actually.