“To be happy, buy experiences, not things.” It’s a simple slogan. And it certainly seems compelling. I’ve seen it repeated many times in recent years, and I’ve been guilty of saying it as well....
I have tremendous faith in resourceful people. If there’s one thing that working as a financial adviser has done for me, it has affirmed this faith, again and again. Something I’ve observed is that...
Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.) -Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself” We have different “people” inside of us. For example, there’s a part...
Warren Buffett is an interesting cat. He has long been one of the richest men in the world, and people love to quote him about investing. I’ve done it myself. I think there’s a lot...
(Warning: meandering thoughts. No immediate, actionable takeaways compared to most other articles on this blog. Perhaps a bunch of rationalisations as I try to live less for the future and enjoy the present.) One...
Parents like to help out their children. More broadly, family members like to help out family members. It’s kind of a silly thing to say because it’s so obvious. But the fact that’s the...
One of my best friends was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. Among other things (including reevaluating my own life and my values and priorities), this prompted me to re-visit an article by Stephen Jay...
One of my favourite books is Spent by Geoffrey Miller. (In some editions it was titled Must-Have.) The book has probably saved me thousands of dollars, and might even save me hundreds of thousands of...
If money is your focus in life, I recommend reassessing your relationship with money. It’s is important, but only in an instrumental sense – to help you live in line with your values and priorities. And if you want to be happy and have a meaningful life, I recommend prioritising your relationships with other people.
There’s a difference between wanting something and liking something. In the modern world there are brilliant, hugely incentivised people trying to make us want things we won’t necessarily like. More than ever, we need to keep the distinction between wanting and liking in mind.