Go Fund Yourself

Go Fund Yourself is a basic money guide. Written for younger adults and usable for all, it covers many aspects of money - jobs, businesses, spending and investing.

It's British, so some information is UK-specific. But this is far outweighed by helpful information that transcends national borders.

Reason for being

The Japanese word Ikigai means reason for being. It originates in Okinawa, where they view work not so much as a necessary chore that we retire from, but something that is innate to us as individuals. Ikigai is about fulfilling work by finding a combination of work we love doing something the world needs, while earning money and doing something we're good at.

It's about finding the centre of the diagram where all the circles overlap.

Ideal income

It's easy to think that an ideal income is the highest one possible. Perhaps that's why we don't consider Ikigai as much as we could; why we sometimes just take the job or career with the highest pay.

This book suggests an ideal income is one that matches the total of our physical needs, our reasonable wants, and our savings goals. It's Alice's way of balancing being financially secure with not being all about the money.

Knowing our ideal income we can choose a career that meets that income and also achieving the other aspects of Ikigai; rather than burning ourselves out for money we don't really need.

The rich man's car paradox

A rich guy in an expensive car might be hoping we think he's cool. Mostly we either think he's a jerk - or we think how cool we'd look in that car. Of course we'd be wrong, just as the rich guy is.

"The irony is that when it comes to possessions, most people aren't interested in what you have. Despite efforts to make conspicuous displays of wealth, it's more often than not in vain."

Real money

While having expensive items is sometimes seen as a display of wealth, it's often the exact opposite.

"Real money is what you don't see. It's the car that wasn't bought. The Gucci belt left on the shelf."

As Mary Ellen Edmunds said, "Wanting less is a better blessing than having more".

Commercial messages

Another reason we spend too much is that we bombarded with advertisements. We're exposed to 1,600 commercial messages in an average day. Whether we like it or not, these have an effect on us. That's why advertisers spend their money on it.

According to the book, in the James Bond movie Skyfall, Sony, Belvedere, Bollinger, Heineken and Omega all paid multi-million pound amounts for the main character to use their product in the movie.

Our brain at the shops

Studies of brain activity during shopping showed that a high price tag has a near identical effect to physical pain. Credit cards reduced this pain. This is one of the reasons for my simple saving trick.

Turning $6k into $100k

Einstein said "Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it earns it". So it's worth going through some maths to get it. Here's an example from the book.

Investing $1,000 plus $10 per month for 40 years results in $100,000 (assuming 10% growth). Only $5,800 was invested. The other $94,200 is gain.

Young people have an advantage

Alice compares saving for 10 years (25-34) with saving for 30 years (35-64). At age 65, the person who saved only 10 years (but started early) ends up much better off.

Save $1000/yr for 10 years (25-34) at 8% = $157,435 ($147k gain)
Save $1000/yr for 30 years (35-65) at 8% = $122,346 ($92k gain)

The older investor multiplied their money by 4.1. The younger investor by 15.7. This is great news for young people and early investors. You can earn the same, or more, with a smaller investment made early.

Other books

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