But wait... there's less!

In 2020 two of my friends each published their first story. That's actually a bigger thing than I first thought. Eighty-one percent of people want to be an author. So how many actually do it? In any given year it's not even close to 1 percent. So what happens to the other 80 percent? Sometimes it's the confidence to go for it. Sometimes the right inspiration hasn't hit. Sometimes people need advice on story-writing or editing - or don't have the technical know-how. One way or another they find a reason not to do it. One huge reason is "I just can't find the time" - and it's fairly valid. Writing a book is actually quite a lot of work. Where to find the time? Sure, if you're super-driven you could do it in your after-work time. But it takes severe dedication to punch out a novel after working a 40-hour week. Staying up late, or getting up early, or giving up weekends. My two friends who published novels this year both took some time out of the...

Ever felt your life-satisfaction dip as middle-age approaches? It's not just you. It's quite normal. Here's how it works and what we can do about it. The title and the cover of the book give away the main point. As humans we tend to be less happy in the middle part of adulthood. Even if we're successful we can still get dissatisfied. Of course this is an average. It is "possible to be satisfied in middle age" - but it is harder. While genetics, circumstances and voluntary actions are crucial to explaining life satisfaction, there seems to be an aging component also. It's all relative This graph from the book shows average happiness (darker points) compared to expected happiness (measured five years earlier). For instance, the average 22-year-old's happiness is just above 7. But when asked for a prediction as 17-year olds, their average answer was 7.7. Clearly our expectations are high. Experts call this "optimism bias" and it appears to dec...

Compound Interest. Described by Albert Einstein as the 8th wonder of the world. Many people don't fully grasp its power and miss out on the magic. Here's a quick example For 30 days, would you rather (A) get $100 per day, or (B) get 1 cent doubled every day (ie. 2 cents on day two, 4 cents on day three, 8 cents on day four). Quickly. What's your immediate answer? On intuition, lots of people go for Option A. Why? Because $100 sounds so much more than 1 cent. How do they compare? Do the maths, and Option B wins by miles. By Day 15, the 1 cent per day has grown to $163.84 per day. Over the first 18 days, Option B accumulates $2621.43 (compared to $1800 for Option A). It just snowballs from there. By the final days, Option B is getting millions per day and ends up with a total of $10.7 million. Meanwhile the total for Option A is just $3,000 ($100 x 30 days). (Sidenote: Even if Option A was $100,000 per day, option B would still win.) Life in slow motion Investing can be much ...

Have you ever opened a gift on Christmas day and been immediately disappointed. "I'm never going to use this" you might have thought. You might have to make a gift face  or think of one of the ten things to say about a gift you don't like. While re-gifting or selling can be good options, another option is to receive better gifts in the first place (like the yummy treats above that my sister baked for me). How can we do this? With So Kind . What is So Kind? So Kind is a gift registry with a difference. We usually think of registries as a wedding thing - so the happy couple don't get double-ups or unwanted gifts. They're such a great idea, so why not use them all the time? What makes it different? So Kind allows you to have a registry for any occasion - or for all occasions. Faced with the endless cycle of gift-giving events - Valentine's day, mother's day, father's day, anniversary, birthday, Christmas - it may be easier to just have an ongoing gi...

During October I set myself a challenge . To make some progress in decluttering / minimising some possessions. I made a list of 31 items / categories that most households could probably reduce. Then each day I tried to address the category of that day. That meant either listing something for sale, recycling it or safely disposing of it (eg. old batteries). So did I do something every day? No, not quite. Maybe most days. But that wasn't the point of the challenge. It was about reducing the overwhelm and making progress. So how much progress did I make? Found a buyer for this unused cookbook :) I reckon we put 47 items online through the challenge. Our current list is bigger by 20 (compared to pre-challenge) and another 27 have sold. (12 of those came from two people who bought six things each) We had way too many tools In addition I've taken a bunch of photos of items I'm still to list. Record achievement? I don't keep month-by-month records but that's definitely the...

I write about investing, because it's a key part of life. Spending less and investing means an automatic income. An automatic income means we can work less (if we choose) and definitely stress less. But where to invest? What to invest in? Many people expect their money to be invested responsibly and ethically - rather than making money through things like cigarettes, weapons, casinos, adult entertainment, environmental destruction, and pollution from fossil fuels. Those are all things we could probably do with less of. So how do we invest to get good returns - and to have a positive effect on the world? Here are some sources I've seen: Ethical Investing in Australia At Frugality and Freedom , Michelle has done a fair bit of research into Ethical Investing in Australia . For herself, she's chosen Bank Australia for banking, Australian Ethical for superannuation, and two exchange-traded funds ( FAIR and ETHI ) for her share investing outside of super. She also gives detail...

Which is more important? Our money or our life? So why do we trade away so much of our life? Vicki Robin's classic book takes an in-depth look at how we can have a better relationship with money. Here are some of my highlights, though there's so much more great value in the book. I found it so inspirational after reading the foreword and the first chapter. While the backbone of the book is a 9-step plan, there are two concepts that really stand out - even if you never start the plan. One is the idea of "life energy" and our "real hourly wage". The other is the point of enough. Life Energy What is money? Vicki Robin comes to the conclusion that it is a form of life energy. It might sound a bit new-age, but it's like the old business saying "time is money". We exchange our time, and our physical and mental energy to get this thing called money. So when we use it we are effectively spending our life. The exchange rate Spending money is almost like...

Decluttering can be overwhelming. I've been stuck. Shelves and boxes and drawers full of stuff I should go through but not sure where to start. Aaagh - there's so much of it. The solution? So for myself (and for you if you want) I've developed a strategy. I've picked 31 categories in advance. I plan to tackle one item per day of October. If I miss a few that's OK. The point is to overcome overwhelm. To focus on one thing at a time. To move forward instead of being stuck. My favourite way to declutter is to sell online . (I even wrote a  free ebook of tips for selling online). I also like to recycle or upcycle things. Wanna join in? I've chosen categories where I think most people would have excess. If there's a category you have already dealt with, that's cool. Have a rest day - or go even further in one of the previous areas. The list Ok so here's my plan for this October. Bookmark this post or download the picture of my notes. For each category I ...

If we spend less, or waste less, then we don't need to trade away so much of our lives for dollars. So what are the other options for our time? Recently I've been looking at social enterprises - businesses whose primary goal is a social outcome rather than a profit. Last month I reviewed the Fruit Butcher . Today I'm looking at the ground-breaking work of Green Fox Studio - who I also discovered at a local social enterprise showcase. Who are Green Fox Studio? Green Fox Studio trains and employs people to do graphic and digital design. By itself that sounds unremarkable but Green Fox has a difference. Their students and designers are serving time. How does that work? We like to think prison somehow sets people straight. But 46% of people in prison end up re-offending and returning to prison. Others end up homeless. Many have reduced employment prospects due to their record. Most organisations aren't willing to train or employ people with a criminal record. Green Fox stu...

This book is often recommended. The author sees shares as safer than term deposits, prefers low dividends and isn't keen on property. I was keen to read it. Here are my highlights: Two tips Spend less than you earn. Borrow less than you can afford. Those two tips alone would help so many people. Assets and liabilities What we often call assets are really liabilities (they cost us to maintain). Houses, cars, boats can be liabilities - useful for "status or position in the pecking order" . He uses the example of a retiree with $3 million in assets. A million dollar house, a million dollar boat and two $500k cars. They sound wealthy but how will they buy food, let alone pay the ongoing costs of all those items. By contrast, assets bring in an income. Attitude to shares He says the sharemarket is our friend, and "provided it is treated with respect, it creates appropriate wealth for all those who use it sensibly. However if we approach it as a gambler, we need to be prep...