Working on self-control

Trying to retire very early, or to achieve financial freedom, you will often hear references to stoics, Seneca, self control and other stuff related to this.

How to resist temptation, how to get that elusive self control that will help me to reach my goals faster than i am thinking?

You want to find out? Let's start together on this journey. First i will underline the importance of intrinsic motivation versus extrinsic motivation. If you rely on some external help, the probability to fail is higher. After this, you will need to act, to plan and stick to your plan, day by day, even if the results are not there at the beginning. To withstand to some emotional discomfort now for greater rewards later.

Adopt a set of exercises and routines to gain self control. Sleep is the most important, i would say. Set a sleeping schedule and follow it. You can also use the habit of making the bed right after you wake up. For more about making the bed habit research just google search. You will be surprised when you will read the benefits. Learn how to meditate. A lot of successful people said to me that meditation helped them to grow. Find a kind of meditation that you enjoy, and do it daily. No need to do it for hours, even 15 minutes after you wake up or before to go to sleep will give you tremendous advantage. Or maybe you are the experimental type. If meditation is not something you enjoy, try lucid dreaming as a hobby. Plan your life. Plan your month. Do not plan your day. Some researchers find that is more effective to have directions of action instead of to do lists. You can experiment here to see what work better for you. If you have some gigantic task, change it in 100 smaller ones. If you read 20 pages daily, you will still read around 30 books per year. If you write 50 pages every day, you can write a 500 pages book every 10 days. Right? Books are important, the real ones, where you can feel the pages. They have an important role in creating new inter-neuronal path and bla bla bla, giving you an edge versus Kindle like. Is about your senses, seeing versus seeing, tactile sensation, smell and so. Real books make you smarter. There is a research about this too.

Take care of yourself. Train your body to be in shape, Check what you eat, Cut extra-refined stuff, white sugar (did you tried honey, agave or maple syrup?), too much salt, heavy, fatty meat or whatever is creating you problems. Cold showers for a change, or fasting for 1-2-3 days, in order to surpass yourself and change your perspectives. You can gain a boosted immunity and more as a result.

This is a mere suggestion, you can find your own way to improve yourself and to control your excesses. I will appreciate if you can write me about your ways of doing this. Any help is well received.

Good luck and see you soon.
G.

The science behind the cycles

They say that our life is ruled by cycles. Cycle or cellular regeneration, day-night cycle, lunar cycle. There are so many of them. I will talk today about one of them. The cycle of change. How many days we need to create a new habit (or to get rid of an old one, if is bad for us). We will often try to create new healthy financial habits. We need to do that. Some said it will take 28 days, a lucky synchronicity with the Lunar phases. Some said 100 days (as we regenerate 1% daily at a cellular level, hence 100 days for 100% regeneration, because you cannot make an old cell, ugh, wanted to say an old dog, to learn new tricks). Based on a personal observation, i would say that the number that work well for me is 90 days. 

Did you ever think about it? How many days do you need to create a new habit?

Side hustle for teenagers

...and not only. Doing reviews for music, books, games. If you want to receive all the new hits, books or games, you can do that. You can use websites like Slicethepie, and make some extra cash enjoying latest trends. I must to admit that i do this at work, on night shift break, when i do not want to spend time on Facebook.

Good luck!
G.

* The website mentioned is a referral link.

Tips and tricks - The piggy bank experiment - Birthday party

So, i gathered with my friends in a good enough Chinese restaurant, the kind of serve yourself one. Unlimited food, unlimited drinks. We enjoyed a nice evening, at the end, as i previously informed them, i received money instead of gifts, in a piggy bank that everyone could find in the middle of the table.
The result: I completely covered the party expenses, resulting in a free party on my birthday, all my friends happy and feeling good. Bonus: they enjoyed the fact that they did not need to go out searching for a gift, and the feedback was positive, it is possible in the future to see this kind of party to other of my friends birthday.

Huh, next year will be a habit already.
Kind regards
G.

Random news

News no.1
Talking about statistics. According to a study consisting of 5,500 millennials, only 24% of them knew "basic information around financial literacy." For example, according to the study, only 8% know about risk diversification. As a quick reminder, where humans fall on the care-o-meter surrounding financial literacy, is pretty much, don't care. Click here for the whole thing.
(P.S. Millennial - one born between 1980-2000)

News no.2
China devalued its currency again. The Chinese Central Bank has been devaluing the country's currency (the yuan) to help boost its economy. If you can buy more of "X" in China with say, your USD, because the USD is strong relative to the yuan, you'll buy more from China. Despite the devaluation in an attempt to boost the economy, China's main stock market index, The Shanghai Composite Index, fell -5% at the open of the trading day on Thursday. This triggered a circuit breaker to halt all trading. It's essentially a timeout for stock market trading in an attempt to minimize the selling. The stock market re-opened on Thursday 15 minutes later and immediately fell to -7% for the day. This triggered an automatic shut down of stock trading on that index for the day.

Now relax, forget about China, click here and feel the music.

2016 tips and trick for a FIRE begginer

I will start with one statistics here from which i will just point out this: 

" The average working household has virtually no retirement savings. When all households are included - not just households with retirement accounts - the median retirement account balance is $3,000 for all working-age households and $12,000 for near-retirement households. "

Come on good people, will you ever learn your lesson?

1. Always, i repeat, always have a cash emergency fund of at least 3-6 monthly wages equivalent

2. Define your sources of income in retirement, how much savings you have, how much more you’ll need to be financially secure, when you can afford to retire by.

So dividends, interest, rental, royalties, profit as sources of income, i go 7k, i need 240k, as for now i will afford to retire at 54 (thanks for the Excel, Jmoney!)

3. How to begin to save more money for your early retirement? Think along the lines: avoid consumer debt, pay your credit cards balance, increase savings automatically, every time you got a raise, use it for more savings, avoid unnecessary expenses, recover lost money, consider new employment, cancel unnecessary insurance policies (this one is tricky), drive a used car instead a new one, side hustle.

4. Housing: downsize your home, relocate where you live, think about reverse mortgage or sale-leaseback, convert other assets, insure your inheritance, 

5. Maximize your retirement savings: think tax deferred savings and employer-matching savings programs.

6. If you are close to retirement: maximize retirement plan contributions, use catch-up contributions, multiple savings plans and even switching employers, if they provide a better retirement plan.

7. Control investment expenses, maximize tax advantages, move to a low cost area, 

8. For a risk adverse person: postpone your retirement with 1-2 years, phased retirement or no retirement at all (meaning find your perfect work that is not a work for you).

9. Avoid this errors: reaching for return, assuming Overly Optimistic Returns, all eggs in one basket, banking one lucky inheritance, following simplistic guidelines blindly, not investing for a lifetime, procrastination. 

I hope you find this interesting, tell me if you have more ideas. I will be happy to add them.

G.

Why you need self-control? Here you got 7 reasons.

1. You become mentally stronger.
2. You become the best imperfect version of yourself.
3. More healthy.
4. More wealthy.
5. You get things done (ability of doing).
6. More control over your urges (habits change and creation).
7. You will increase your willpower.