Morning!!
So apparently this pneumonia thing is a LOT more serious than I gave it credit for! Just got back from my follow up with the doc, and when I asked her why I wasn’t feeling better yet she literally laughed in my face, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Turns out I need to be doing a bit more resting than “working”, so today I’m just gonna hit you with some of my favorite articles I tagged over the month and give my brain a rest while I’m at it too…
But before we get to that, if you haven’t decided if you wanted to come to FinCon this year or not, the answer is YES! Not only for the fun and learning and parties, but also to come see me so long as I’m not on my death bed ;)
And FYI you don’t have to be a blogger or podcaster or instagrammer or anything’er to attend either…
They have something called the “Community Pass” for those outside the industry with a passionate interest in personal finance and/or investing. These passes are severely discounted down to only $149, and you can apply for one of them by using this form here: #FinCon19 Community Pass Application Form
It’s in DC this year and starts in only a few weeks! (September 4-7) Hope to see some of you there!! :)
Now onto the goodies today…
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The Periodic Table of FIRE! @ Minafi — “When you first learn about financial independence it can be an exciting time. There’s a whole new world of finances, life planning and investing out there that you can take active steps to change your life forever. But there’s a lot to learn!… Below is an interactive chart I put together that focuses on some of the must-learn topics involved in financial independence and early retirement”
Why You’re So Damn Afraid To Follow Your Passion @ Route 2 FI — “The satisfying crack when the bat met the ball resounded throughout Jingu Stadium that day in 1978. Scattered applause rose around me. In that instant, for no reason and on no grounds whatsoever, the thought suddenly struck me: I think I can write a novel.”
The Thrill of Uncertainty @ Collaborative Fund — “Variable interval rewards are why we compulsively check email. Some messages are really important, but you don’t know when the important ones will come, so you keep checking and checking. Same with checking Twitter and Facebook. Or watching cable news. Or waiting for a boring meeting to end. Find something that captures people’s attention and turns them into crazed animals and you will likely find a variable interval reward.”
This Military Money Trick Improved My Financial Life. Here’s How to Adopt It Yourself @ Money.com — “In the past, payday activities meant soldiers were dismissed early once a month — after payday, when they were handed cash — so that they had time to travel around town and settle bills, like rent and utilities, in person. I served as an officer from 2011 to 2016, a time when digital payment was already common. But we decided to bring this old tradition back to life anyway.”
Lessons Learned From 42 Dates In 18 Months @ Bucks & Cents — “A few years back I found myself re-entering the dating world after decades of being absent… Over the course of 18 months, I basically spent around $2,500 in my estimation for 42 dates… A lot of them played an important role, more than they realize, on lessons learned of how I thought about personal finance as it relates to a partner in my life moving forward.”
Doors and Windows and What’s Real @ Sivers.org — ” Like everyone, I live in a little house with many doors and windows. One door goes out to my neighborhood… One window looks out at the nature around me… One door is just for my son… But one door is really no fun to open. Whenever I do, I’m horrified at all the shouting.”
This company will plan a surprise vacation for you. Here’s what happened on mine. @ USA Today — “Pack Up + Go, a Pittsburgh-based travel agency, launched in January 2016 and has sent about 16,000 travelers on 8,000 trips to 90 destinations across the country. The catch? The whole trip, from the destination to what to do there, is a surprise. Pack Up + Go functions like a regular travel agency — and is a fully accredited one, according to founder and CEO Lillian Rafson — it’s just that travelers have no idea where they are going until the day of departure. Now it was my turn to test it out.”
Pareto Spring Cleaning @ The Rabbit Hole — “To be conducted every 6 months or so in order to help you lock in and remove unwanted distractions…”
We Bought A Money Pit! @ Slowly Sipping Coffee — “The home inspection report (what a scam industry) was pretty clean and didn’t note anything of significance. We had a home warranty for a year to cover anything major. How did we still manage to spend over $50,000 in the past year?”
Frugality Lessons From a Motorcycle Granny @ Frugal Wheels — “It’s OK to spend money on things that will truly bring you happiness. I buy fresh beans and vegetables, not the canned variety. And I will enjoy a meal out from time to time. FIRE isn’t about spending the absolute least amount of money possible, it’s about efficiency and identifying all the places we waste money mindlessly. It’s about maximizing happiness per dollar, as MMM says – or the phrase I coined, FOI: Fun On Investment.”
If You’re Regularly Investing But Not Getting Wealthy, This Might Be Why @ Forbes — “If you invested as little as $200 a month in the stock market for the last 40 years, you should be a millionaire today.”
Surreal photos of the beach that briefly existed west of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, in the early 80s @ UrbanFoxxxx “The site, created out of landfill material from the excavations to build the WTC, would later become Battery Park City… On the same site, in the summer of 1982, conceptual artist Agnes Denes planted and harvested two acres of wheat for her installation ‘Wheatfield’ – one of the most memorable images of Manhattan ever created.”
Boy, 11, Uses ‘Ice Cold Beer’ Sign to Sell Soda with ‘Ingenious’ Fine Print @ People — “One Utah boy put a “twist” on the classic summer lemonade stand, offering up “ice cold beer” to his neighbors, many of whom actually called the cops on the budding entrepreneur… When Brigham City police arrived at the “beer” stand, however, they found out the catch: the 11-year-old was selling root beer — he just wrote the word “root” on his sign really, really small… The marketing ploy paid off, as police said the young man’s business has been booming…”
This Post Will Change Your Life @ Raptitude — “Every single thing that happens to you—your career, your ideas, your friends, your living situation—emerged into reality from its many parent conditions just like that rainbow did. In fact, nothing happens any other way: conditions give rise to a thing that wasn’t there, it’s there for a while, and then it disappears back into the mist of causality. Appreciating all this helps us remember the abundance of possibility we’re always living in.”
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Happy weekend, everyone!!! Don’t catch pneumonia!!
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UPDATE: Just found out there will now be a “Single Mingle” meet up at FinCon too ;) So if you don’t come out for the money/blogging stuff – come out to date other like-minded nerds! Haha…
Previous roundups:
FYI: FinCon comped me to remind everyone about their community passes… which I would have done for them for free, but hey – thanks for paying my way, guys! ;)
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First thing – rest and get yourself better!!
Looking forward to checking these out over the weekend – thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome :)
I hope you find something that makes you think a little differently in there!
Just to give you some idea of what can happen if you don’t take pneumonia seriously…
https://www.quora.com/What-causes-a-white-out-lung-to-appear-in-an-x-ray
Hope you feel better and get to that double comma club soon!
As long as I get better I can wait for that Double Comma Club! Haha…
New reader here! Pneumonia is serious business. You need to get tons of rest. I have been there three times so, I know. The links you have posted all sound interesting. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for stopping by! Hope you enjoy the blog! :) (And let’s hope 3x a charm for you and that pneumonia!)
So happy to be included in the Budgets are Sexy roundup! The motorcycling granny would have been pleased : )
She sounded like a fun one :)
Love the picture up there with the forest! Is that from a children’s book?
Right?? I thought it was super cool!
No idea where it’s from though as I just got it from Pixabay.com :)
Good luck getting some much needed rest this weekend! I know it is a little hard with 3 young boys but you better listen to the doctor.
Just think you have a reason not to unpack 5 more boxes that you left in the garage or basement to do later :)
Back from the weekend and feeling MUCH Better!!
Was great to sleep in and have two full days to just lounge and not even think about work/blog stuff either which I’m sure could slow down the healing process…
Not gonna say I’m at 100% yet, but at this rate – knock on wood – I should be there sooner than anticipated! Especially after reading so many horror stories from everyone, haha…
I’ve done Pack Up + Go before, and I’m doing t again this year! It’s loads of fun and takes the pressure off. I LOVE planning vacations, but even the most strident planner needs a break.
Wow, have you really?? What kinds of place have they sent you on?? Sounds like such an adventure! :)
One of these days I want to just head to the airport without knowing where I’m going and literally buy a ticket for the next flight out, haha… Wouldn’t that be so exhilarating?!
I agree that home inspection reports are scam. They are vague if there is a remote possibility that there might be something wrong they recommend hiring roofing inspector, plumbing inspector and so on….Although those reports pale in comparison with Environmental Phase I reports for commercial properties. It typically costs about $2,000 and it’s 40 pages full of fluff with only Summary page worth paying attention. The best part is if there is a remote possibility of a potential environmental issue then report recommends Phase II study. Which costs $20,000 and more.
Ugh….
I so WISH I could do the FinCon Community Pass! I’m in Vegas that weekend for a friend’s birthday (boo-hoo, I know), but we met in law school IN DC!
I am really interested in the CFPB speaker. I hope you’ll do a post all about it!
Okay, well you have some drinks for me over there, and I’ll have some for you here – deal?? :) And then NEXT TIME we’ll have drinks together in real life!! Woo!