Welcome to Life-Life Balance
I was on Facebook for 11 years before I deleted my account. Pulling the plug was hard - Facebook has a compelling value proposition: the ability to stay in touch and up-to-date with you friends (who are almost universally also on Facebook), as well as message and video chat with them - all for free. But there are hidden costs, which I believe massively outweigh the benefits. Because these costs are often hard to detect, I decided to write this de [...]
Lottery win? Big inheritance from a great aunt? Receiving a windfall is something we’ve all dreamed about at least once. Getting rich quickly gives us the freedom to leave our job and spend more time on other fulfilling activities. Retiring early doesn’t just mean giving up work (after all, we may find our jobs fulfilling). It means having 100% choice in how you spend your time. It means choosing whether to stay at your job or not. Chances are yo [...]
Automatic enrolment, a Government initiative to help more people save for retirement through a pension scheme at work, will be celebrating its 5th birthday later this year. Research by the Department for Work & Pensions found in 2015 that three quarters of eligible* employees were participating in a workplace pension. 36% of all participating eligible employees were women which reflects not only the difference in earnings and working patterns [...]
A few months ago, I found myself browsing through an online store for bedding. I’d decided that I was due a new set of bedding because one set was coming up to being 10 years old. Whilst trawling through my options, I started by looking at the cheaper ones, but then became distracted by the more expensive bedding. I noticed I was justifying the cost with “quality comes first.” A far cry from my thoughts 10 years ago when I purchased the old set i [...]
It can be difficult knowing where to begin with personal finances. What are the most important concepts that can help you be better with money? How does an understanding of diversification help you grow wealth? What’s the relevance of your FICO score? Does inflation have a big impact on your day-to-day activities? All of these questions and more are answered in Maureen’s latest course Personal Finance Concepts on Highbrow, an email-based educatio [...]
Earlier this year, my dad had a routine operation to remove a hernia. We all knew he would be fine, but he was convinced the worst would happen. I’m glad he wasn’t right, but one good thing about his pessimism is that it got him to write his will and have the ‘talk’ with his family. In the past, I’ve spoken to colleagues and friends who have faced legal complications in their families after the death of a relative. One of their sibilings contest [...]
What would you do if you needed to pay $500 upfront for an emergency today? Could you do it? How would you pay for it? According to a survey by Bankrate, 63% of Americans do not have enough in savings to cover a $500 emergency. To pay for it, they said they would cut back spending in other areas, charge the expense to a credit card or borrow funds from friends and family. When I look around me in London, I wonder whether the same could be said of [...]
Update The response to this post has been powerful, and we've had many requests for tools to help. I've created a free site which helps with calculating early retirement in a variety of different places around the world: nomad saver This is the final instalment in a three part series. Here are the sections, with links to navigate around: Part 1: Why Part 2: How Part 3: What [This post] Post are best read in order, but if you want the quick fix th [...]
Update The response to this post has been powerful, and we've had many requests for tools to help. I've created a free site which helps with calculating early retirement in a variety of different places around the world: nomad saver This is the second instalment in a three part series. I'd argue it is the most important. Here are the sections, with links to navigate around: Part 1: Why Part 2: How [This post] Part 3: What Posts are best read in o [...]
Update The response to this post has been powerful, and we've had many requests for tools to help. I've created a free site which helps with calculating early retirement in a variety of places around the world: nomad saver Welcome This series presents a clear evaluation of the main rat race escape options, along with their merits, timeframes, and chances of success. It contains relatively few attempts to sell you things. There will be plenty [...]