Blog

Tracking & Forecasting Expenses with Mint, Todoist and Google Sheets

Written by Adam on October 9, 2016. Updated January 8, 2023.
7 min read. Financial Independence, Blog, Canonical. 1 Comment

I’m hesitant to say the word “budget”, but understanding where I spend money is important. With it, I can plan out how much I should save, understand how much money I actually need to live, and how much of my spending is on luxuries. I’ve tried a number of strategies for tracking and planning these, and have finally stumbled on one I love using Mint, Todoist and Google Sheets. I prefer to think about things on a yearly level, rather than a monthly level, which has conflicted with most common forecasting tools. Here’s my attempt at yearly budgeting with these tools.

[Read more…]

Novelty

Written by Adam on September 24, 2016. Updated January 8, 2023.
2 min read. Minimalism, Blog. Leave a Comment

Hedonic adaptation is the tendency for happiness (or sadness) gained too quickly to revert to a person’s normal level over time. The idea is that people have a set point of happiness that they’re at, and permanent changes to it aren’t likely to come from novelty.

[Read more…]

What is Financial Independence?

Written by Adam on September 18, 2016. Updated January 8, 2023.
5 min read. Financial Independence, Blog, Canonical. Leave a Comment

Most people do a great deal of future planning. We go to college and learn skills with the intention of using them for ~40 years. We plan out our career and our long-term relationships. We buy houses and decide where we’ll live for many years in the hope of someday being financially independent.

All of these are best guesses. A small number of people know what will make them happy for their entire lives at age 18 enough to plan the rest of their lives. Relationships end and life (or jobs) take us to different cities. Even the best-laid plans for life change. The more attached you are to these plans, the more painful these changes are.

[Read more…]

Practice Poverty

Written by Adam on September 12, 2016. Updated January 8, 2023.
2 min read. Mindfulness, Minimalism, Blog. Leave a Comment

When reading The Obstacle is the Way recently, the author mentioned a topic that stuck with me — practicing poverty.

Seneca

The topic came up when discussing Lucius Annaeus Seneca. Seneca, one of the founders of the Stoic school, and the subject of a Tim Ferriss book. Unlike many Stoics, Seneca was a wildly successful businessman in his day. Even at that, he was humble though. His thoughts on poverty shed light on his humility.

It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.

When hearing this Seneca quote, the immediate idea that comes to mind is financial independence, which shows just how significant a changed lifestyle is to your long-term planning. Avoiding lifestyle inflation is easier when you are used to less. But what about the short term?

Putting it to Practice

The quote that was being discussed in The Obstacle is the Way, was this one from Seneca:

Set aside a certain number of days, during which you shall be content with the scantiest and cheapest fare, with course and rough dress, saying to yourself the while: “ Is this the condition that I feared?”

What if you were to get up tomorrow, or for the next week, and make a choice not to spend a cent unless otherwise essential? I’m not suggesting go as far as walking 10 miles to work, but there’s probably a bunch you could do with this. Eating what’s left in your freezer and pantry, avoiding toll roads, not eating out at work — removing yourself from positions where you are exposed to things for sale.

If you’re reading this post, you’re most likely well enough off that true poverty (living in the open, not sure where your next meal would come from) would be too daunting a challenge. I also don’t get the impression that Seneca was sleeping under the stars for those nights. But there might be other ways you can think of that can would help you empathize with the poor — and at the same time appreciate what you have that much more.

Want Streaks

Written by Adam on August 21, 2016. Updated January 8, 2023.
2 min read. Minimalism, Blog. Leave a Comment

When you really want something, and you have the means to get it, what do you do? How do you measure your desire to gauge if this isn’t a decision you’ll regret later? Learning about delayed gratification can help build a muscle that serves many uses.

[Read more…]

What’s Your Weekly Spending Distribution?

Written by Adam on August 18, 2016. Updated January 8, 2023.
2 min read. Financial Independence, Blog, Canonical. Leave a Comment

Here’s an interesting activity that could help shed some light on where your funds are going. In order to do it though, you’ll need a budget from the last year to really dig into how much you’re spending in different areas of your life. When starting this exercise, I didn’t have all of these numbers, which was concerning considering how general these numbers are. Creating a budget and comparing that against my spending distribution helped highlight the weight of my spending decisions.

[Read more…]