moderalist

all the money in the world

Chris blogged about Laura Vanderkam not long ago and I recently stumbled upon another semi-recent article based on her book All the Money in the World: What the Happiest People Know about Getting and Spending.

As a PR person, I am hyper-aware of the power of hearing a message multiple times, which creates a tipping point for someone to take an action. That is why I’m not surprised I bought the book. And because reading is sexy.

Here are two blurbs from the article that really resonated and got me to buy it:

Be more mindful about what your money could buy. Make purchases that improve your happiness. For many, that means spending on experiences, not things. Using the example of the money we have traditionally paid for expensive engagement rings and weddings, Vanderkam calculates how many trips, periodic bouquets of flowers, date nights, babysitters, and hours of housecleaning that money could buy over the years. These are services and experiences that, in the long run, could bring more enjoyment to a couple than a big ring and wedding.

Challenge the big house, big yard, two car “American dream.” Vanderkam points out that these purchases often come with a longer commute by car, more responsibilities for lawn care, and housekeeping. Studies show that none of these activities increase happiness.

That sounds pretty moderalist to me. I’ll share what I learned after I’m done reading. 

And after that, I have a fun topic about underwear. Get ready.

- T

retirement dreamin’

Oh, hi! Just give me second here; I’m finishing up the latest entry in my “Dream Book.”

OK, there it is. All finished.

Joking aside, I did actually write one of these recently. Tamara and I met with a financial advisor and before the meeting he sent us a packet of information to fill out. Most of it was pretty standard stuff: our income, expenses, debt, etc. 

Tamara and I are still young, but we figured it wouldn’t hurt to talk to a professional about what steps we can take now to plan for retirement in 20-30 years. With a little planning, we’ll have a much better chance of reaching our goals and not having them determined by whatever we happen to have in the bank when the time comes. We both like our jobs, but neither of us wants to work for the rest of our lives. (Who would??) So we went through the items in the packet and filled in our info. Then, we came to the Dream Book.

The good news is it wasn’t the cheesy kind of dream journal. The bad news is it’s worse. It makes you really stop and ask yourself what the heck you actually want in your life. 

It starts off with some pretty basic questions like, What are some activities you enjoy doing? What do you most want to avoid in life? What would you like to have more of in your life?

Those were pretty easy for me to answer, but some of the other questions were unexpectedly hard. What are the causes you would like to be more involved in? What are the things you absolutely believe in? 

I have to admit, I was a little skeptical of the Dream Book at first, but it turned out to be really helpful. Why? Because it actually makes you articulate what your goals and priorities are. And having a stated goal helps you figure out where you’re going and get there faster.

I’ve always had kind of a vague vision of how I want my retirement to look like with a lot of traveling, golfing and stress-free days. But the truth is, you can’t travel all the time, you can’t golf all the time (or maybe you can), and if you’re short on money and barely getting by you’ll probably be stressed all the time. 

Now that we’ve gone through the exercise of narrowing goals, it’s time to start planning. There’s something so satisfying about putting together a good plan and knowing that you’ll actually be able to meet your goals.

The Wall Street Journal has an old PDF copy of the Dream Book if you want to start thinking about what your big goals are. Good luck!

- C

operation inbox simplification

A few years ago, an email pissed me off. It was from Daily Candy, which reviews restaurants, boutiques and other girly stuff in major cities. Except this email was one of their “sponsored” emails, and it was about why Meg Whitman should be the next governor of California.

I was so turned off that I immediately went on the hunt for the unsubscribe link. But as my mouse hovered over it, I paused. How am I going to stay on top of what’s new in San Francisco? What will I do without these? After a minute or so, I clicked the link, only because I was confident I could subscribe again if my life took a turn for the worse on the boring scale. Yes, I actually thought that.

Fast forwarding to the present, I haven’t missed it at all. Half the time those emails were telling me to go to a ridiculously expensive shop on Union Street to buy a handbag. Now it’s one less email to read and one less piece of junk cluttering my mindspace.

If you’ve found that your personal inbox is sucking up time and mindspace, here are a few tips for a moderalist inbox:

• UNSUBSCRIBE from Groupon. With Groupon, Living Social and other deal sites, you buy stuff or services you don’t really want or need just because it’s a hot deal. Most of the time the deals aren’t that hot, and the restrictions on use make them a real pain. I still receive their travel deals, mostly out of curiosity. If you’re committed to deal-hunting, try an aggregator that sends you multiple deals in one email. 

• SUBSCRIBE to Weekend Sherpa: What do you like to do? Chris and I like hiking, so we receive a once-a-week email with nearby hiking ideas for the weekend. Like trying different restaurants? Yelp sends a once-a-week themed email. Want to know when hip bars are opening? Sign up for Thrillist. Looking for cheap events? Try Goldstar or FunCheapSF. 

• TAKE ADVANTAGE of Gmail’s “Mark as Important” function: Spend a few minutes over the next few days to make sure the items tagged as important are accurate: emails from friends and family, lists that you really find useful to read. Then, actually read your emails based on priority. You’ll always get to the ones that are most important to you, and you can save the other stuff for later. If you find you’re not missing the other stuff, just unsubscribe! 

• THINK like a reporter: The other day, the founder of my company talked about how critical it is to write compelling subject lines when pitching stories to reporters. Reporters are bombarded with emails, and they make decisions about what to read based on the subject line. You should be as ruthless as a reporter is with their inbox. Even if the email comes from a list you normally read, the subject line “Sponsored: Jack Daniels wants your opinion!” should be a no brainer to hit the delete button. 

- T

If…

fankei:

you were to leave your busy life right now and go wherever you wanted, what would you pack in your suitcase?