Learn to control money but do not allow it to control you

Memory_Girl

FW doesn't do "ordinary" does she??

MG

Firewalker

Ok, I'll listen. I'll be extraordinary (thanks MG) and wear a nice black dress, versatile enough to: cover my tunny that is sticking out ermbarrasingly at the moment; to get away with carrying very little; is smart and comfortable (TMIF and Marru). And I will wear my brand new boots (bought in the spring in the sale).

Be good while I am out of reach and speak soon).

Firewalker

Ellidee

Interesting article here FW http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/were-blind-to-our-blindness-we-have-very-little-idea-of-how-little-we-know-were-not-designed-to-6267089.html

Firewalker

Thanks, Ellidee - very interesting. What does it mean for us is a very interesting matter. I would say that one thing is that whether we are cautious or confident we are very likely wrong. So no point worrying about it really.

Firewalker

Firewalker

It is time, I thought, for a little sharing and stimulation here. Sorry that I have been neglecting this diary a bit but life is a biut hectic and fritfully busy at the moment. You know that for a long time I have been mentioning that I suffer because I take too much on and how I have to figure out the 'occam's razor' for the situation? Well, I did figure it out.

When we try to solve a life situation we ought to go through layers of reasons; it is not that the most basic/fundamental reason will lead to a solution though. All reasons have to be examined and organised. Some will lead to a 'quick wins' solution; others to a long term resolution. For the last two months or so, I have been doing two things: a) have been saying 'no' to all new things except ones that will bring considerable career and/or financial benefit (publishing in Nature, for instance); b) have been focusing on finishing things so that all small and nigly things will be finished by Christmas (had to do a selection here - only things that are either worth finishing or have to be finished will be; the rest will have to perish and be forgotten). It is working - hard work, stressful but working.

One of the projects that are being kept is the blog - in fact it has moved up the ranking considerably and is expected to pass the treshold of respectability by the end of December. Gradually, I am figuring its unique voice which probably can be expressed like this: there are no rules for personal finance; there are broad principles one has to be prepared to work very hard to adapt to their circumstance. Another change on this is that OH was offcially appointed as staff writer on the blog: apart from taking some of the load of writing it also makes me Chief Writer:rotfl:.

My intentions regarding the negative wealth have taken a bit of a hit and one of the money maling projects of the Firewalker household did not come through. Now, I hate it when things don't work out as I have been planning but at the same time I am the one who kept telling people that statistically only one in ten ideas works. Which means that we have to be prepared to try many times and only some of will work: this is where planning gives way to luck and opportunity.

Still, all my lines are going in the right direction; I am trying to take a step back and allow myself a bit of time to relax as well.

Ommmm!

Firewalker

Karmacat

Thoughtful as ever, FW. I've not been posting here either (at all!) so apologies for that. Sounds like you stepped back and had a real rethink - we all need to do that sometimes, but this sounds particularly powerful. Good for you.

Firewalker

Gosh, how I miss writing on here! I am just realising that it is possibly the best form of therapy and the reason is not that ‘you get it out’ but that there is support here and this is my ‘beehive’. At the same time, I have been writing for this diary less and less often – too much other writing to do and I hate to moan and complain. What I like best is to get to a situation where my response to life stuff is not emotional and I can come up with a representation of a problem that can be solved. If you are thinking that the first sounds as the most common and worst excuse in history you are right.

So, what have I been up to?

This Wednesday past I delivered one of the most important presentations in my career – it was the kind of thing where many very influential in European policy people were either to come over to me (and my way of thinking on certain matters) or they could exterminate me from the experts’ landscape. Understandably, I was nervous and worked on the presentation for a week; never have done this before and usually I rock audiences on no more than a day effort. Rocking this people took some doing – but it seems it has paid off and the feedback I am getting is very positive. Which translates in reputation and (possibly) more research funding; and this is very important because in the current climate my research group may get exterminated.

My BP is still high; in fact it was only very slightly less high on medication than before I started taking it. As a result the medication was increased. I know that there are three things I need to do: a) loose 10 kg; b) get into running properly again; and c) meditating. Oh, and go for therapy – a close friend of mine has convinced me that therapy should help me understand why do I get so worked up about things. It may be worth it, but I’ll be seriously cross if after paying a shitload of money (of course it will have to be done privately) the answer is that only partial lobotomy will help. I am not having it!

Negative wealth is going slowly down and we have not been able to repeat the acceleration from the summer. I want this gone! Probably not the time to worry about it though: first it is Christmas and second, in view of the impending crisis worrying about one’s negative wealth is the wrong thing to worry about. People should be much more worried about their savings and investments. A close friend of mine (who is also one of the few economists I can talk to and kind of trust) was telling me the other night that only safe thing to buy at the moment is land; any land.

Keep safe, my friends; I’ll write soon again.

Firewalker

gilligansyle

Nice to see you back!

Karmacat

It is nice ... I'm so glad your presentation went so well!

MrsMoo2U

Welcome back. Was wondering what you were up to. You take care of yourself though Mrs. Get that BP sorted in whatever way you can. I hear lots of people who do therapy and seem to get a lot from it. If you go with an open mind I am sure that it will be worth every penny.