By The Rivers Of Babylon

It's always worth looking back to the wise men and women of old for a bit of inspiration. Today, I'm going to simply reflect on The Richest Man In Babylon, a book published in 1926. It's all about teaching simple lessons in finance through a collection of parables set in ancient Babylon. It's a classic book on financial advice.

Well, we're not in ancient Babylon any more. So I managed to track down a revised version of the book (or The Richest Man In Babylon For Today). It may lack some of the mystique and aura of its predecessor, but it applies some basic principles relevant for the current day. Worth remembering:

1. Pay yourself first
2. Develop a budget
3. Pay off debts
4. Start looking for ways to put your money to work
5. Accept risk, but be careful
6. Don’t procrastinate
7. Invest in your home
8. Invest in your retirement savings
9. Invest in yourself
10. Prepare your “Walls of Babylon” – i.e. have a will, life and health insurance etc.

Apply these principles and you'll be on your way.

Getting To Know You

Many financial problems faced later in life can be avoided if individuals are provided with proper personal finance solutions from their earlier years. Unfortunately, a lot of these solutions are learned “on the job” at home, or via your peers at school or in your community. And, let's face it, for many parents money is another taboo subject - many simply avoid the conversations as they don't really have their own houses in order. 

“Knowing yourself” in relation to personal finance is partly about getting to know your ideal outcomes in life – the “why” behind the need to have and manage your money. Decide what you want money for. Financial needs do change as life ticks along, but we have to at least have a think about it.

If your goal is to live by yourself in a shack without any trappings of modern life, surviving on mung beans, then so be it. As long as you’re not hurting yourself or anyone else, it’s no one else’s business as to how you choose to live. Some know where they're going, the rest of us should just focus on the process of getting to know. Whatever you do decide, just learn to fund that lifestyle accordingly.

Personal Finance - Where To Start

There’s such a lot of information on personal finance out there; some good, some less so. But don’t allow yourself to be overwhelmed. You’ve got to start somewhere. And starting with yourself is as good a place as any.

Having a sense of where you are at this point in time and what you want in the future can play a big part in achieving success in yourpersonal finances.

Spend enough time to know yourself that you find a formula that works for you - i.e. that allows you to not obsess over money, fear its loss, or take risks you cannot tolerate.  Look at how your own mind works, and let money flow to those aspects that make your life more dynamic and creative.

So look at today as your start line. 

It doesn't matter what you have done so far in your life, it doesn't matter whether you have a professional qualification or how you look. It also doesn't matter what the markets are doing, nor what everyone else is doing. It’s about you taking control of your actions, applying the right structure, attitude and behavior to take your financial story forward. As long as you are prepared to put the time and energy into improving your condition, whether you do that by yourself or via financial coaching, you can do ok.

A Line In The Sand

I've thought long and hard about this blog in recent weeks.

It started out a few years ago now, partly with the hope of spreading a bit of cheer but often with the aim of simply allowing me to express myself in written form. There have been some good, bad, indifferent and amazing blogs along the way. Some have been heart-felt, some have been self-indulgent. Some days I've been so inspired it almost hurt, other times I've had to try my hardest just to squeeze out a collection of words to form sentences simply to keep the thing ticking over. Hopefully, once in a while it turned a frown "upside down", or provided the occasional bit of insight to the casual reader.

But from today I'm going to change things slightly. There's been a bit of downtime since parting ways with my employer last year, and I've had a lot of time to think about "stuff". I've struggled to be consistently inspired and haven't really offered up (in my view) everything I have to offer. I'm still all about personal development, championing those wanting to following their dreams, finding those insights in life that take you down those less travelled roads. But I wanted to bring something new to the table. Personal finance.

"Yawn", I hear you cry. "Aren't there already dozens upon dozens of finance blogs teaching you tips on saving money with Groupon, how to retire early and what stocks to buy in a deflationary environment?" I guess there are. But I just want to throw my two cents into the mix. Or maybe that should be 'two pence', because I'm actually British - and that's part of the point. I may have lived in the US in the past but I have no idea about Roth IRAs or the intricacies of IRS jurisdictions, something which I'm happy to leave to US bloggers.

I'm just a guy that has worked in finance for a number of years, lived in a few different countries, was brought up in poverty (both materially and of thought), and have always had an interest in what makes people tick (both materially and in thought). I like to think in real world generalities that (hopefully) anyone can relate to - whether you're in Anchorage or Zanzibar. Personal finance is simply an extension of what went before only, again hopefully, with a bit more substance for readers to work with.

So, over time, this blog will change a fair bit but I'd like to think there will still be one constant to it all. Me.


 

(Something Inside) So Strong

For some time now I've been struggling for inspiration with this blog. Idle chit-chat on day-to-day banalities, the light and dark of Christmas, the weather beyond the hedgerow and so on, were all fair game. But none floated my boat. And so I hibernated. But today was different. What finally woke me from my slumber and gave me reason for writing was the passing of Nelson Mandela.

He was already an icon, bigger than the flesh and blood that comes as standard with being human. The obituaries and tributes over the coming weeks will provide further meat to a cultural lexicon that has been generations in the making, offering better insight into his glorious life than I would ever be able to. So all I can really share is a brief snippet of what he meant in the context of my world.

I look back to that day in February 1990 when Mr. Mandela walked out of jail a free man and try to remember how things used to be; things that a 20-something year old can intellectually "get" but weren't there to experience. He was already one of my heroes by that point, not that I remember when that started really. Beyond going to a free anti-Apartheid concert on Clapham Common, grooving to the 'Free Nelson Mandela' track and giving up South African oranges for a small time, I would hardly call myself a "bra-burning" (or whatever the male equivalent is) activist. I was just a kid that observed. Observed and connected. I kind of got it. Because in the post-Bob Marley search for role models for a young black kid, like myself, there really weren't that many in the conventional sense. Beyond those that played with a ball, smacked someone around a ring, or knew how to belt out a tune, there was a bit of a void. There was nothing wrong with identifying with some of these but I wanted more. A philosophy. Mr. Mandela represented something different. To me, he was about more than simply what he did. He was about what he stood for. He stood for me. It's crazy to think how far the world has moved on in the last 25 years. More integration, less separation. More teaching the world to sing in perfect (or at least better) harmony. No Mandela = no Obama.

The day after his release I still remember reading the cover page of the UK's 'Daily Mirror' newspaper in my university common room. It coincided with the day the invincible and undefeated Mike Tyson, another hero of mine, had incredibly been knocked out by Buster Douglas in Tokyo. So 'Iron Mike' on his knees and Nelson Mandela with a fist in the air shared a split screen page. 'Down and Out' was the caption. Very powerful, and even more so given the fact that one has been in terminal decline since that day, while the other has changed the course of history.

For me, he represents the very best about being human. A man that knew his limitations, a man that had weaknesses and issues like the rest of us, but also a man that preached peace, forgiveness, reconciliation and understanding. Thank you, Madiba, for being around in my time.

 

Sweet Child O' Mine

And so to a comment from Innerspace from a while ago:

"When you talk to yourself in your mind, which self do you address? And how? Usually people do not talk to their divinity, but to the most superficial aspects of their everyday personality. And often its a stream of fears, complaints and mindless repetition of old things. If we talked that way to another human being, we would have to apologise. Learning to talk properly to the self is a spiritual endeavour. Thoughts from the past and worries about the future do not create good conversation. Instead learn to talk to your mind as if it were a child. Talk to it with love. If you just force a child to sit down, he won't. A good mother knows how to prompt her child into doing what she wants. Be a good mother to your mind, teach it good, positive thoughts so that when you tell it to sit quietly, it will. Love your mind. Stay happy."

Around The World

I've been thinking quite a lot in recent weeks about the idea of goal setting and finding direction in life. I've read so many books and articles over the years about it all it's not even funny. You find yourself going round in circles and still not able to find peace with it all.

My newest insight about it all isn't new as such. It's more that I've found an approach that makes more sense to me on a personal level. The essence: life is a journey and not just a destination. Simple. A fairly trite collection of words in many ways - it all makes sense but doesn't really say anything. Well, it got me thinking about an actual journey I took and it gave me more perspective.

A long time ago and far far away, pre-Facebook and Twitter, I went backpacking. Hell, let's give it better perspective - it was the early 1990's and before the security blanket of mobile phones and email as well. Don't get me wrong, I'm no Scott of the Antarctic and many had done it before me and have since, but when I headed to Bangkok in Thailand to travel overland Denpasar in Bali, Indonesia, it did feel quite epic.

It was never really about arriving at Denpasar, which is after all a boring, dusty airport town. In fact, ending up there after 6 months of travel really did mean the end. It was all really about what went before that - the white water rafting, the elephant trekking, the full moon parties, the stolen camera, the glorious sunsets, the chilling on mountain tops, the lonely times, the rejected advances, the drunken nights out with strangers, the writing, the dancing, the getting lost, the warm smiles, the malaria tablets, the new friends, the most incredible day in Kuala Lumpur, the most incredible night in Koh Phangan, the dehydration, the goodbyes, the incredible people, the stories to take home. The memories.

So, yes, my current goal setting plans are certainly about achieving stuff at the end of my rainbow. But the glorious journey that will get me there could prove to be of bigger importance for me. 

Simply The Best

I fell upon a few good inspirational videos in recent weeks. Norman Vincent Peale has such a way about him I thought it was worth posting one of his messages. Here's one: