Wednesday Reads: Happy New Year!

A round up of interesting or cool stuff I’ve read.

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Image by nck_gsl from Pixabay

 

Happy New Year

Brexit.

Lockdown 3.0.

Not exactly the most auspicious start to 2021!

We’ve been dealing with Covid in the UK for nine months. Although I’m feeling the onset of Covid-fatigue, I like to think we’re at the halfway point of this pandemic. I’m hopeful that most of the country will be vaccinated by the end of summer 2021. Whilst it’s been a long slog, I think the end is in sight.

Of course, I don’t expect life to return to pre-pandemic normal on the 1st of October. But I think (hope?) that national lockdowns will no longer be necessary, people will be able to mix in reasonably-sized groups once again, and businesses can start planning for an uptick in demand.

This year may already feels like more of the same, so this is a reminder to take it easy. By all means, set ambitious goals (be it financial independence, daily exercise, reading more, etc) and strive to progress towards them. But don’t feel like you have to spend every spare minute hustling. There’s nothing wrong with spending a few hours playing a videogame or zoning out in front on Netflix.

Happy new year to everyone. Even though 2021 is off to a slow start, I hope it ultimately turns out to be better than 2020 for all.

 

Interesting links that caught my eye this week:

Blogs

• Sovereign Quest – A new personal finance curation site launched by Indeedably. It’s already off to a great start. Definitely worth checking out.

 

The next few bloggers on this list went with a new year’s theme:

• Mr MedFI – Bin the resolution – try a Yearly Theme instead. Mr MedFI suggests changing how you approach new year’s resolutions, instead opting for a yearly theme.

 

• Banker on FIRE – The Beauty (And Danger) Of Compounding.
  

  “Sixty or so days from today, most folks will have binned their aspirations – only to repeat the process again in a year. The problem here isn’t a lack of dedication or imagination. The real culprit is the belief that in order to achieve extraordinary results, you’ve got to put in extraordinary efforts.”

 

• Fire and Wide – Why A Life Goal Works Better Than New Year Resolutions.
  

  “A Life Goal is a well-defined aim of something you want to achieve in your life-time. “

 

• Cash for Kat – Don’t Wait for Opportunity, Create It.

  “Tomorrow is never guaranteed and as you get older you tend to add on responsibilities. There is no better time than today to create the life that you want to live.”

 

• The Twenty Percent – 5 Lessons to learn from 2020.

 

And then a few other miscellaneous topics:

• Jason Butler, via the Evidence Based Investor – Don’t leave a financial mess. A helpful guide to making sure your finances are in order for your loved ones, in case the worst happens.

 

• All About Your Benjamins – “Pay Yourself First”
  A great essay in the style of the How I Invest My Money book, talking about how Justin’s upbringing has affected his view of money.

 

• A Wealth of Common Sense – Inflation Truthers.
  I’ve occasionally seen articles and books (for example, How to Own the World) claim that governments under report inflation. Instead of 1-2% per year, apparently it is up to 10% per year! With that in mind, it’s interesting to read Ben Carlson’s takedown of this statement.

 

News

• ‘Energy needed a digital revolution – and we are it’ – Guardian

 

• Adieu to the single market created by the UK – BBC

 

• Eric Syz: ‘80% of active managers are index huggers’ – Financial Times

 

Other

• Sign up to Trading212 via this link and we both receive a free share.

 

• Money Saving Expert – Working from home due to coronavirus, even for a day? Claim a year’s worth of tax relief. I’ve mentioned this before. It only takes 2 minutes and could net you £62/year or £124/year for basic/higher rate tax payers, respectively.

 

Thanks for reading. Hope you all have a great start to 2021!