Wednesday Reads: Letter to your future self

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

Image by Genty from Pixabay

Letter to your future self

Indeedably laid down another writing challenge over at Sovereign Quest:

What would you tell your future self, if you could go forward in time?

A much harder question than the previous two, but interesting to ponder.

In theory, future me should know everything present me does, as well as a whole lot more due to everything that will occur in the meantime.

In practise, this is an over-simplification.

If I think back to myself 10 years ago, I can remember (or work out) what was occurring in my life in broad strokes; simply by working out my age, I know that I was in university. Mid-April is getting close to exam season, so there’s a good chance I was either revising or procrastinating by hanging out with housemates/friends. But more specifically than that, who knows?

And that’s just what I was doing. What would a young, early-20s Dr FIRE have been thinking? What were my hopes, worries, dreams, fears?

Unsurprisingly, I have a much easier time remembering / piecing together what I was doing and thinking last week!

So, it seems that a letter to my future self should contain information or thoughts that I judge to be important now, but that might change or be forgotten in the ensuing time.

I would simply write a list.

A list things I want to do now but “don’t have the time.”

A list of things I want to achieve in the next, say, ten years.

A list of plans, thoughts about what I want out of the future, directions in life that I am thinking of taking and the thought processes behind them.

On giving this letter to my future self, I’d leave with the following questions:

After all that time has passed, how many of those things have you achieved?

How many have languished, or even been forgotten?

Of those that remain unfinished, why? Have priorities changed, replaced by some new future development?

Or are they still very much on the to-do list? If so, is it time to stop dawdling and just get it done? Or is it a sign that the objective was never meant to be, and so you should discard it and find a new goal?

Captain’s log

This whole exercise makes me think that maybe I should start journaling…

A record of my thoughts and how they evolve and change over time sounds like it could be useful. I’ve had a few different things on my mind for the last year. It would be helpful to have the option to see my exact thoughts on the topic last year, and compare it to my thoughts today.

Whilst this blog does act as a journal of sorts, it is intentionally kept focused on money, work, philosophy, and similar topics.

Certain parts of my life are kept vague, due to the public nature of this blog. Even though I’m mostly anonymous, there are still plenty of things I deem unsuitable to put on here! So a private journal would truly let me write with no worries or limitations about other topics outside the scope of this blog.

Just, don’t tell Ms FIRE. She’s been suggesting that I start journaling for at least six months… I can just picture the “I told you so” look on her face once she reads this post!

Interesting links that caught my eye this week:

• Accidental Fire – Fit But Not Healthy, Wealthy But Not Rich
  

  “Being wealthy and being rich in life have to be balanced as well.  The myopic and singular pursuit of money can lead to tremendous wealth, but probably not a rich life.  Finding the sweet spot is hard, and I’m constantly tuning things myself to keep accumulating wealth while leading the richest life possible.”

• Monevator – Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE): my journey from first steps to leaving work
  The Accumulator shares an extensive look back at his journey to financial independence, with a number of useful links.

• My Quiet FI – WE ARE FIRST TIME HOMEBUYERS – PART II – THE PROCESS
  I can’t just pick a paragraph to share or try to write a pithy summary this time. QFI tells a fantastic story, go read it.

• Rolf Suey – Be Wiser When You First Start Your Career – In Dire Industry, it is More Difficult to Find Success!
  Proof that a lot of advice is universal, whether it comes from the UK or (in this case) Singapore. A reminder that you should always bear in mind your future employability as your progress through your career. Beware of getting stuck in a dead end!

• The 7 Circles – Good Robot? US Robo-Advisors
  Mike has an indepth look at robo-advisors and whether they offer anything different to a typical passive index fund.

• FI Scribbles – 5 Habits To Gain More Freedom Before Reaching Financial Independence
  Kujah offers some suggestions to help improve the journey towards financial independence.

• Quietly Saving – Seven-Year Itch
  Happy Blogiversary to Weenie! Seven years of consistent blogging is a fantastic achievement. Here’s to many more!

• Mortgage Advisor on FIRE – Part 75
  David laments the slow demise of John Lewis and similar department stores, and shares his suggestions to help turn them around and distinguish themselves from Amazon.

• The IT Investor – The 28 Investment Trust ISA Millionaires
  A comprehensive look at investment trusts that could have turned you into an ISA millionaire. The IT Investor always goes in to great detail, so well worth a read if you’re interested in the topic.

• Aussie Doc Freedom – Don’t Want to Retire Early? You Need to Follow FIRE
  A reminder that you don’t have to hate your job and/or want to retire early in order to benefit from saving, investing, and pursuing financial independence.

• Banker on FIRE – When Everything Goes Wrong
  A great post on the subject of risk:

  ““What if I lose my money?”
  “This sounds like a lottery!”
  or simply:
  “That’s pretty risky, isn’t it?”
  When you hear statements like these, you know that people don’t understand what the word “risk” actually means.”
  

• Incognito Money Scribe – The Best Finance Books Might Be Fiction
  Too often I see people in this community (mostly on twitter, to be fair) talking about the latest finance book or business biography. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with non-fiction. But I think you’re missing out on a wealth of experience if you never make time to read fiction.

  “Will reading The Remains of the Day by Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro help you pick the right investments, or pay down debt, or set up sustainable retirement account withdrawals? Of course not. What it can do, however, is help you think deeply on the shortness of life and how you may feel in old age, which then inspires you to waste less money on the things that don’t matter while staying patient and committed to building a life where you no longer have to serve your precious, finite time to someone else. It is an indelible sense empathy for your current and future life.”

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

• Sovereign Quest – A new personal finance curation site launched by Indeedably. Check out the latest Challenge.

Thanks for reading. Hope you’re all having a great week!