amijangos's blurbloghttps://amijangos.newsblur.com/2020-02-06T14:38:09.744000ZamijangosNetworking Problems2020-02-06T14:38:09.744000Zhttps://xkcd.com/2259/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" style="padding: 6px;width: 36px;white-space:nowrap" width="36" valign="top"><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0b2306f69f3543ef7c94dfa464d20d01" style="width: 36px; height: 36px; border-radius: 4px;"></td>
<td width="100%" style="padding-top: 6px;">
<b>
amijangos
<a href="https://amijangos.newsblur.com/story/networking-problems/5994357:554d89">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/5994357.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> xkcd.com:</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
So true.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="clear: both; margin: 0 0 24px;">
<img alt="LOOK, THE LATENCY FALLS EVERY TIME YOU CLAP YOUR HANDS AND SAY YOU BELIEVE" src="https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/networking_problems.png" title="LOOK, THE LATENCY FALLS EVERY TIME YOU CLAP YOUR HANDS AND SAY YOU BELIEVE" />The Forbidden Cave2019-09-17T14:48:42.197000ZNicholas Gurewitchhttps://pbfcomics.com/comics/the-forbidden-cave/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" style="padding: 6px;width: 36px;white-space:nowrap" width="36" valign="top"><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0b2306f69f3543ef7c94dfa464d20d01" style="width: 36px; height: 36px; border-radius: 4px;"></td>
<td width="100%" style="padding-top: 6px;">
<b>
amijangos
<a href="https://amijangos.newsblur.com/story/the-forbidden-cave/5203:c1d55a">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/5203.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> The Perry Bible Fellowship:</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Some how it rings very true :D
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="clear: both; margin: 0 0 24px;">
<p>The post <a href="https://pbfcomics.com/comics/the-forbidden-cave/" rel="nofollow">The Forbidden Cave</a> appeared first on <a href="https://pbfcomics.com" rel="nofollow">The Perry Bible Fellowship</a>.</p>Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - By Jove2019-02-08T21:27:34.471000Ztech@thehiveworks.comhttps://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/by-jove<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" style="padding: 6px;width: 36px;white-space:nowrap" width="36" valign="top"><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0b2306f69f3543ef7c94dfa464d20d01" style="width: 36px; height: 36px; border-radius: 4px;"></td>
<td width="100%" style="padding-top: 6px;">
<b>
amijangos
<a href="https://amijangos.newsblur.com/story/saturday-morning-bre/785:6691ed">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/785.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal:</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
It is all about how you name a project.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="clear: both; margin: 0 0 24px;">
<a href="https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/by-jove"><img src="https://www.smbc-comics.com/comics/1549634974-20190208.png" /><br /><br />Click here to go see the bonus panel!</a><p>Hovertext:<br />This is an actual proposal I came across while researching for a project. </p><br />Today's News:<br />
<p>Pssst. Hey, dorks of London. <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bahfest-ig-nobel-2019-tickets-55134580013" target="_blank">Want to see the world's nerdiest comedy night ever?</a></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bahfest-ig-nobel-2019-tickets-55134580013" target=""><img src="https://www.smbc-comics.com/uploads/1549635032-image.png" /></a><br /></p>Groundbreaking Set for San Juan Puerto Rico Temple2019-01-18T14:40:16.220000Zhttp://feeds.lds.org/~r/LDSNewsRoomTop15/~3/Y0OUEnOeo04/groundbreaking-set-for-san-juan-puerto-rico-temple<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" style="padding: 6px;width: 36px;white-space:nowrap" width="36" valign="top"><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0b2306f69f3543ef7c94dfa464d20d01" style="width: 36px; height: 36px; border-radius: 4px;"></td>
<td width="100%" style="padding-top: 6px;">
<b>
amijangos
<a href="https://amijangos.newsblur.com/story/groundbreaking-set-f/157282:f20aa9">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://www.newsblur.com/rss_feeds/icon/157282" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> Newsroom RSS Feed:</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
May the 4th be with PR that day :)
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="clear: both; margin: 0 0 24px;">
Salt Lake City | Thursday, 17 January 2019 | <p>The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced that the groundbreaking for the first temple in Puerto Rico will be held Saturday, May 4, 2019. Elder Walter F. González, president of the Caribbean Area, for the Church will preside.</p><img src="http://feeds.lds.org/media/960x540/Puerto-Rico-Exterior-Rendering.jpg" /><div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.lds.org/~ff/LDSNewsRoomTop15?a=Y0OUEnOeo04:9rrN13dfz7c:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/LDSNewsRoomTop15?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a>
</div><img alt="" height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LDSNewsRoomTop15/~4/Y0OUEnOeo04" width="1" />Looking back on 20182019-01-09T14:19:23.003000Zhelenhttps://helen.blog/2019/01/looking-back-on-2018/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" style="padding: 6px;width: 36px;white-space:nowrap" width="36" valign="top"><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0b2306f69f3543ef7c94dfa464d20d01" style="width: 36px; height: 36px; border-radius: 4px;"></td>
<td width="100%" style="padding-top: 6px;">
<b>
amijangos
<a href="https://amijangos.newsblur.com/story/looking-back-on-2018/516444:d95306">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/516444.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> Helen Hou-Sandí:</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
I was ready to remove this rss feed, as I was not reading it and my work internet blocks the actual website. But after reading this and thinking for Costa Rica and my native Guatemala I could not delete it. Looking forward to more posts like this one from Helen.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="clear: both; margin: 0 0 24px;">
<p>Something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is how for all the (terrible) posting I do online, I still consider myself a relatively private person. Knowing where I went to high school and when I graduated isn’t going to help you figure out my passwords or security question answers anyway, but I don’t mean that kind of privacy. Specifically, I avoid sharing anything that I feel could be weaponized against me and/or my family. Things like my hopes and dreams, my kids’ faces and names, the ins and outs of my relationships with friends and family. Which means I think you’ll find all of one annual introspection post from me from several years ago – I love reading them from other people and celebrating their accomplishments with them across the internet, but I generally don’t share back.</p>
<p>2018 was a big year for me though, and really what I’m doing right now is writing a post so that I can unpack it all for myself before deciding whether I’m comfortable sharing about it. Here we go.</p>
<span id="more-15543"></span>
<h2>The Move</h2>
<p>The absolute biggest thing that happened this year was that we moved to my husband’s home country: Costa Rica. We did this primarily for our kids, but also generally for a better quality of life. I could elaborate on a hundred different things that I feel like are better, but, you know, private. What I will say is this: we were here early in the year and watching my children blossom as they enjoyed the outdoors and their grandparents and aunts and uncles brought actual tears to my eyes, and then we flew back home to snow in March and a renewed feeling of my own home country not seeing me as an equal citizen. So I said, what’s keeping us here? And the answer was: nothing, really.</p>
<p>One thing I do want to acknowledge is how defensive I feel when people react to this news with “oh wow, tropical/beach/paradise life!” Costa Rica is beautiful with incredibly kind people and I love that, don’t get me wrong. But I didn’t come here to live an American lifestyle and do that (ugh) ex-pat thing, a term I hate for its roots in classism. We live in a nice suburb of the capital city in a microclimate with year-round temperatures of 75-80ºF during the day, 60-65ºF at night – it’s hours from the beach and we are largely in the same routine as always, especially with the kids. My oldest goes to a school nearby with the regular Costa Rican school schedule, not one of the American schools with a US school year and course offerings.</p>
<p>My feeling is much more in line with the story of my parents: immigrants to another country, attempting to assimilate to suburban life, figuring out social and class structures and how to integrate yourselves and your children. I have it much easier than my parents – extended family nearby (under the same roof, even), 15 years of exposure to Costa Ricans, decent language skills, and a significant economic advantage. But I do miss out on having a Chinese/Asian American community, whereas my parents landed in places with sizable peer groups. That part has started to weigh on me a little and I’ve begun to seek out other Asian Americans in the area, as the significant Chinese immigrant population is not immediately relatable from a cultural standpoint, but overall as a person who works from home in the first place and gets to enjoy the happiness of her children all throughout the day, I am confident we made the right choice.</p>
<h2 id="mce_4">Back to Music</h2>
<p>For those of you who don’t already know, <a href="https://helen.blog/music/">I’m also a pianist</a>, with both my undergrad and master’s degrees in music. For my first three years as a full-time web developer, I was also a church+choir+freelance pianist (and still lived in low-income housing, if that tells you anything about university pay). After moving to 10up, our rapid early growth and then my first child really pushed music-making to occasional hobby status instead of integral part of my life (full disclosure: I was never a daily practicer, even in conservatory). In 2017 I vowed to push myself to finally perform one of my holy grail pieces – the Brahms piano quintet – and in 2018 I did it! Shout out to my pal <a href="https://twitter.com/williampd">Will Davis</a> for hooking me up with his string quartet of people with similar backgrounds – wandered into tech/startups after serious music school study.</p>
<p>In 2019 I vow to finally replace the audio of our YouTube live streamed performance with the recording off a device with the proper gain set and get that out there. I have also started playing with <a href="http://www.adriansandi.com">my husband</a> again after several years of him focusing more on duo work with his brother. We plan on playing a couple of recitals here in Costa Rica over the first half of the year before heading to Guatemala in June for a clarinet fest where we will present a polished program.</p>
<h2>Personal Fulfillment</h2>
<p>I don’t really consider music a hobby because it was my profession for a long time and because (ego alert) I’m a significantly better pianist than “hobby” implies. So outside of that, I have two main hobbies: cooking/baking and shoes. My goal has been to scale up the former while scaling back the latter – though, to be fair to myself, I do not actually buy shoes <em>that</em> often, I just post pictures in spurts that make it look like I’ve acquired everything all at once. I think I’ve mostly accomplished this and plan to continue the trend in 2019.</p>
<p>For cooking and baking, there are two major areas that I would like to continue to focus on: Chinese food and bread. It’s a little more complicated here because of availability and cost of specialty ingredients, especially after being spoiled by living a mile away from an Asian Food Market. Toward the end of the year I found tipo 00 tenero flour at Walmart of all places and brought back my copy of Bread Illustrated, so I really dove in and made some very successful <a href="https://helen.blog/2018/12/the-pizzas-have-been-eaten-up-as-soon-as-i-turn-them-out-and-move-onto-the-next-one-so-i-havent-gotten-any-good-pictures-but-heres-the-base-for-an-arugula-one-thats-looking/">pizza dough</a>, <a href="https://helen.blog/2018/12/its-true-i-too-am-one-of-those-annoying-tech-people-who-posts-pictures-of-their-bread-making/">foccacia</a>, and <a href="https://helen.blog/2019/01/one-last-bread-project-for-2018-these-dinner-rolls-came-out-perfectly-if-i-dare-say-so-myself/">dinner rolls</a>. I also attempted my first ever <a href="https://helen.blog/2018/12/tried-making-my-own-dumpling-wrappers-for-the-first-time/">dumpling wrappers</a>, which I think were only mediocre. I’ll be doing more trials of that soon.</p>
<p>Shoe-wise… well. I wrote out a bunch of details but then decided I didn’t feel like wading that far in. In any case, one of the things that’s been really good for me moving to Costa Rica is somewhat less availability of material goods. That’s not to say you can’t find anything – for instance as a US point of reference, there’s a Crate and Barrel in the upscale town where the prices are basically the same as the US, just with the sales tax of 15% already included in the tagged prices. But there isn’t Amazon Prime, no constant sale marketing, no resale culture (for a lot of reasons including a lack of a reliable postal system, I hope people truly appreciate the USPS because it’s amazing), and generally lower stock where you have to be able to decide if you want a thing right there and then. I mean, it’s an entire country of about 5 million people where we just moved from a metro area that’s estimated at almost 24 million as of 5 years ago, so of course the scale is different.</p>
<p>As much as I enjoy my bit of vanity, the reality is that I work from home and I want to generally be more mindful of how much nonsense we buy and therefore blow our budget on. So far we are still blowing money fast (B.M.F., per Rick Ross) because of the complications of partial moving and having a house that’s twice as large as our last, but I expect that to even out in 2019 so I can finally realize the financial advantages of our move.</p>
<p><i>Aside: I went into a diversion about my shift from non-privileged to privileged which I think is a great topic of discussion but is one of those things where I don’t think I’m eloquent enough to describe it in writing and is also easily weaponized, so if we’re pals and you want to hear about it, let’s catch up soon. <img alt="🙂" class="wp-smiley" src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/11/72x72/1f642.png" style="height: 1em;" /></i></p>
<h2>Work Changes</h2>
<p>The last 2 years of work have not been the usual for me. 2017 was not exactly a productive year on that front – I was battling some burn-out after leading the WordPress 4.7 release through the back half of 2016, my second pregnancy was tough, then I had maternity leave, and then I was “ramping back up”. I’m still at <a href="https://10up.com">10up</a> (8 years this year! Oh yeah and we’re always hiring) and don’t have any desire to go anywhere else, but I needed a change.</p>
<p>We started 2018 out by doing what I seem to keep doing – changing my title. I went from being the Director of Platform Experience (in fairness, this was my title for quite a while) to the Director of Open Source Initiatives – much clearer about the difference between that and our own completely separate hosted platform options, and with an eye toward continuing to grow our broader open source efforts and not just think about the core WordPress software all the time. In that vein, we spun up an Open Source Practice team. I felt excited about the direction, but as we got into the daily rhythm it still didn’t quite suit me and honestly, I’m just tired.</p>
<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img alt="" class="wp-image-15566" src="https://helen.blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/359E89A1-8990-40CB-A1FC-03792A94D393.gif" /><figcaption>“I don’t want to lean in, okay? I want to lie. Down.” – Ali Wong</figcaption></figure></div>
<p>So I finally did what I’ve thought about doing time and time again: I moved to being part-time. I always talk about how I got into web dev for benefits and a steady paycheck in a joking way but I’m actually quite serious – I was just lucky that I could find a thing I liked well enough in pursuit of stability and ended up finding a niche to excel in. I hadn’t made the change previously because I was so afraid of what it would mean for my benefits and I couldn’t fathom bringing home less as the primary earner with two kids in the NYC metro. But 10up remained as supportive as ever, and nothing actually changed on the HR front – benefits and base salary have remained as they were. I make somewhat less because of the way my total comp was previously structured, but moving has made that a non-issue. I see it as a net raise <img alt="🙂" class="wp-smiley" src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/11/72x72/1f642.png" style="height: 1em;" /></p>
<p>In WordPress-land, I’ve been largely absent from the core workflow for these past two years, mostly by choice or because I was on leave entirely. I feel guilty about it sometimes, especially with the weight of that “lead developer” title, but I think that’s an important part of open source software development – people come and go, and everything about your processes and structures have to be able to accommodate that. WordPress people might have noticed in the 5.0 release that there’s no longer a section of “project leaders” on the about page. It did kind of sting for a moment, not because I felt upset or demoted, but because it reminded me of just how far I’ve drifted from what once motivated almost the entirety of my work. I have more thoughts about project leadership, as do a lot of other people it seems, but that’s better saved for another time and place.</p>
<p>2019 is shaping up to be a good one for my work life. We’ve successfully recruited a team+project+product manager for our open source practice who’s amazing and complements my skill set as the director/“thought leader” very well. I think we are going to do some really cool things as a team this year with a better structure and I’m super excited about it. I’ve also started ramping back up into a few WordPress core projects and being more available as a resource for mentorship and advocacy (things I think leads should really excel at) and look forward to staying active in those areas as well.</p>
<h2>What else?</h2>
<p>I’m currently not trying to do more, nor do I think this post captures all the different things I do day to day. My primary concern is my children, especially because they are both very young and require a lot of active attention, which I do not document on the internet. But I do have some longer-term things I’d like to do, maybe not in 2019, but someday. Like finally opening a bubble tea slash Chinese bakery place as we’ve been talking about for 10 years now. Maybe if I do a 2019 retrospective we will see where we are then!</p>
<h2><br /></h2>
<p><br /></p>Your financial family tree: What our parents teach us about money2018-11-28T19:13:05.481000ZJ.D. Rothhttps://www.getrichslowly.org/financial-family-tree/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" style="padding: 6px;width: 36px;white-space:nowrap" width="36" valign="top"><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0b2306f69f3543ef7c94dfa464d20d01" style="width: 36px; height: 36px; border-radius: 4px;"></td>
<td width="100%" style="padding-top: 6px;">
<b>
amijangos
<a href="https://amijangos.newsblur.com/story/your-financial-famil/6269004:b3cced">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/6269004.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> Get Rich Slowly:</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
I know my parents for sure had an impact in my financial life.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="clear: both; margin: 0 0 24px;">
<p>Last weekend, Kim and I flew to Utah for a reunion with friends from <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/ecuador-chautauqua-2016/">the 2016 chautauqua in Ecuador</a>. While in Salt Lake City, we met up with Jesse Mecham (the founder of <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/ynab">You Need a Budget</a>), visited <a href="https://utaholympiclegacy.org/">Utah Olympic Park</a>, and attended a Sunday morning performance of the <a href="https://www.mormonchannel.org/radio/mormon-tabernacle-choir">Mormon Tabernacle Choir</a>. </p>
<p>Our group also spent an entire afternoon at the Mormon <a href="https://www.familysearch.org/locations/saltlakecity-library">Family History Library</a>, where we explored our genealogy. Not everyone was enthused about researching their family tree at first, but eventually even those who thought the exercise would be lame found themselves wrapped in it. It's fun — and enlightening — to unravel the threads of time and discover who your ancestors were and where they came from.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.familysearch.org/locations/saltlakecity-library"><img alt="Kim at the Family History Library" class="aligncenter" height="450" src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4903/45232555094_5e3e229752_c.jpg" title="Kim at the Family History Library" width="800" /></a></p>
<p>Flying home from Salt Lake City, I got to thinking about how our family trees don't just influence our genetics. We inherit more than physical features from those who came before us. We also inherit culture and psychology and values. And yes, we inherit financial habits from our parents and grandparents.</p>
<p>Each of us has a financial family tree.</p>
<h2>My Financial Family Tree</h2>
<p>I write often about our <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/money-blueprint/">money blueprints</a>, the set of subconscious “scripts” that define our behaviors and attitudes toward money. Society at large — our friends, co-workers, the mass media — plays a role in writing these scripts, but most of our money blueprints are inherited from our family — especially our parents.</p>
<p>In a way, it's as if our money blueprints are a product of our financial family trees. Our grandparents passed their feelings about money to their children, and these children instilled their habits and attitudes into us. </p>
<p>When I look at my own relationship with money, it's easy to see how my present actions and attitudes — even at nearly fifty years old! — were inherited from my parents.<span id="more-236756"></span></p>
<p>Here are a few examples:</p>
<ul>
<li>My parents raised three boys in an 800-square-foot trailer house. My parents had 800 square feet for the entire family. The Portland condo that Kim and I sold last year was 1600 square feet. She and I had 800 square feet <em>per person</em>. But I don't need a big, fancy house. I'd be happy — might be <em>happier</em>, in fact — hunkered down in a single-wide trailer somewhere on a couple of acres.</li>
<li>Likewise, I don't need fancy cars. Growing up, I don't think my parents <em>ever</em> had a new car. We had old beaters that went by names like “Dirty Red” and “Dirty White”. Now, as an adult, I'm perfectly content to drive a 15-year-old Mini Cooper. I rarely feel the urge to own a new vehicle.</li>
<li>I inherited a similar attitude toward clothing. My father dressed like a farmer. My mother did her best to look nice, but on a budget. She bought clothes for us boys off close-out racks and at thrift stores. Although I do put some thought into quality and style nowadays, for most of my life I've been more interested in function not fashion.</li>
</ul>
<p>Because of my meager origins, I'm willing to tolerate and accept certain things that others won't. I'm never frightened that I might end up poor because I've already been poor and have survived the experience. In some ways, my financial family tree set me up for success.</p>
<p>That said, my financial family tree <em>also</em> set me up for failure. I inherited some destructive habits.</p>
<ul>
<li>My father was a master of <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/shopping-addiction/">compulsive spending</a> — especially on big-ticket items that he couldn't truly afford. He bought computers. He bought sailboats. He bought airplanes. He bought stereo equipment. Some of my fondest memories are hanging out with dad for hours while he shopped for something he shouldn't buy. Unsurprisingly, I've struggled with compulsive spending most of my adult life.</li>
<li>My mother wasn't a compulsive spender in the same way my father was. Instead, she was something of a hoarder. She tended to buy more than we actually needed: more food, more clothes, more household supplies. This tendency became especially pronounced after dad died. When <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/a-place-for-mom/">we moved mom to assisted living in 2011</a>, her house house was packed with excess groceries and supplies. From mom, I've inherited a tendency to accumulate too much Stuff.</li>
<li>My parents never saved. They were always living on their last five dollars. If they had money, they spend it. If they'd had credit cards, they would have maxed them out. When I left home, I too lived paycheck to paycheck, no matter how good my salary was. (And I <em>did</em> get into trouble with credit cards.)</li>
</ul>
<p>Not all of my money habits came from my parents. Many did, it's true, but I've developed new habits of my own. I've also “inherited” habits from my long-term relationships with Kris and Kim. (Kris and Kim have remarkably similar money habits, by the way.)</p>
<p><img alt="My Family Tree" class="aligncenter" height="800" src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4816/45232555014_340356593e_c.jpg" title="My Family Tree" width="799" /></p>
<h2>Your Financial Family Tree</h2>
<p>When I returned from Utah, I emailed family members to ask them what sorts of habits they'd inherited from their parents. My cousin Duane replied:</p>
<blockquote><p>
My dad had a <em>huge</em> impact on my relationship with money. He drilled holes through nickels rather than pay six cents for stainless steel washers. This was extreme and he did it more to be funny, but really illustrates how cheap he was. He strongly influenced my views of money. That's why I'm a cheap bastard.</p>
<p>My dad didn't feel he deserved money. Perhaps because he didn't like it. I have also felt I don't deserve money. I always give things away or sell them too cheaply.
</p></blockquote>
<p>I also asked members of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/getrichslowlyorg/">the Get Rich Slowly group on Facebook</a> about <em>their</em> financial family trees.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/getrichslowlyorg/permalink/1915649241882013/"><img alt="FB Group - Family Trees" class="aligncenter" height="230" src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4825/45957137031_747c9411b4_z.jpg" title="FB Group - Family Trees" width="640" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/getrichslowlyorg/permalink/1915649241882013/">The answers</a> — both in the group and via private message — were fascinating. For instance, Angela wrote:</p>
<blockquote><p>
Both of my parents worked as bankers when they were younger, so they talked openly about money when I was growing up and checked in with each other regularly regarding finances. I didn't realize how unusual that was until I was married and that was not the case with my husband and his family.</p>
<p>My dad was also self-employed, so they had to pay for many things out of pocket, like doctor's visits and dental. So my dad would barter for services. I grew up knowing that bartering is a possibility…</p>
<p>I really value the transparent attitude regarding money that they passed down to me.
</p></blockquote>
<p>Luke, too, learned the value of talking about money openly — but as a reaction to what his parents did <em>not</em> do:</p>
<blockquote><p>
My parents never talked openly about money, their situation, their goals. They both tried their hand at managing the house and both succeeded and failed in different ways, but it lead to a lot of fighting because they were never on the same page.</p>
<p>My wife and I are completely open and honest about how we spend, what are goals are, and how we will get there together. If I die tomorrow, she will know how to manage our money when I’m gone.
</p></blockquote>
<p>Rebecca's parents weren't transparent about money when she was younger. Now, though, they regret that.</p>
<blockquote><p>
I was raised that talking about money was in very poor taste. You never asked what people made, etc. That came from my dad's side of the family.</p>
<p>My mom didn't have much growing up and was very frugal (washing and reusing all the plastic wrap kind of thing). But my mom loves to “splurge” on things, so money was used to treat yourself, a definite reward system. I definitely fall into that trap, an engrained emotional response to treat myself.</p>
<p>My dad now says his biggest parenting mistake was to not to talk to us and educate us about money, saving and investing.
</p></blockquote>
<p>Some people come from families that had money <em>and</em> knew how to handle it. For example, Stephen's grandparents retired early back before the FIRE movement was a even a thing:</p>
<blockquote><p>
I only recently put two and two together and realized that my grandparents on my dad's side saved aggressively – invested the savings – and retired early – the early version of FIRE…</p>
<p>They influenced me greatly with their wisdom. I was advised by my grandmother that when it came to my diet, I should consider everything in moderation including moderation. My grandfather advised me to never carry debt, and if I had any to pay it off as soon as possible which I tried to follow, and my grandfather would often have BBC current affair programs on which I would watch with him.
</p></blockquote>
<p>But you don't have to be raised with money to learn good habits. Laronda's parents were poor but still set a good example.</p>
<blockquote><p>
My mom grew up dirt-poor as the twelfth of thirteen children in Appalachia. I learned to be resourceful from her. She can up-cycle, mend, and re-purpose with the best of them. She's a wonderful from-scratch cook and is able to turn inexpensive ingredients into tasty dinners. (I'm feeding my own family her stewed beans and cornbread this evening.)</p>
<p>My dad grew up slightly better off but I don't get the impression his family discussed finances much. He taught my brothers and I how to do basic home and auto repairs and gave me an outfitted tool box when I left home.</p>
<p>Growing up, we never discussed money or how to manage it. My brothers and I knew money was a tense, to-be-generally-avoided topic, and we knew not to ask for things.</p>
<p>I've graduated to the middle class and use many of my parents' frugal methods like scratch-cooking, mending and DIY home repairs, but I consciously choose to talk about money frequently with my own spouse and with my three children. I'm hoping my kids are better equipped with money management knowledge and skills when they strike out on their own than I was, but I also hope they benefit from their grandparents' gifts of resourcefulness and general competence in the face of any household challenge.
</p></blockquote>
<p>Finally, here's a story from a reader named Frank:</p>
<blockquote><p>
Neither of my parents had any real financial literacy. My grandmother was my real parent, and she taught me everything I know about money.</p>
<p>As a child, she escaped a war-torn country. She got married. She and her husband had a farm, but he killed himself after all of their chickens died. My grandmother was left to raise two kids alone.</p>
<p>Somehow, she scraped together enough to buy a hotel. She sold it and built a bigger hotel. She sold that and split the money with with my mother. But mom spent it all because she didn't appreciate the work and investment that had gone into building the fortune. Meanwhile, my grandmother quadrupled her half of the wealth.</p>
<p>I'm terrified to be my parents. I've tried to learn from my grandmother. The best thing she taught me was to live well below my means. I'm doing that and busting my ass to make my money grow.
</p></blockquote>
<p>Other members of the Get Rich Slowly FB group pointed me to longer articles they've written about this subject. At Choose FI, Chad shared <a href="https://www.choosefi.com/what-my-parents-taught-me-about-fi/">what his parents taught him about financial independence</a>. Fritz Gilbert from Retirement Manifesto has written about <a href="http://www.theretirementmanifesto.com/a-tribute-to-my-dad/">18 lessons he learned from his dad</a>. And Frogdancer Jones' parents taught her to <a href="https://burningdesireforfire.wordpress.com/2018/10/21/approaching-retirement-from-a-position-of-strength/">approach retirement from a position of strength</a>.</p>
<h2>Final Thoughts</h2>
<p>Although I can't recall having read any academic studies on the subject, I'm convinced that we <em>do</em> inherit money blueprints from our financial family tree. Your basic money habits are a product of what you learned from your parents and grandparents.</p>
<p>In some cases, these blueprints are a reaction <em>against</em> how your family behaved. Most of the time, however, you mimic what you saw when you were young.</p>
<p>The good news is that you're not doomed follow in your family's footsteps. Although these money scripts are deeply-ingrained and will always linger in the back of your mind, you have the knowledge and ability to create better habits, to draw a new, improved money blueprint.</p>
<p>From experience, I can tell you that the transformation takes time. It won't happen overnight. But with enough patience and effort, you <em>can</em> change your frame of mind. You <em>can</em> become a money boss and produce a new branch on your financial family tree.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/financial-family-tree/" rel="nofollow">Your financial family tree: What our parents teach us about money</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org" rel="nofollow">Get Rich Slowly</a>.</p>Apple knows 5G is about infrastructure, NOT mobile phones2018-11-28T14:44:59.281000ZRobert X. Cringelyhttps://www.cringely.com/2018/11/21/apple-knows-5g-is-about-infrastructure-not-mobile-phones/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" style="padding: 6px;width: 36px;white-space:nowrap" width="36" valign="top"><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0b2306f69f3543ef7c94dfa464d20d01" style="width: 36px; height: 36px; border-radius: 4px;"></td>
<td width="100%" style="padding-top: 6px;">
<b>
amijangos
<a href="https://amijangos.newsblur.com/story/apple-knows-5g-is-ab/3540:d1a53c">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/3540.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> I, Cringely:</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
5G is coming to Indianapolis via Verizon, it is exactly what this piece suggesting. The service will be $70/month ($50 if you are a Verizon Customer). I'm a Verizon customer and I would switch in a heart beat if my home was in the current rollout. I pay $60 to ATT to have a cable run to my house and a router for Wifi, many times my 4GLTE is faster than my house internet.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="clear: both; margin: 0 0 24px;">
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><a href="https://www.cringely.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Intel5G.png"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-15550" height="166" src="https://www.cringely.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Intel5G-300x166.png" width="300" /></a>With Apple shares down more than <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/19/apple-shares-fall-on-report-of-slashed-iphone-production-orders.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">20 percent</a> from their all-time highs of only a few weeks ago, writers are piling-on about <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46281768" rel="noopener" target="_blank">what’s wrong in Cupertino</a>. But sometimes writers looking for a story don’t fully understand what they are talking about. And that seems to me to be the case with complaints that Apple is too far behind in adopting 5G networking technology in future iPhones. For all the legitimate stories about how Apple should have done this or that, 5G doesn’t belong on the list. And that’s because 5G isn’t really about mobile phones at all.</span></p>
<p>Just to get this out of the way, I see Apple shares currently presenting a <em>huge</em> buying opportunity. A good Christmas quarter will regain that lost 20 percent, and I don’t see any reason why Apple shouldn’t have a good Christmas quarter.</p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Back to 5G, I ran across <a href="https://seekingalpha.com/article/4221319-apple-takes-position-5g-race-catches?app=1&dr=1#alt1" rel="noopener" target="_blank">this story</a> about Apple being at a disadvantage to Samsung and others when it comes to introducing phones with 5G support. The gist of the story is that Apple is waiting for Intel to finish its 5G chipset while the other vendors are sticking with Qualcomm’s part that is already available. So Apple’s first 5G iPhone won’t appear until 2020 while Samsung’s will be out in 2019.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Apple and Qualcomm are in a <a href="https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/11/07/apple-having-no-meaningful-discussion-with-qualcomm-about-iphone-modem-settlement-trial-imminent" rel="noopener" target="_blank">$5+ billion legal dispute</a> over claimed royalty evasion and IP theft, so it shouldn’t be surprising that Apple is trying to find alternate silicon suppliers. And Intel <i>is</i> somewhat delayed in its 5G roll-out. That all makes sense. But where I have a problem is with understanding how Apple is somehow at a strategic disadvantage by not having 5G in 2019.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">5G <a href="https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/huge-5g-roll-out-brings-challenges-for-engineers/10037300.article" rel="noopener" target="_blank">networks aren’t here yet</a>. They are close to being ready, but won’t start rolling-out until next year and most 5G networks won’t be available nationally until 2020 — just about the time Apple will be shipping its first 5G iPhone. So Apple’s a little behind, but not much really given the network build-outs still to happen. It’s hard to see much of a story here, frankly.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">But it’s actually worse than that, because this story presumes that 5G support is somehow vital to mobile phones. It isn’t.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The first iPhone had 2G networking at a time when 3G networks were emerging, so we’ve been here before. But what’s different this time is that there’s little functional difference between 5G and the current 4G LTE (Long-term Evolution) networks we currently use.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Yes, there are myriad technical differences between 5G and LTE. 5G is <i>way</i> faster — <em>at least </em><i>20 times faster than LTE.</i> But the important question to ask here is why that speed difference matters for mobile phone users? It doesn’t. 5G is no killer app.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Remember that a killer app is an application so valuable to users that it justifies by itself buying the hardware upon which it runs. The original personal computer killer app was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VisiCalc" rel="noopener" target="_blank">VisiCalc</a> — the first spreadsheet.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">What, then, does 5G enable mobile phone users to do that they can’t do today? I can’t think of anything. Sure, 5G will have us sharing 20 gigabits of bandwidth where LTE allows us to share just one gigabit, but what do we do that actually requires that kind of speed? Nothing.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">I have a T-Mobile LTE portable WiFi hotspot that always gives me at least five megabits-per-second and I’ve seen speeds of up to 27 megabits-per-second. Both speeds can support, for example, streaming video at the highest resolution my phone can offer. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, YouTube — they all run flat-out already. What more is 5G going to offer me?</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The traditional argument in this case is that we can’t know until the network is actually up and running at which point some developer will give us a compelling new class of app that does, in fact, need that kind of bandwidth. Only this time I don’t think it is going to work that way because, as I said, 5G isn’t actually about mobile phones at all. It’s about <i>infrastructure.</i> </span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The current 5G roll-out is by far the most expensive network roll-out in wireless history. That’s because where previous network technologies generally made more efficient use of existing spectrum, 5G requires <i>new</i> spectrum — <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/5g-craze-continues-the-5g-spectrum-auction-is-starting/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">lots and lots of new spectrum</a>. Much of this spectrum has been bought-back by wireless carriers from TV license holders. We’ll see this trend continue over the next decade or so until there will be no over-the-air TV left at all. At that point you’ll still be able to watch all the same TV, but it will be over 5G, instead.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The wireless carriers are paying billions for this spectrum not just to takeover TV carriage from broadcast — they want to take it over from cable, too. They fully expect to <i>destroy </i>cable TV over the next 15 years, taking not just TV viewers but also the even more important <em>Internet users.</em></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The whole idea behind 5G is that it will allow the wireless carriers to totally eat the lunches of wireline telephone, cable and Internet service providers while also supplanting broadcast TV.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">5G is truly the one network that will rule them all.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Wireless carriers fully expect to turn traditional TV networks into content developers while putting traditional phone and cable companies simply out of business. </span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">All networking will be wireless and truck rolls will end forever. No more cable guy.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">This is pretty much inevitable. I remember explaining it to a crowd of PBS programmers in a meeting at Sundance back in 2002. Back then the network was spending $1.8 billion rolling-out digital HDTV and I suggested saving that money, selling the spectrum outright, and moving service first to cable and then to the Internet, using the money saved from both sources to endow PBS effectively forever. They thought I was crazy, when in fact I was only somewhat ahead of my time.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">I’m sure there will be bandwidth-intensive mobile apps that take good advantage of 5G, but I doubt that any will be game-changing. <a href="https://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/retina_display.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Retina-type mobile displays</a> long ago reached limits of perceivable visual difference, which is why phones had to get so big. You can make the display 4K, 5K or even 8K and on a phone it will look all the same. We can up refresh rates, I suppose, but <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/how-many-frames-per-second-can-the-human-eye-really-see/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">anything beyond 144K</a> (for those of us who aren’t teen gamers just 60K) is also beyond our physical ability to perceive as different. Or maybe we’ll have some type of <a href="https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/164399-avegant-glyph-a-3dvr-headset-that-beams-the-display-directly-onto-your-retina" rel="noopener" target="_blank">retinal scan display</a> that puts a 100-inch 8K 3D screen directly in our eyeballs, but I seriously doubt even that will require bandwidth much beyond LTE given that silicon will also improve and, along with it, video compression software.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Whatever amazing 5G mobile apps appear, the very earliest we’ll see them is 2020 or later when the 5G roll-outs are finally complete. And isn’t that when Apple is supposed to be shipping 5G phones? </span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">See, they aren’t too late at all.</span></p>
<br /><br />
<a href="https://www.cringely.com/donate/"><img border="0" height="70" src="https://www.cringely.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Donate_Button1-e1408476140799.png" width="200" /></a> <br /><br />
<br /><br />
<a href="http://weblamb.com" target="_blank"><img height="36" src="https://www.cringely.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/WEBLAMB_LOGO_M2015-803x250-e1455933116421.png" width="149" /></a>
<br /><span style="font-size: 10px;">
Digital Branding<br />
Web Design
Marketing</span>
<br />Jameela Jamil calls out celebrities for promoting potentially harmful weight loss supplements that could give you the shits #teamJameela2018-11-28T14:33:32.369000ZDr. Jen Gunterhttps://drjengunter.wordpress.com/2018/11/27/jameela-jamil-calls-out-celebrities/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" style="padding: 6px;width: 36px;white-space:nowrap" width="36" valign="top"><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0b2306f69f3543ef7c94dfa464d20d01" style="width: 36px; height: 36px; border-radius: 4px;"></td>
<td width="100%" style="padding-top: 6px;">
<b>
amijangos
<a href="https://amijangos.newsblur.com/story/jameela-jamil-calls-/1214286:b74d71">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/1214286.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> Dr. Jen Gunter:</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
I love reading these posts.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="clear: both; margin: 0 0 24px;">
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/jameelajamil" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Jameela Jamil</a> made news this week for calling out various celebrities for peddling so-called weight loss and detox supplements and teas. She also hoped they might “shit their pants in public.”</p>
<p>I am #teamJameela.</p>
<p><img alt="Screen Shot 2018-11-27 at 9.48.45 AM" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-20459" src="https://drjengunter.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/screen-shot-2018-11-27-at-9-48-45-am.png?w=750" /></p>
<p>Here is one of the celebrity endorsements that caught her attention, but sadly there are quite a few promoting Flat Tummy Co and all from women with a demographic most vulnerable to destructive messaging about food, body image, and diet — young women and teens.</p>
<p><img alt="Screen Shot 2018-11-27 at 9.40.52 AM.png" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-20460" src="https://drjengunter.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/screen-shot-2018-11-27-at-9-40-52-am.png?w=750" /></p>
<p>Jameela is right to call them out and she is right that one of the products from Flat Tummy Co could make you shit your pants. The tea is primarily laxatives, or at least you hope that is what it contains and not lead or antidepressants or dirt from the side of I-5 as studies tell us <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2706496" rel="noopener" target="_blank">dietary supplements, which are unregulated, are often adulterated</a>.</p>
<p>(By the way, I’m getting enraged every time I type Flat Tummy Co, because promoting a body image disorder with the actual name of your company is next level. I’m going to start calling them FTC, which could also stand for Fucking Terrible Celebrities because it is fucking terrible to use your platform in this way).</p>
<p>At Flat Tummy Co everything is pink and everyone is a Babe. Just seconds after you arrive “Babe Support” appears and when you buy you become a babe too. They anoint you. It’s like an angel getting its wings, but not at all. This is my chat from this morning and the pop up that appeared as I was typing. Another babe in Washington.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><img alt="Screen Shot 2018-11-27 at 7.12.24 AM" class=" size-medium wp-image-20461 aligncenter" height="300" src="https://drjengunter.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/screen-shot-2018-11-27-at-7-12-24-am.png?w=237&h=300" width="237" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p><img alt="Screen Shot 2018-11-27 at 10.05.04 AM" class=" size-medium wp-image-20462 aligncenter" height="83" src="https://drjengunter.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/screen-shot-2018-11-27-at-10-05-04-am.png?w=300&h=83" width="300" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Destructive messaging aside, here is a run down of some medical concerns with FTC products themselves:</p>
<p>Meal replacements are best done as part of a medically supervised weight loss program, not in a Regina-George-on-acid format. The kind of marketing from FTC could attract women who do not medically need to lose weight and contribute to an unhealthy relationship with food. Women who medically want to lose weight are unlikely to do so with these shakes. Essentially, they are a distraction from healthy eating and lifetstyle modification.</p>
<p>The teas sold by FTC are definitely geared to make you shit. The “activate tea” contains 2 possible laxatives: liquorice root and dandelion root. The “cleanse tea” is almost all laxative — in addition to the liquorice and dandelion root there is senna, Cassia Chamaecrista, and rhubarb root. So 5 of the 7 ingredients are laxatives and the other two, peppermint and caraway, are often used to soothe bloat. I guess that would be needed to temper the colonic spasms.</p>
<p><strong>Laxatives are not ecommended for weight loss or weight maintenance or to give you a “flat tummy.”</strong> (I’m shouting, but bold is easier to read than all caps). Laxatives are sadly used by people who suffer from bullemia, so exposing women to laxatives as a “normal” part of weight loss of maintenance is disgusting. It is destructive messaging.</p>
<p><img alt="Screen Shot 2018-11-27 at 7.13.16 AM" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-20465" src="https://drjengunter.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/screen-shot-2018-11-27-at-7-13-16-am1.png?w=750" /></p>
<p>Liquorice or licorice <a href="https://nccih.nih.gov/health/licoriceroot" rel="noopener" target="_blank">in large amounts long-term</a> can also lead to high blood pressure and there are concerns about it being harmful to a developing fetus. How much is in FTC’s product? Your guess is a good as mine!</p>
<p>Then there is the egregious use of “cleansing” and “detoxification,” which are medically nonsensical terms. There are also no “nasties” to eliminate. The Kardashians, helping woman be less informed about their bodies since 2018. I mean come on people, do you not have enough money? Giving women incorrect information about how their bodies work to sell product is the exact opposite of female empowerment.</p>
<p><img alt="Screen Shot 2018-11-27 at 12.41.33 PM" class=" size-medium wp-image-20466 aligncenter" height="300" src="https://drjengunter.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/screen-shot-2018-11-27-at-12-41-33-pm.png?w=205&h=300" width="205" /></p>
<p>The lollipops, promoted by Kim Kardashian, make appetite suppressant claims. The first two ingredients are sugar, so there’s that. The active ingredient, Satiereal®, is a saffron extract. There is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0271531710000655?via%3Dihub" rel="noopener" target="_blank">one study of 60 patients</a> over 8 weeks on its impact on snacking — one half of the participants took the saffron extract and half a placebo (as a capsule, not a sugar filled lollipop). The patients who took the extract lost 0.9 kg or about 2 lbs more over 8 weeks. That’s the only study.</p>
<p><img alt="Screen Shot 2018-11-27 at 10.07.59 AM" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-20463" src="https://drjengunter.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/screen-shot-2018-11-27-at-10-07-59-am.png?w=750" /></p>
<p>As the lollipops have 35 calories and the recommendation is 2 a day, over 8 weeks that is an extra 3,920 calories. That could be enough for some people to gain a pound. Or two.</p>
<p>What we do know about <a href="https://www.mdedge.com/ccjm/article/152902/obesity/pharmacotherapy-obesity-what-you-need-know/page/0/3" rel="noopener" target="_blank">weight loss drugs or pharmacotherapy for weight loss</a> is that they are only indicated for people with a BMI over 30 or for those who have a BMI over 27 who have other medical conditions. They should be medically supervised, not “Babe” supported, and only used in conjunction with lifestyle modification — provocative Instagram poses don’t count.</p>
<p>Appetite suppressants also have a long history of turning out to be dangerous. We don’t know what we don’t know.</p>
<p>Jameela Jamil is exactly right to call out celebrities for endorsing these products and the products themselves. There is no quick fix for weight loss, if there were we doctors would most definitely not be hiding it from you. We also wouldn’t wrap it in pink and call you babe.</p>
<p>FTC products are marketed to young women and teens, so it is no wonder who they pay to advertise on Instagram. The Kardashians and Cardi B and anyone else who sends young women to this website or any weight loss supplement/detox website should be ashamed of themselves. This is the exact messaging and the kind of products that cultivate eating disorders.</p>
<p><img alt="Screen Shot 2018-11-27 at 9.46.19 AM" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-20467" src="https://drjengunter.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/screen-shot-2018-11-27-at-9-46-19-am.png?w=750" /></p>
<p>And Jameela, if you read this, I was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/21/style/binge-eating-disorder.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">that teenager too</a>.</p>
<p><img alt="Screen Shot 2018-11-27 at 1.15.40 PM.png" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-20468" src="https://drjengunter.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/screen-shot-2018-11-27-at-1-15-40-pm.png?w=750" /></p>
<p>My recent article for the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/21/style/binge-eating-disorder.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">New York Times on my weight loss struggles</a>.</p>
<p> </p><br><br><img src="https://0.gravatar.com/avatar/c436b778e856f347a94e2d1d5d7611c0?s=96&d=identicon&r=G" /><br><br><img src="https://drjengunter.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/screen-shot-2018-11-27-at-7-12-24-am.png?w=474" /><br><br><img src="https://drjengunter.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/screen-shot-2018-11-27-at-10-05-04-am.png?w=600" /><br><br><img src="https://drjengunter.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/screen-shot-2018-11-27-at-12-41-33-pm.png?w=410" />The Art of Buying a Book for a Serious Reader2018-11-18T13:20:29.501000Zhttps://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/1422-the-art-of-buying-a-book-for-a-serious-reader<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" style="padding: 6px;width: 36px;white-space:nowrap" width="36" valign="top"><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0b2306f69f3543ef7c94dfa464d20d01" style="width: 36px; height: 36px; border-radius: 4px;"></td>
<td width="100%" style="padding-top: 6px;">
<b>
amijangos
<a href="https://amijangos.newsblur.com/story/the-art-of-buying-a-/99848:ebfaba">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/99848.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> Goodreads Blog:</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Amazing tips!
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="clear: both; margin: 0 0 24px;">
<div>
<br /><br /><div>
<br /><br /><img class="gr-hostedUserImg" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/misc/1541539841-1541539841_goodreads_misc.png" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><spoiler><i></i>
This post is sponsored by <a href="http://simonandschusterpublishing.com/ss-holiday-gift-guide/#fiction" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Simon and Schuster</i></a>.
</spoiler><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>
<br />Buying a gift for a bookworm seems like it should be easy, but it proves to be a daunting task year after year. Before you drive yourself crazy sleuthing through your friends and families’ reading habits, we thought we'd provide some expert advice to help out this holiday season.<br /><br /><br /><br />We turned to <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/96472.Tom_Nissley" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Tom Nissley</a>, who is not only the author of <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17573670-a-reader-s-book-of-days" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>A Reader's Book of Days: True Tales from the Lives and Works of Writers for Every Day of the Year</i></a>, but also the owner of <a href="http://www.phinneybooks.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Phinney Books</a>, a neighborhood bookstore in Seattle (where he'll also be opening a second store, Madison Books). <br /><br /><br /><br />Here are his tried-and-true tips for buying books as gifts:<br /><br /><br />
</div>
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>
<br /><div>
<br /><div>
<br /><div>
<br /><br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17573670" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><br /><br /><img class="gr-hostedUserImg" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1383339073l/17573670.jpg" /><br /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div>
<br />
</div>
<br />
</div>
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />There's nothing I like better as a gift than a book, and that's exactly the thing my friends and family are most terrified to give me. I understand why. I have a lot of books. I have a lot of opinions about books. I even have a bookstore.<br /><br /><br /><br />So what to do if you have a troublesome person like me on your gift list? You could always give them a shirt. It's quite possible they could use a new one. But fear not: You could still get them what they really want, and here's how.<br /><br /><br /><br />Let's get the easiest solution out of the way first. <b>Yes, it is perfectly fine to give a bookstore gift certificate! </b><br /><br /><br /><br />It's hard to imagine a reader who would not be delighted to have carte blanche to browse around a store with free money and treat themselves to something they never would have bought otherwise. You could get a gift card from their favorite store, or perhaps since there are few things a bookworm likes more than discovering a new bookstore, you could give them a reason to try a store that's a little farther afield or in a place they might be visiting soon. (Or, if you want to be the most brilliant gift giver of all: May I suggest a gift card for a store in a place they don't plan to visit, accompanied by tickets for you to go there together. Along with the pleasure of the books and the shared trip, they'll appreciate that at least two hours of the trip are already earmarked for bookstore browsing.)<br /><br /><br /><br />But what if you want to give an actual book? <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>
<br /><div>
<br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37826511" rel="nofollow"><br /><img class="gr-hostedUserImg" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1520890638l/37826511.jpg" /><br /></a><br /><br /><div></div>
<br />
</div>
<br /><div>
<br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37588678" rel="nofollow"><br /><img class="gr-hostedUserImg" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1524645223l/37588678.jpg" /><br /></a><br /><br /><div></div>
<br />
</div>
<br />
</div>
<br /><br /><br /><b>You might start with one of my favorite genres: the witty, browsable reference book.</b> (It's a genre I love so much, I wrote one myself: a literary almanac called <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17573670-a-reader-s-book-of-days" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>A Reader's Book of Days</i></a>.) Books like that make for fun reading, but even better: They don't create a burden, because they are meant to be sampled, to be browsed in one spare moment and put down until another arises. They add to the books you can read without displacing any others! <br /><br /><br /><br />There are wonderful books of this kind across all subjects (favorites of mine include <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16462792.David_Thomson" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">David Thomson</a>'s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41238.The_New_Biographical_Dictionary_of_Film" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Biographical Dictionary of Film</i></a>, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/12126.Bill_James" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Bill James</a>' <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/232459.The_New_Bill_James_Historical_Baseball_Abstract" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Historical Baseball Abstract</i></a>, and—to my surprise—<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9029.Luca_Turin" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Luca Turin</a> and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/582342.Tania_Sanchez" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Tania Sanchez</a>'s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1197770.Perfumes" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Perfumes: The Guide</i></a>), but, as you might expect, there are many with books as their subject, including some delicious new ones, including <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17513754.James_Mustich" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">James Mustich</a>'s superbly chosen and beautifully printed <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37588678-1-000-books-to-read-before-you-die" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>1,000 Books to Read Before You Die</i></a> and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5770126.Jane_Mount" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Jane Mount</a>'s brightly illustrated <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37826511-bibliophile" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Bibliophile: An Illustrated Miscellany</i></a>, as well as, on the more puckish side, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40093255-paperback-crush" rel="nofollow"><i>Paperback Crush</i></a>, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15343150.Gabrielle_Moss" rel="nofollow">Gabrielle Moss'</a> celebration of the Sweet Valley High era of teen romances, a follow-up to the same publisher's deeply enjoyable <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33670466-paperbacks-from-hell" rel="nofollow"><i>Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction</i></a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><b>Beyond that, my advice is to go either very new, or old.</b> If there's a very new book by an author, or on a subject, you know your bookworm loves, snap it up! I say "very new" because this can be a tricky operation: The more your person loves an author, the more likely they are to grab their new book themselves as soon as it goes on sale. But here's your safety net: If you buy the book from a place where it can be easily exchanged, the book is, in essence, a gift certificate, in which case, see above.<br /><br /><br /><br />And then there is my preferred option: going old. <b>My favorite gift for my bookstore staff (and—hint, hint—for myself) is an old edition of a book I know they love.</b> In this connected world, it's not so hard to track down a first edition (better yet, a signed first edition) of a favorite book, and many of them are fairly affordable, just as long as your beloved's favorite book isn't, say, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15151.Zora_Neale_Hurston" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Zora Neale Hurston</a>'s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37415.Their_Eyes_Were_Watching_God" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Their Eyes Were Watching God</i></a> (well-worn, unsigned first edition currently available for $5,500). <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>
<br /><div>
<br /><div>
<br /><div>
<br /><br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27876872" rel="nofollow"><br /><br /><img class="gr-hostedUserImg" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1469414560l/27876872.jpg" /><br /></a><br />
</div>
<br /><br /><div></div>
<br />
</div>
<br /><br /><br />
</div>
<br /><div>
<br /><div>
<br /><div>
<br /><br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62022" rel="nofollow"><br /><br /><img class="gr-hostedUserImg" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388265750l/62022.jpg" /><br /></a><br />
</div>
<br /><br /><div></div>
<br />
</div>
<br /><br /><br />
</div>
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>
<br /><div>
<br /><div>
<br /><br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18904629" rel="nofollow"><br /><br /><img class="gr-hostedUserImg" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1385213846l/18904629.jpg" /><br /></a><br />
</div>
<br /><br /><div></div>
<br />
</div>
<br /><br /><br />
</div>
<br /><div>
<br /><div>
<br /><div>
<br /><br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/758037" rel="nofollow"><br /><br /><img class="gr-hostedUserImg" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1178104807l/758037.jpg" /><br /></a><br />
</div>
<br /><br /><div></div>
<br />
</div>
<br /><br /><br />
</div>
<br />
</div>
<br /><br /><br /><b>Or perhaps there's a picture book they loved as a kid that has fallen out of print.</b> I once, in less internet-y days, found a copy of <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1828168.Jellybeans_for_Breakfast" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Jellybeans for Breakfast</i></a> at a library and presented my wife with a color-copied, hand-bound (well, stapled) edition of her childhood favorite, long out of print. <br /><br /><br /><br />Similarly, especially if you are traveling, you might track down a foreign-language copy of a beloved book, just for the novelty of seeing those familiar words transformed. I doubt I'll ever read the copy of <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/65685.Nathanael_West" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Nathanael West</a>'s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12522132-un-milione-tondo-tondo" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Un milione tondo tondo</i></a> my sister brought back from Italy, but I still love having it.<br /><br /><br /><br />But going old is also a way of getting off the beaten path and finding a book that even your well-read recipient might not know about. <b>The books I most love to discover as a reader (and a bookseller) are ones that have been hiding in plain sight: "lost classics" that were once beloved but have since been forgotten, or ones that never made a splash but have been kept alive by a small band of rabid fans. </b><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />For more of these "lost classics," <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/129729.Phinney_by_Post_Selections" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">check out these 47 books recommended by Phinney Books.</a> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br />You can unearth such treasures with your own research (on <a href="https://www.goodreads.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Goodreads</a>, or on the wonderful website<br /><a href="https://neglectedbooks.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Neglected Books</a>, or via my latest bookish obsession, the British podcast <a href="https://www.backlisted.fm/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Backlisted</a>), or you can rely on some of the excellent publishers who specialize in digging up (and making lovely books out of) such gems, including <a href="https://www.nyrb.com/collections/classics" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">NYRB Classics</a>, <a href="https://www.pushkinpress.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Pushkin Press</a>, Australia's <a href="https://www.textpublishing.com.au/text-classics" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Text Classics</a>, and the new <a href="https://penzlerpublishers.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">American Mystery Classics</a> imprint. More than once, I've given my book-loving mother-in-law a little stack of <a href="https://www.nyrb.com/collections/classics" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">NYRB Classics</a>. Even if I haven't read them myself, I can give them with confidence, because I trust NYRB's judgment. (And they're pretty.)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><b>Or you could take advantage of the judgment of another expert: your local bookseller.</b> Walk into your local bookshop, if you're lucky enough to have one, and explain that you're looking for a gift for someone who has read everything. They might ask for a few details to help them steer you to a superb book that your reader might not know about. Or just ask the question they most like hearing: "What are your favorite books that nobody knows about?" <br /><br /><br /><br />Because while a bookseller is very happy to sell you a new bestseller, a bookseller is very, very, very, very, very happy to sell you that underrated book they love and know everyone else would, too, if they just knew about it. (Some of my favorite answers to that question: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62022.The_Queen_s_Gambit" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>The Queen's Gambit</i></a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4448408.Walter_Tevis" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Walter Tevis</a>, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22825770-the-golden-age" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>The Golden Age</i></a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/104619.Joan_London" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Joan London</a>, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/157927.Gorilla_My_Love" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Gorilla, My Love</i></a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/28937.Toni_Cade_Bambara" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Toni Cade Bambara</a> for short-story lovers, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11467066-the-toaster-project" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>The Toaster Project</i></a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2284028.Thomas_Thwaites" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Thomas Thwaites</a> for engineering types, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/102066.Rogue_Male" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Rogue Male</i></a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/58932.Geoffrey_Household" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Geoffrey Household</a> for thriller fans, and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/758037.The_Women_In_Black" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>The Women in Black</i></a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/400499.Madeleine_St_John" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Madeleine St. John</a> for anyone looking for a happy, but not stupid, book, which, based on my experience, is everyone.)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><b>You could also rely on those experts by giving one of the most generous reader's gifts: a yearlong book subscription.</b> Many bookstores and publishers around the world have launched such services, in which they send out a well-chosen book every month, sometimes in a box with other goodies (although what "goodie" is worth the space that could be occupied by another book, I have no idea). <a href="https://www.nyrb.com/pages/the-nyrb-classics-book-club" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">NYRB Classics</a> has one for their own books, as does the British publisher <a href="http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk//book-subscription.html" rel="nofollow">Persephone</a>, which specializes in beautifully bound reprints of fiction, mainly by women. Many stores offer "first-edition clubs" or specialty subject subscriptions, and some, like <a href="https://www.brilliant-books.net/surprise-book-month" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Brilliant Books</a> in Michigan, and <a href="https://www.heywoodhill.com/subscriptions" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Heywood Hill</a> and the <a href="https://www.thewilloughbybookclub.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Willoughby Book Club</a> in the U.K., promise individually chosen "bespoke" subscriptions. I should mention that at <a href="http://www.phinneybooks.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Phinney Books</a> we have two subscription programs, one <a href="http://www.phinneybooks.com/phinney-by-post-kids/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">for children's picture books</a> and one, called <a href="http://www.phinneybooks.com/phinney-by-post/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Phinney by Post</a>, that, as you might expect from the above, specializes in those lost classics I love to find.<br /><br /><br /><br /><b>Finally, if all those choices still daunt you, the other thing a book lover values is time.</b> Reading books takes time, something we never have enough of, and if you can't give a book, or are terrified to choose the right one, you can always give the time to read one (or three). Give your favorite reader a gift of uninterrupted time, when they have no responsibilities or concerns but the pages in front of them (and perhaps someone to bring a snack and top off their drink), and they might be the most grateful of all.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><b>What are your best tips for buying gifts for readers? Share them with us in the comments! </b><br /><br /><br />
</div>
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>
<br /><br /><b>Check out more recent <a href="https://goo.gl/AzP8G7" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">blogs</a>:<br /><br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/1426-literary-inspired-gifts-for-the-most-avid-bookworms" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Literary-Inspired Gifts for the Most Avid Bookworms</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/1425" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">32 Reader-Recommended Books to Inspire Nonreaders</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/1419-do-good-how-to-help-the-little-free-libraries" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Do Good: How to Help the Little Free Libraries</a></b>
<br />
</div>
<br />
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br /><br />
posted by Cybil
on November, 14A1C Advice: Change What You Consider High Blood Sugar2018-09-25T16:06:00.719000ZGingerhttps://onedrop.today/2018/09/13/what-are-high-blood-sugar-numbers-a1c-advice/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" style="padding: 6px;width: 36px;white-space:nowrap" width="36" valign="top"><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0b2306f69f3543ef7c94dfa464d20d01" style="width: 36px; height: 36px; border-radius: 4px;"></td>
<td width="100%" style="padding-top: 6px;">
<b>
amijangos
<a href="https://amijangos.newsblur.com/story/a1c-advice-change-wh/6962446:14747a">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/6962446.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> One Drop:</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
This is the type of daily experimentation one has to do when managing diabetes. Thankfuly I don't have to add insulin to my monitoring, but controling the grams of carbs, exercise and mindset.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="clear: both; margin: 0 0 24px;">
<h2><span style="color: #fb0069;">When your A1C results are still too high <img alt="😣" class="wp-smiley" src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/11/72x72/1f623.png" style="height: 1em;" /></span></h2>
<p>If you’re frustrated that your <span style="color: #fb0069;"><a href="http://onedrop.today/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/A1C-infographic.pdf" rel="noopener" style="color: #fb0069;" target="_blank">HbA1c</a></span> (A1C) hasn’t gone down despite your best efforts to exercise more, eat fewer carbs, and check your blood sugar more often, there may be one sneaky habit you haven’t noticed: what you consider an “okay” blood sugar is actually a “high” blood sugar that needs correcting with a bolus of insulin.</p>
<p><span style="color: #000000;">Your A1c is the culmination of your blood sugar levels over the course of the prior 2-3 months, which means an A1c of 8.0 percent <a href="http://onedrop.today/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/A1C-infographic.pdf" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><span style="color: #fb0069;">translates to</span></a> eAG” (estimated average glucose) of 183 mg/dL.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000;">If your blood sugar is 183 mg/dL, this means that for a large part of every day, your blood sugar is either a little lower or a little higher than 183 mg/dL. Meanwhile, an A1c of 7.0 percent translates to 154 mg/dL. Merely a 30-point different, sure. But it has a tremendous impact on your A1c and overall blood sugar levels!</span></p>
<h2><span style="color: #fb0069;"><a href="https://onedrop.today/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/a1c-chart.png" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="What You Consider a High Blood Sugar - a1c chart - how to reduce a1c - how to reduce blood glucose" class="aligncenter wp-image-22683 size-full" height="1360" src="https://onedrop.today/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/a1c-chart.png" width="1462" /></a></span></h2>
<h2><span style="color: #fb0069;">High vs. High </span></h2>
<p>The trick, in this scenario, is to adjust the way you think of “high” BG. Sure, we <em>all </em>know 300 mg/dL is “high.” But, if you’re looking to get that 8.0% A1C down to a 7.0%, 183 mg/dL should now resonate with you as “high” as well.</p>
<p>It sounds so easy! But when you try putting it into practice, it can actually be quite tricky. So you see a 183 mg/dL on your meter screen; what do you do to correct it? It’s not high like a 300 mg/dL high, but it’s still, technically, “high” if the goal is to get to 7.0%. But are you registering it as such?</p>
<p>If not, it’s OK! Here are the steps to take to change that mindset, and reach your A1C goal. <img alt="🥅" class="wp-smiley" src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/11/72x72/1f945.png" style="height: 1em;" /></p>
<h2><span style="color: #fb0069;">Step 1: Get to the root of the problem </span></h2>
<p>You can’t fix something until you know (and understand) what the root cause of the problem is. Ask yourself: “<span style="color: #fb0069;"><em>What have I been considering a ‘high’ blood sugar that deserves an insulin correction?</em></span>” Perhaps you need a week of observing and getting to know your honest answer to this question. By the end of the week, you might learn that you’re often around 200 mg/dL after lunch, or you spend the majority of your entire workday around 150 mg/dL and you never take a correction for it, because you’re used to that being “your normal.”</p>
<h2><span style="color: #fb0069;">Step 2: Set a new standard of success (aka high BG)</span></h2>
<p>Decide on your new standard of “high blood sugar.” In an ideal world, we’d all aim for that perfect, non-diabetic range of 70 to 120 mg/dL all day long. But, as you and I know all too well, that is pretty darn stressful! And fairly unrealistic for everyday life with diabetes. (The exception being those who are pregnant or eating <span style="color: #fb0069;"><a href="https://onedrop.today/2018/02/03/the-bernstein-diet/" rel="noopener" style="color: #fb0069;" target="_blank">The Bernstein Diet</a></span>). Instead, you might decide that you’ll aim to correct any blood sugar over 140 mg/dL (based on the logic, of course, of how long it’s been since your last injection or bolus, to prevent “stacking” your insulin). Whatever your new goal is, write it down (tape it into your glucometer if you have to!) and embrace your new range as your new goal. <img alt="⭐" class="wp-smiley" src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/11/72x72/2b50.png" style="height: 1em;" /></p>
<h2><span style="color: #fb0069;">Step 3: Establish your correction factor </span></h2>
<p>Establish your <em><a href="http://www.mountsinai.on.ca/care/lscd/sweet-talk-1/what2019s-a-correction-factor-an-insulin-sensitivity-a-ratio" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><span style="color: #fb0069;"><strong>Correction Factor</strong></span></a> </em>…and use it<i>!</i> Your correction factor (CF) is the number of points 1 unit of insulin will reduce your blood sugar. For instance, the common CF is 1:50 or 1:75. Once your CF is established as 1:50, for example, when you see a 150 mg/dL on your glucometer 3 hours after lunch (when your meal bolus is past its peak), you could take a ½ unit of insulin to bring your blood sugar down 25 points. (Remember that certain variables like exercise and stress can impact your CF in that moment. Exercise would cause you to need <i>less</i> insulin for that correction, whereas a stressful conversation or work event could cause you to need more.)</p>
<h2><span style="color: #fb0069;">Step 4: Tighten up fasting BGs</span></h2>
<p>Take a look at your overnight and fasting blood sugars. If you’ve been seeing 160 mg/dL on your glucometer in the mornings and <i>don’t do anything about it</i>, that’s going to be a big contributor to your A1c frustration<i>.</i>< That means you’ve spent all night with a blood sugar well above the range of your target A1C. That alone can explain why your A1C is so much higher than your goal, even if you’ve been staying closer to your goal range during the day. Nighttime is 8 hours of your A1C result! Nip that one in the bud by studying your overnight blood sugars more closely and adjusting your insulin and medication doses.</p>
<h2><span style="color: #fb0069;">Step 5: Increase background insulin doses</span></h2>
<p>If you aren’t getting enough background/basal <span style="color: #fb0069;"><a href="https://onedrop.today/2018/04/20/insulin-diabetes-what-is-insulin/" rel="noopener" style="color: #fb0069;" target="_blank">insulin</a></span>, your efforts to lower your A1C will be pretty pointless. When was the last time you did a little basal testing? Evan a small increase of <i>1 additional unit</i> <i>per day</i> in your background insulin dose can have a huge impact on your overall blood sugars. If you’re seeing habitual spikes and/or long-term high patterns in your levels, rethink your basal settings. Consider that your overall background/basal insulin doses need an increase. It’s an easy fix!</p>
<h2><span style="color: #fb0069;">Step 6: Pinpoint other BG trouble spots </span></h2>
<p>For example, if you usually exercise with your blood sugar around 200 mg/dL because you’re terrified of going low, that’s going to be a daily portion of the day when you’re well above your goal range (if you’re trying to achieve an A1c of 7.0 percent). Learning how to exercise with <i>in-range</i> blood sugars isn’t easy. In fact, it’s a lengthy process of trial and error and more learning, but it can be done! Here are a few resources to help you expand your knowledge around exercising with type 1 diabetes or type 2 diabetes using insulin:</p>
<p>● <a href="https://diabetesstrong.com/fit-with-diabetes/" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><span style="color: #fb0069;">Fit with Diabetes eBook</span></a> by Diabetes Strong</p>
<p>● <span style="color: #fb0069;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Diabetic-Athletes-Handbook-Sheri-Colberg/dp/0736074937" rel="noopener" style="color: #fb0069;" target="_blank">The Diabetes Athlete’s Handbook</a></span> by Sheri Colberg, PhD</p>
<p>● <span style="color: #fb0069;"><a href="https://diabetesstrong.com/intermittent-fasting-type-1-diabetes/" rel="noopener" style="color: #fb0069;" target="_blank">Fasted Exercise with Type 1 Diabetes</a></span> by Ginger Vieira</p>
<p>● <span style="color: #fb0069;"><a href="https://onedrop.today/2017/12/15/products-love-adam-brown-bright-spots-landmines/" rel="noopener" style="color: #fb0069;" target="_blank">Bright Spots & Landmines</a></span> by Adam Brown</p>
<p>● <span style="color: #fb0069;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Dealing-Diabetes-Burnout-Frustrated-Overwhelmed/dp/1936303590" rel="noopener" style="color: #fb0069;" target="_blank"> Dealing with Diabetes Burnout</a></span> by Ginger Vieira</p>
<h2></h2>
<h2><span style="color: #fb0069;">The ongoing science experiment </span></h2>
<p>In the end, it’s all just learning, studying, improving and adjusting! The lifelong science experiment of life with diabetes. <img alt="🙌" class="wp-smiley" src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/11/72x72/1f64c.png" style="height: 1em;" /> You may have recently come out on the other side of a stressful divorce or been managing the diagnosis of something incredibly stressful like breast cancer–and those stressors in life had caused you to let your blood sugars run higher for a period of time. Hey, it happens! To <i>any</i> of us! (Mine, for example, was the addition of a 2nd child to keep alive on a daily basis! Parenting! Oy vey.) But when you’re ready to focus on reducing your A1c, make sure that your idea of a “normal” blood sugar vs. a “high” blood sugar lines up realistically with your goals.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://onedrop.today/2018/09/13/what-are-high-blood-sugar-numbers-a1c-advice/" rel="nofollow">A1C Advice: Change What You Consider High Blood Sugar</a> appeared first on <a href="https://onedrop.today" rel="nofollow">One Drop</a>.</p>It was about slavery.2018-08-28T21:01:27.112000ZRyan Borenhttps://boren.blog/2018/08/17/it-was-about-slavery/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" style="padding: 6px;width: 36px;white-space:nowrap" width="36" valign="top"><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0b2306f69f3543ef7c94dfa464d20d01" style="width: 36px; height: 36px; border-radius: 4px;"></td>
<td width="100%" style="padding-top: 6px;">
<b>
amijangos
<a href="https://amijangos.newsblur.com/story/it-was-about-slavery/349741:92078b">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/349741.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> Ryan Boren:</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Wow, for a immigrant living the US this is a lot of history to understand. It has also been inmensly helpful to see how/why there is a return to these topics now.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="clear: both; margin: 0 0 24px;">
<p>Do the racist <a href="https://boren.blog/2017/08/11/to-the-family-trumpists/">Trumpists in your family</a> claim the Civil War wasn’t about slavery but instead about states’ rights?</p>
<p>Yeah, mine too. A steady diet of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy">Southern Strategy</a> and the <a href="http://www.scv.org/pdf/ConfederateCatechism.pdf">Confederate Catechism</a> occupies their minds with morally convenient ahistorical revisionism.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://apnews.com/8b5acbe570e64e029a48cb1c99a4eebe/Civil-War-lessons-often-depend-on-where-the-classroom-is">Civil War lessons often depend on where the classroom is.</a>” In the classroom of our family, we teach our kids to consult <a href="http://www.pbs.org/tpt/slavery-by-another-name/themes/historic-documents/">primary sources</a>, in this case the declarations of secession of <a href="http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_scarsec.asp">South Carolina</a>, <a href="http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_geosec.asp">Georgia</a>, <a href="http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_missec.asp">Mississippi</a>, and our home state of <a href="http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_texsec.asp">Texas</a> as well as the <a href="http://www.civil-war.net/pages/ordinances_secession.asp">ordinances of secession</a>.</p>
<p>Historian <a href="http://kevinmkruse.com/">Kevin Kruse</a> offered <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1030256938834165760">a helpful breakdown of these declarations on Twitter</a>.</p>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">In its simplest terms, the Civil War came about because the southern states seceded. </p>
<p>And the southern states seceded to protect and defend slavery.</p>
<p>And we know this because they said so at the time. </p>
<p>Proudly. Openly. Repeatedly.</p>
<p>— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1030256940117635072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">For instance, here's Mississippi's secession declaration, which declared its reasons quite directly: </p>
<p>"Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery — the greatest material interest of the world."<a href="https://t.co/4RDLzkOtEc">https://t.co/4RDLzkOtEc</a> <a href="https://t.co/GZz4NhoX8N">pic.twitter.com/GZz4NhoX8N</a></p>
<p>— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1030256941862400000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">South Carolina likewise explained that they were leaving the Union because of "an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery."<a href="https://t.co/yJfxRUcM1U">https://t.co/yJfxRUcM1U</a> <a href="https://t.co/4FFqrNTd4O">pic.twitter.com/4FFqrNTd4O</a></p>
<p>— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1030256944412610561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Here's Texas, citing "an unnatural feeling of hostility to these Southern States and their beneficent and patriarchal system of African slavery."<a href="https://t.co/XOekw36GVp">https://t.co/XOekw36GVp</a> <a href="https://t.co/krlqakxy0i">pic.twitter.com/krlqakxy0i</a></p>
<p>— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1030256947617058817?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Here's Robert E. Lee's home state of Virginia, making clear that their cause was in line with the other "Slaveholding Southern States" in wanting to defend that institution at all costs. <a href="https://t.co/pqfeAyE8LG">https://t.co/pqfeAyE8LG</a> <a href="https://t.co/mFpo37ODPL">pic.twitter.com/mFpo37ODPL</a></p>
<p>— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1030256950125182976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Look beyond these declarations to comments from leaders of the Confederacy, and listen to what issues they say their cause and their new country, the Confederate States of America, were dedicated.</p>
<p>— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1030256952591429634?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Here's the "Cornerstone Speech" by Vice President Alexander Stephans, who said in 1861 the CSA was founded on the idea that "the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery–subordination to the superior race–is his natural and normal condition." <a href="https://t.co/3eqXbxUfBf">https://t.co/3eqXbxUfBf</a> <a href="https://t.co/4QUu7E9t4w">pic.twitter.com/4QUu7E9t4w</a></p>
<p>— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1030256953522614272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Or let's listen to William T. Thompson, the man who designed the Confederate flag. </p>
<p>"As a people we are fighting to maintain the Heaven-ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored race," he said in 1863. The flag he designed was meant to show that.</p>
<p>— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1030256956429221890?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Historians have written countless books explaining this. </p>
<p>But if you won't read them, here's my former colleague Jim McPherson, noting how the war was absolutely about slavery and southern arguments shifted to "states' rights" only very late in the game. <a href="https://t.co/eBQlDETkup">https://t.co/eBQlDETkup</a></p>
<p>— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1030256957746290690?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Some joke that the war was fought over states' rights–states' rights to own slaves. </p>
<p>But that's not true. Southern states insisted that northern ones be forced to back slavery by the Fugitive Slave Act. When it came to states' rights to opt out of slavery, they were against it.</p>
<p>— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1030256958719311872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Again, as a professor I know all this, because this is what actual historians of the Civil War all say. </p>
<p>Even if you won't listen to them, you should listen to what the leaders of the secession movement and the Confederacy say. Because they were *pretty* damn clear about it.</p>
<p>— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1030256959696633856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<p>Here’s an embed of the video mentioned in the thread.</p>
<div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" class="youtube-player" height="619" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JRFs4OFY3U4?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&autohide=2&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent" style="border: 0;" type="text/html" width="1100"></iframe></div>
<blockquote><p>If that institution was discredited in the eyes of the world, then the Confederacy itself would be discredited in the eyes of history. So, it became a psychological necessity, I think, to deny that the Civil War was about slavery.</p></blockquote>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRFs4OFY3U4">Was the Civil War about Slavery? When did States Rights Become A Popular Explanation for Secession? – YouTube</a></p>
<p>Historian <a href="http://www.thetattooedprof.com/">Kevin Gannon</a> offered <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTattooedProf/status/1030143249435041792">a great thread on the history of Robert E. Lee</a>.</p>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Hi there-Civil War historian here. So, uh…this is really, really far from "The Truth." Got a minute? /1 <a href="https://t.co/p0p714upiy">https://t.co/p0p714upiy</a></p>
<p>— Kevin Gannon (@TheTattooedProf) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTattooedProf/status/1030143249435041792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">2/ Lee certainly did not believe slavery was wrong. In an 1856 letter to his wife, he said "The blacks are immeasurably better off here than in Africa, morally, socially & physically. The painful discipline they are undergoing, is necessary for their instruction as a race."</p>
<p>— Kevin Gannon (@TheTattooedProf) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTattooedProf/status/1030143433736945664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">3/"How long their subjugation may be necessary is known & ordered by a wise Merciful Providence," Lee concluded. In other words, it was up to God, not Man, to abolish slavery. This was a typical slaveholder dodge one would hear throughout this era. Lee was no different.</p>
<p>— Kevin Gannon (@TheTattooedProf) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTattooedProf/status/1030143434873602054?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">4/ If you read Elizabeth Prior Brown's biography of Lee, you'd learn that Lee broke up every family on his plantation by 1860 by either renting or selling them apart. He once ordered an enslaved man whipped, and then had brine poured over his back. No "Christian Gentleman" here.</p>
<p>— Kevin Gannon (@TheTattooedProf) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTattooedProf/status/1030143683755212800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">5/ As for the assertion that Lee "opposed secession," well, that's just dumb. He may have lamented the fact that secession had to occur, but there was never a choice when it came to the South or the Union: Lee wanted to protect Virginia, the South, and its "institutions"</p>
<p>— Kevin Gannon (@TheTattooedProf) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTattooedProf/status/1030143684841488384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">6/Bear in mind that Lee forsook the oath he took to the Constitution and Union when he left the US Army, *where he was a career officer*, to join the Confederacy. One does not oppose secession and then take such a dramatic action to fight for…secession. <a href="https://t.co/79AgOhJFyO">pic.twitter.com/79AgOhJFyO</a></p>
<p>— Kevin Gannon (@TheTattooedProf) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTattooedProf/status/1030143686208835587?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">7/Lee consistently referred to Union forces as "those people," the enemy who threatened everything he and his state and region supposedly stood for. If you read the secession proclamations of the Confederate States, the preservation of slavery is clearly "what they stood for."</p>
<p>— Kevin Gannon (@TheTattooedProf) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTattooedProf/status/1030143853922271233?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">8/Don't just take my word for it-read Virginia's secession ordinance, condemning the federal govt for actions taken "*not only to the injury of the people of Virginia, but to the oppression of the Southern Slaveholding States.*" [The emphasis is in the original document]</p>
<p>— Kevin Gannon (@TheTattooedProf) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTattooedProf/status/1030143855058972672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">9/The inclusion of "slaveholding" in an important signifier. The South was seceding not just as "the South," but the "Slaveholding" South. When southern whites talked about "injuries" and "threatened rights" in the Union, they meant the fate of slavery. Full stop.</p>
<p>— Kevin Gannon (@TheTattooedProf) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTattooedProf/status/1030143856271077376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">10/I'm not going to relitigate secession, because it's crystal clear from the documents and other evidence from the period that secession and the preservation of slavery were inextricably linked in the eyes of Confederates, whether or not they "owned" slaves themselves.</p>
<p>— Kevin Gannon (@TheTattooedProf) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTattooedProf/status/1030143857441349637?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">11/Read the letters of southern "secession commissioners" collected by Charles Dew in his excellent book _Apostles of Disunion_. Read the state secession convention debates. Read the letters. Read the Confederate Constitution. The perpetuation of chattel slavery suffuses it all</p>
<p>— Kevin Gannon (@TheTattooedProf) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTattooedProf/status/1030144103034576898?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">12/To deny that someone like Bob Ed Lee supported slavery or secession is to buy into the post-Civil War propaganda where eminent white southerners like Lee sought to softpedal their prewar and wartime stances to make themselves more palatable for re-entry into civil society. <a href="https://t.co/yAYI9KRG43">pic.twitter.com/yAYI9KRG43</a></p>
<p>— Kevin Gannon (@TheTattooedProf) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTattooedProf/status/1030144104167038979?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">13/even after the war, though, when Lee was president of Washington College, the school had a KKK chapter and there were two attempted lynchings on campus, which Lee turned a blind eye towards and did not punish the students involved. He continued to argue Blacks were "inferior"</p>
<p>— Kevin Gannon (@TheTattooedProf) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTattooedProf/status/1030144359344300032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">14/The local chapter of the Freedmen's Bureau repeatedly charged Washington College students with abducting and raping Black girls. Lee–the PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE–never responded to any of the charges or cooperated with the Bureau to investigate.</p>
<p>— Kevin Gannon (@TheTattooedProf) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTattooedProf/status/1030144360543936513?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">15/Lee *testified in front of Congress* against black suffrage, arguing "the negroes have neither the intelligence nor the other qualifications which are necessary to make them safe depositories of political power."</p>
<p>— Kevin Gannon (@TheTattooedProf) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTattooedProf/status/1030144361546358789?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">16/What <a href="https://twitter.com/senatormcdaniel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@senatormcdaniel</a> is doing here is giving you the santized version of Lee, the "marble man" myth-it's an image that has no basis in fact and is easily disproven by the historical record. I mean, this stuff isn't secret. <a href="https://t.co/QaRjyYTBMX">pic.twitter.com/QaRjyYTBMX</a></p>
<p>— Kevin Gannon (@TheTattooedProf) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTattooedProf/status/1030144585421533185?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">17/But McDaniel and other Confederate apologists don't care. They ignore what the Confederates themselves said (read Alexander Stephenson's 1861 "cornerstone speech, FFS) and peddle this racist, whitewashed version of history where the Confederates were "heroes."</p>
<p>— Kevin Gannon (@TheTattooedProf) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTattooedProf/status/1030144587636133888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">18/But to do so, to deny Lee was a supporter of slavery and secession, is to deny that the Civil War occurred because a substantial white regional minority refused to abide by the results of a legal election because they saw it as threatening their "right" to own other people <a href="https://t.co/Hvwz5Ou8k7">pic.twitter.com/Hvwz5Ou8k7</a></p>
<p>— Kevin Gannon (@TheTattooedProf) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTattooedProf/status/1030144895036674048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">19/ So, <a href="https://twitter.com/senatormcdaniel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@senatormcdaniel</a>, you have a curious way of defining "The Truth," but I suspect you're more interested in dog-whistling to anti-Black racists than you are in historical accuracy. Because your assessment of Lee flies in the face of all available historical evidence. <a href="https://t.co/S5pnQSXcFQ">pic.twitter.com/S5pnQSXcFQ</a></p>
<p>— Kevin Gannon (@TheTattooedProf) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTattooedProf/status/1030144897096003584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<p>What about non-slaveholding southerners fighting in the Civil War? Historian <a href="https://kerileighmerritt.com/">Keri Leigh Merritt</a> explains how oligarchy, then as now, brutalized and divided us all.</p>
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">I'm seeing some misinformation here re: non-slaveholding southerners fighting in the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CivilWar?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CivilWar</a> since <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTattooedProf?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheTattooedProf</a> 's <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RobertELee?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RobertELee</a> thread went viral. So let's get a few things right:</p>
<p>— Keri Leigh Merritt (@KeriLeighMerrit) <a href="https://twitter.com/KeriLeighMerrit/status/1030516123136155649?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<p class="p1">
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">2. But for many cyclically-poor landless whites, esp in the cotton South (abt 1/3 white pop), there was no desire to fight & die to protect slave property. They even realized that their lives were negatively impacted (socio-economically) by the "peculiar institution."</p>
<p>— Keri Leigh Merritt (@KeriLeighMerrit) <a href="https://twitter.com/KeriLeighMerrit/status/1030516125606588418?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
</p>
<p class="p1">
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">4. (Important:) Most poor whites FULLY REALIZED they could never afford a purchase a slave. Most never owned more than a few dollars cash at the richest point in their lives. There was no credit for poor people.</p>
<p>— Keri Leigh Merritt (@KeriLeighMerrit) <a href="https://twitter.com/KeriLeighMerrit/status/1030516128962027521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
</p>
<p class="p1">
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">6. In the 1850s, non-slaveholding laborers were forming nascent unions, demanding protection from competition w brutalized slave labor. These unions met throughout the South, & some even threatened to withdraw their support for slavery altogether -it hurt their prospects & wages.</p>
<p>— Keri Leigh Merritt (@KeriLeighMerrit) <a href="https://twitter.com/KeriLeighMerrit/status/1030516133080784897?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
</p>
<p class="p1">
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">7. By eve of war, slaveholders used racist media to try to scare lower class whites into supporting secession, predicting that they'd be raped & slaughtered by the thousands in an inevitable race war following emancipation. If they lived, slaveholders said, they'd be white slaves <a href="https://t.co/wzEevT0Gy1">pic.twitter.com/wzEevT0Gy1</a></p>
<p>— Keri Leigh Merritt (@KeriLeighMerrit) <a href="https://twitter.com/KeriLeighMerrit/status/1030516134485925888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
</p>
<p class="p1">
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">8. Slaveholders were terrified of Republican Party, & not just because of the Party's stance on slavery: <a href="https://t.co/RwoM6joGCQ">pic.twitter.com/RwoM6joGCQ</a></p>
<p>— Keri Leigh Merritt (@KeriLeighMerrit) <a href="https://twitter.com/KeriLeighMerrit/status/1030516136427835392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
</p>
<p class="p1">
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">10. Unfortunately, no matter how many times abolitionists tried to reach the white masses, censorship+illiteracy+police state rendered the effort fruitless.</p>
<p>Lynchings for whites -whether talking about Lincoln, or possessing Hinton Helper's book, or associating w Blacks-abounded.</p>
<p>— Keri Leigh Merritt (@KeriLeighMerrit) <a href="https://twitter.com/KeriLeighMerrit/status/1030516139674218501?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
</p>
<p class="p1">
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">11. So why did poor whites vote for secession??</p>
<p>Well, many did not. Voter turn-out dropped precipitously bw the 1860 Presidential election and the secession convention elections – the extent of apathy v force is still unknown. Fraud *was* rampant. <a href="https://t.co/wzH83rK4Rp">pic.twitter.com/wzH83rK4Rp</a></p>
<p>— Keri Leigh Merritt (@KeriLeighMerrit) <a href="https://twitter.com/KeriLeighMerrit/status/1030516141620449280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
</p>
<p class="p1">
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">12. And we *must* keep in mind that slave societies were HEAVILY policed, constantly surveilled, censored societies. Slaveholders used vigilante violence whenever they could to beat & torture ppl into maintaining the southern hierarchy: <a href="https://t.co/w5NoCSTL2I">pic.twitter.com/w5NoCSTL2I</a></p>
<p>— Keri Leigh Merritt (@KeriLeighMerrit) <a href="https://twitter.com/KeriLeighMerrit/status/1030516143583375371?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
</p>
<p class="p1">
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">14. of poor men forced at the point of bayonets, or who were arrested for vagrancy & then forced to join are common. (2) PAY. Already trapped in cyclical un-& under-employment, this was a steady & decent wage. Good-excellent, life-changing $ for substitutions,etc. (3) LAND. prior</p>
<p>— Keri Leigh Merritt (@KeriLeighMerrit) <a href="https://twitter.com/KeriLeighMerrit/status/1030516148369010689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
</p>
<p class="p1">
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">16. Poor whites were forced to join en masse after the Conscription Act of 1862. Then the "Twenty Negro Act," exempting the richest slaveholders, inflamed class tensions. </p>
<p>= led to massive defections/desertions of the poor in 63-64, ultimately adding to the Confederacy's defeat</p>
<p>— Keri Leigh Merritt (@KeriLeighMerrit) <a href="https://twitter.com/KeriLeighMerrit/status/1030516152227848192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
</p>
<p class="p1">
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">18 (FIN). The slave regime of the South – the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Confederacy?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Confederacy</a> – needs to be remembered for what it was. In 1867 Union General John Pope wrote a letter to Ulysses Grant, expressing his concerns about how the Civil War—and the causes of the Confederacy—would be remembered in history: <a href="https://t.co/ENsc9hXMk8">pic.twitter.com/ENsc9hXMk8</a></p>
<p>— Keri Leigh Merritt (@KeriLeighMerrit) <a href="https://twitter.com/KeriLeighMerrit/status/1030517179131879427?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
</p>
<p class="p1">
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">I do think it's important to show that although all whites benefited from racism & white supremacy, that does not mean that there weren't deep class divisions and some white southerners who hated both slavery & the Confederacy.</p>
<p>— Keri Leigh Merritt (@KeriLeighMerrit) <a href="https://twitter.com/KeriLeighMerrit/status/1031522389136429056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 20, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
</p>
<p class="p1">
<div class="embed-twitter">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">& I also make the distinction to show that many poorer whites in the cotton South gained much from emancipation (public edu, land from Homestead Acts, etc), often at the EXPENSE of African Americans.</p>
<p>— Keri Leigh Merritt (@KeriLeighMerrit) <a href="https://twitter.com/KeriLeighMerrit/status/1031523506658398208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 20, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p></div>
</p>
<p>One of my favorite resources for teaching American history and social studies is “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies_My_Teacher_Told_Me">Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong</a>”. Here it is on the states’ rights argument and how textbooks have misrepresented the Civil War.</p>
<blockquote><p>Slavery was the underlying reason that South Carolina, followed by ten other states, left the Union. In 1860, leaders of the state were perfectly clear about why they were seceding. On Christmas Eve, they signed a “Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union.” Their first grievance was “that fourteen of the States have deliberately refused, for years past, to fulfill their constitutional obligations,” specifically this clause, which they quote: “No person held to service or labour in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labour, but shall be delivered up . . .” This is of course the Fugitive Slave Clause, under whose authority Congress had passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which South Carolina of course approved. This measure required officers of the law and even private citizens in free states to participate in capturing and returning African Americans when whites claimed them to be their slaves. This made the free states complicit with slavery. They wriggled around, trying to avoid full compliance. Pennsylvania, for example, passed a law recognizing the supremacy of the federal act but pointing out that Pennsylvanians still had the right to determine pay for their officers of the law, and they refused to pay for time spent capturing and returning alleged slaves. South Carolina attacked such displays of states’ rights:</p>
<p>But an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery, has led to a disregard of their obligations. . . . The States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, have enacted laws which either nullify the Acts of Congress or render useless any attempt to execute them.</p>
<p>Thus South Carolina opposed states’ rights when claimed by free states. This is understandable. Historically, whatever faction has been out of power in America has pushed for states’ rights. White Southerners dominated the executive and judicial branches of the federal government throughout the 1850s—and through the Democratic Party, the legislative branch as well—so of course they opposed states’ rights. Slave owners were delighted when Supreme Court Chief Justice Taney decided in 1857 that throughout the nation, irrespective of the wishes of state or territorial governments, blacks had no rights that whites must respect. Slave owners pushed President Buchanan to use federal power to legitimize slaveholding in Kansas the next year. Only after they lost control of the executive branch in the 1860 election did slave owners begin to suggest limiting federal power.</p>
<p>South Carolina’s leaders went on to condemn New York for denying “even the right of transit for a slave” and other Northern states for letting African Americans vote. Before the Civil War, these matters were states’ rights. Nevertheless, South Carolina claimed the right to determine whether New York could prohibit slavery within New York or Vermont could define citizenship in Vermont. Carolinians also contested the rights of residents of other states even to think differently about their peculiar institution, giving as another reason for secession that Northerners “have denounced as sinful the institution of slavery.” In short, slavery permeates the document from start to finish. Of course, the election of Lincoln provided the trigger, but the abiding purpose of secession was to protect, maintain, and enhance slavery. Nor was South Carolina unusual; other states used similar language when they seceded.</p>
<p>Despite this clear evidence, before 1970 many textbooks held that almost anything but slavery—differences over tariffs and internal improvements, the conflict between agrarian South and industrial North, and especially “states’ rights”—led to secession. This was a form of Southern apologetics. Never was there any excuse for such bad scholarship, and in the aftermath of the civil rights movement most textbook authors came to agree with Abraham Lincoln in his Second Inaugural “that slavery was somehow the cause of the war.” As The United States—A History of the Republic put it in 1981, “At the center of the conflict was slavery, the issue that would not go away.”</p></blockquote>
<p>Source: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies_My_Teacher_Told_Me">Loewen, James W.. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong (pp. 139-140). The New Press. Kindle Edition.</a></p>
<p>This is <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/tt_hard_history_american_slavery.pdf">hard history</a>, but as the states’ rights racists in our families reveal, we have to teach it and do a much better job than we have done so far.</p>
<blockquote><p>It is often said that slavery was our country’s original sin, but it is much more than that. Slavery is our country’s origin. It was responsible for the growth of the American colonies, transforming them from far-flung, forgotten outposts of the British Empire to glimmering jewels in the crown of England. And slavery was a driving power behind the new nation’s territorial expansion and industrial maturation, making the United States a powerful force in the Americas and beyond.</p>
<p>Slavery was also our country’s Achilles heel, responsible for its near undoing. When the southern states seceded, they did so expressly to preserve slavery. So wholly dependent were white Southerners on the institution that they took up arms against their own to keep African Americans in bondage. They simply could not allow a world in which they did not have absolute authority to control black labor—and to regulate black behavior.</p>
<p>The central role that slavery played in the development of the United States is beyond dispute. And yet, we the people do not like to talk about slavery, or even think about it, much less teach it or learn it. The implications of doing so unnerve us. If the cornerstone of the Confederacy was slavery, then what does that say about those who revere the people who took up arms to keep African Americans in chains? If James Madison, the principal architect of the Constitution, could hold people in bondage his entire life, refusing to free a single soul even upon his death, then what does that say about our nation’s founders? About our nation itself?</p>
<p>Slavery is hard history. It is hard to comprehend the inhumanity that defined it. It is hard to discuss the violence that sustained it. It is hard to teach the ideology of white supremacy that justified it. And it is hard to learn about those who abided it.</p>
<p>We the people have a deep-seated aversion to hard history because we are uncomfortable with the implications it raises about the past as well as the present.</p>
<p>We the people would much rather have the Disney version of history, in which villains are easily spotted, suffering never lasts long, heroes invariably prevail and life always gets better. We prefer to pick and choose what aspects of the past to hold on to, gladly jettisoning that which makes us uneasy. We enjoy thinking about Thomas Jefferson proclaiming, “All men are created equal.” But we are deeply troubled by the prospect of the enslaved woman Sally Hemings, who bore him six children, declaring, “Me too.”</p>
<p>Literary performer and educator Regie Gibson had the truth of it when he said, “Our problem as Americans is we actually hate history. What we love is nostalgia.”</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>Slavery isn’t in the past. It’s in the headlines.</p>
<p>These recent events reveal, at least in part, how American schools are failing to teach a critical and essential portion of the nation’s legacy-the history and continuing impact of chattel slavery. Research for this report reveals that high school students don’t know much about the history of slavery in the United States, with only 8 percent able to identify it as the central cause of the Civil War. This should not be surprising, given that most adults wrongly identify “states’ rights” as the cause. Widespread ignorance about slavery, the antebellum South and the Confederacy persists to the present day, and is on display in controversies over monument removal in places like New Orleans, Louisiana, and Charlottesville, Virginia, where protests turned deadly in the summer of 2017. Students and adults alike may even hold fringe beliefs, including notions propagated by white nationalists, such as the idea that slavery wasn’t “so bad,” or that the Irish were enslaved.9 Few Americans acknowledge the role slavery played in states outside the South.</p>
<p>Teachers struggle to do justice to the nation’s legacy of racial injustice. They are poorly served by state standards and frameworks, popular textbooks and even their own academic preparation. For this report, we surveyed more than 1,700 social studies teachers across the country. A bare majority say they feel competent to teach about slavery. Most say that the available resources and preparation programs have failed them. Almost all regret this deficiency, recognizing that teaching the history of slavery is essential. When we reviewed a set of popular history textbooks, we saw why teachers felt a lack of support: Texts fail in key areas, including connecting slavery to the present and portraying the diversity of the experiences of the enslaved. State content standards, which are meant to set clear expectations for instruction, are scattershot at best, often making puzzling choices such as teaching about Harriet Tubman long before slavery, or equivocating on the cause of the Civil War. When we consider the available landscape of materials and expectations, it is no wonder that teachers struggle.</p></blockquote>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/tt_hard_history_american_slavery.pdf">Teaching Hard History: American Slavery</a></p><br><br><img src="https://0.gravatar.com/avatar/c22398fb9602c967d1dac8174f4a1a4e?s=96&d=identicon&r=G" /><script id="twitter-wjs" type="text/javascript" async defer src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>Moving from emotional to analytical (with finance and fitness)2018-08-08T16:37:05.153000ZJ.D. Rothhttps://www.getrichslowly.org/emotional-to-analytical/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" style="padding: 6px;width: 36px;white-space:nowrap" width="36" valign="top"><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0b2306f69f3543ef7c94dfa464d20d01" style="width: 36px; height: 36px; border-radius: 4px;"></td>
<td width="100%" style="padding-top: 6px;">
<b>
amijangos
<a href="https://amijangos.newsblur.com/story/moving-from-emotiona/6269004:e18d62">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/6269004.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> Get Rich Slowly.</b>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="clear: both; margin: 0 0 24px;">
<p>This morning, for the first time in more than eight years, I weighed in at 200 pounds.</p>
<p>I am not proud of this fact but it’s the truth. I own it. I got to this point through my own actions, not because some cruel tormenter force-fed me cheeseburgers and beer.</p>
<p>When I’m overweight, I tend to internalize the problem, which generally leads to a vicious cycle of overeating, shame, and self-loathing. While I’m older now and more aware of my mental processes, I still struggle with self-defeating thought and behavior. (This is exacerbated, of course, by my recent battle with depression. In fact, I suspect the depression has a hand in my life-long weight issues. The onset of both seem to be correlated.)</p>
<p>Being fat affects my self-confidence and self-esteem. I’m less likely to be social. When I do go out and see people, I’m less engaging (and I know it). Right now, my weight is actually hindering my work too. In April, I started a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/GetRichSlowlyJD">Get Rich Slowly channel on YouTube</a>. My goal is to produce a couple of videos per month — but I’m not willing to put myself on camera at the moment.</p>
<p>In short: Like many people, I allow my physical make-up to dictate my mental make-up.</p>
<p>People are funny like that. We internalize stuff that ought not to be internalized. When we do, it becomes much more difficult to do the right thing, to make the changes that need to be made.</p>
<p>Take money, for instance.</p>
<h2>Net Worth Is NOT Self-Worth</h2>
<p>People allow their <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/net-worth/">net worth</a> to dictate their self-worth. This is true at every level of wealth.</p>
<p>At one extreme, you have folks like the guy in the video below who — because they’re rich — believe that they’re better than everybody else, exempt from the normal rules of society:</p>
<p class="youtube"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" class="aligncenter" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3lKwkn6JT74?rel=0" width="100%"></iframe></p>
<p>On the other end of the spectrum, you find folks who feel terrible about themselves because they’re buried under a mountain of debt.</p>
<p>In my personal life, I’ve seen tons of examples of how folks conflate net worth with self-worth. Heck, I’ve done it myself!</p>
<ul>
<li>Back when I was trying to figure out how money worked, my debt made me feel like I was drowning, like I could not catch a breath. I felt miserable. I felt like I’d never amount to anything, as if my debt were an accurate measure of who I was as a person.</li>
<li>My father — who would have turned 73 yesterday — internalized money too. For most of my childhood, my parents struggled to make ends meet. Dad often told us that he felt like a failure because he couldn’t give us everything he wanted to give us. When the ladies from church brought us food, he was mortified. Mom and dad rarely had people over to the house because they were ashamed that we lived in a run-down mobile home.</li>
<li>More recently, my little brother (who, at 45, isn’t exactly “little” anymore) went through some rough times. A decade ago, he lost two homes to foreclosure. He declared bankruptcy. He moved his family to Seattle to make a clean start, but he couldn’t find work. “I don’t feel like a man,” he told me at the time, unknowingly broaching an interesting issue of gender dynamics. “I can’t provide for my family. My wife is the one earning money. It’s killing me.” (I’m pleased to report that Tony has managed to turn things around and seems to be doing well these days.)</li>
</ul>
<p>In some ways, it’s natural that we internalize factors like our fitness and our finances. They are, after all, scorecards of sorts. When I weigh in at 200 pounds, that’s an objective reflection of everything I’ve done to my body during my 49 years on this planet. My net worth is an objective reflection of every penny I’ve earned or spent during my life.</p>
<blockquote class="highlight"><p>
<em><strong>Caveat</strong></em><br />
Both weight and net worth serve as a scorecard for how well we’ve managed our fitness and finances, but they’re not complete measures. That’s why we use other numbers, such as BMI and muscle mass (for fitness) or <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/saving-rate/">saving rate</a> and income (for finance).</p>
<p>Plus, it’s important to note that while for most of us, most of our weight and/or net worth is a result of the quality of our decisions, chance <em>does</em> play a role. Some folks are born into better situations than others. And some people suffer misfortune (or enjoy lucky breaks) that drastically affects their situation.
</p></blockquote>
<p>If I believe we shouldn’t internalize factors like weight and net worth — and I do believe that — what then is the alternative?<span id="more-235995"></span></p>
<h2>Moving from Emotional to Analytical</h2>
<p>I think it’s better for our mental health if we do our best to approach these things analytically. This can be tough to do, I know, but to the extent you can temporarily set aside your emotions and feelings, you’ll have greater success at correcting the problems <em>and</em> feeling better about yourself in the long run.</p>
<p>That’s not to say that you should turn yourself into a robot. Nor am I asking you to suddenly become <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_Cooper">Sheldon Cooper</a>. Instead, I want you to become more mindful and methodical about your approach to problems like money and diet.</p>
<p>This is issue — emotional vs. analytical — sometimes causes a divide in the world of personal finance. There are some experts who are wholly analytical and cannot fathom why people struggle with debt. They also don’t understand why you’d possibly want to pay off your low-balance debts first (using the Dave Ramsey version of the <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/in-praise-of-the-debt-snowball/">debt snowball</a>) instead of repaying high-interest debt first (the optimal version of the debt snowball).</p>
<p>But, as I’ve said for over a decade now, people wouldn’t struggle with consumer debt if they were thinking logically. Asking them to make an instant leap from illogical to logical does’t work. We shouldn’t ask it of them.</p>
<p>Suboptimal (but effective) methods are a great place to start down the path toward better money management. In time, baby steps can lead to giant strides.</p>
<p>When I finally resolved to <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/how-to-get-out-of-debt-3/">get out of debt</a> in 2004, I took an analytical approach. I didn’t turn into the hyper-logical Spock of personal finance (<em>ha!</em>) but I did decide to <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/you-are-the-boss-of-you/">run my budget like a business</a>. I decided to become the Chief Financial Officer of my own life. That made all the difference. (For more on this, check out the <a href="http://moneyboss.com/grscourse">Get Rich Slowly course</a>.)</p>
<h2>Breaking Free from Emotional Actions</h2>
<p>Moving from emotional to analytical has helped others too. In her book <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/deardebt"><em>Dear Debt</em></a>, Melanie Lockert writes:</p>
<blockquote><p>“The emotions related to debt can be so consuming and overwhelming that they actually detract us from making progress toward paying off our debt. For so long, I was embarrassed by my debt. I carried around with me, feeling like I had nothing to show for it.”</p></blockquote>
<p>How did Lockert turn things around? “The one thing that changed my life for the better was changing my relationship with money and how I thought about it,” she writes. She shifted, as best she could, from emotional to analytical. “I began to take action instead of dwelling on disappointments and complaining…” She made plans. She followed through on them.</p>
<p>This same approach works for fitness.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0024CEY4A/ref=nosim/grs17-20/"><em>Breaking Free from Emotional Eating</em></a>, author Geneen Roth (no relation) urges readers to develop <em>awareness</em>, and from that awareness to formulate a plan and take action. Just as I’m a fan of <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/how-to-track-your-spending-and-why-you-should/">tracking your spending</a>, she’s a fan of tracking your eating:</p>
<blockquote><p>“Keep a chart of what you ate, the times at which you ate, and whether or not you were hungry before you ate. The importance of a chart is that it reveals your patterns with food exactly as they are and not how you imagine them to be.”</p></blockquote>
<p>This is <em>exactly</em> what I say about expense tracking. Its value is that it lets you see what you really do, not what you think you do. It’s all too easy to lie to yourself — or simply to be blind to your habits. (I know that Kim and I eat out a lot, but if I didn’t track my spending I’d have no idea that we spend more on restaurants than groceries!)</p>
<h2>Final Thoughts</h2>
<p>Over the past couple of weeks, Kim and I have talked a <em>lot</em> about our fitness (or lack thereof). Neither one of us is happy with what we’ve allowed to happen. We’re both ready to change. We want to change together.</p>
<p>To that end, I’ve been working with a personal trainer for the past six weeks. I’m becoming accustomed again to exercising every day. After talking to several friends who have enjoyed great success with Weight Watchers, Kim and I are going to do the program together. And because I know how important it is for me to track my stats, I’m going to track my stats. When I do this, it helps me to externalize the problem instead of internalize it. Making spreadsheets encourages me to stay in an analytical mindspace rather than an emotional one.</p>
<p>The same things that help me with my finances help me with my fitness. In the past, I’ve experienced success only when I’ve stopped being emotional about eating and started being analytical. I track stats. I keep spreadsheets. I make plans. I accept mistakes as minor glitches and don’t let them derail my progress.</p>
<p>The bottom line? The more I’m able to move from emotional to analytical, the better I do with fitness and finance.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/emotional-to-analytical/" rel="nofollow">Moving from emotional to analytical (with finance and fitness)</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org" rel="nofollow">Get Rich Slowly</a>.</p>The proactive homeowner: How to stay on top of home improvement2018-05-27T22:02:38.455000ZJ.D. Rothhttps://www.getrichslowly.org/home-improvement/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" style="padding: 6px;width: 36px;white-space:nowrap" width="36" valign="top"><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0b2306f69f3543ef7c94dfa464d20d01" style="width: 36px; height: 36px; border-radius: 4px;"></td>
<td width="100%" style="padding-top: 6px;">
<b>
amijangos
<a href="https://amijangos.newsblur.com/story/the-proactive-homeow/6269004:79b311">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/6269004.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> Get Rich Slowly:</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
This is something Ibwant to do.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="clear: both; margin: 0 0 24px;">
<p>Yesterday was an exciting day at the Rothwards household! After three weeks of demolition and construction, we installed our new hot tub.</p>
<p>It took six men an hour of maneuvering before we managed to set the spa into place…but we did it. And we didn’t break anything. Now it’s a matter of completing the decking and roofing, then Kim and I will be able to enjoy our remodeled outdoor oasis!</p>
<p><img alt="Installing our hot tub" class="aligncenter" height="576" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/980/41605356204_3d426d600a_b.jpg" title="Installing our hot tub" width="1024" /></p>
<p>We’re eager for construction to be over. Since buying our “English cottage” last summer, we’ve poured tons of money and time into a variety of renovations. It’s been a non-stop construction zone.</p>
<p>You see, during the seventeen years the previous owners lived here, they performed very little maintenance and upkeep on the home and property. When we had the place inspected before purchase, the inspector raised a lot of concerns:</p>
<p><img alt="Warning from inspection report" class="aligncenter green-border" height="105" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/885/42279031552_1ba8c9cf58_b.jpg" title="Warning from inspection report" width="1024" /></p>
<p>The inspection report was so dire that Kim and I almost passed on the purchase.</p>
<p>After we did decide to buy the place, I vowed that I’d be a proactive homeowner. Instead of allowing things to fall into a state of disrepair, I wanted to fix everything that was broken and then stay on top of home improvement in the years to come.</p>
<p>Today I want to share four specific actions I’ve taken to try to be a proactive homeowner.<span id="more-235940"></span></p>
<h2>Develop a Schedule for Regular Maintenance</h2>
<p>A great place to start with home improvement is to find (or create) a regular maintenance schedule. While you’ll definitely have projects specific to your own house (about which more in a moment), there are certain chores that ought to be done on a routine basis.</p>
<p>Here in Oregon, for instance, gutters should be cleaned both at the start and the end of the rainy season (late October and late April). Spring is a good time to wash windows, inside and out. It’s also time to clean and set up outdoor furniture. During the summer, I like to trim trees and shrubs back from the side of the house. Fall is a good time to inspect the attic and crawlspace.</p>
<p>To create our maintenance schedule, I started with this <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mVH1Fn9WVdviKQ4W0Qtl_veGYd7Z_nBphknRP_T75uU/">home maintenance checklist</a> [Google Doc] based on <a href="https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/keep-your-house-in-tip-top-shape-an-incredibly-handy-home-maintenance-checklist/">an article from The Art of Manliness</a>. I tweaked the document to fit our needs, adding and removing things specific to our home.</p>
<p>I’ve also discovered that it’s useful to add certain recurring tasks to my digital calendar. (I’m never going to remember to change the furnace filter unless I make an appointment with myself to do so.)</p>
<h2>Create a House-Specific To-Do List</h2>
<p><img alt="House To-Do List" class="alignright green-border" height="320" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/973/28453784428_fbf60de5a2_m.jpg" title="House To-Do List" width="289" />While it’s helpful to have a general maintenance schedule to remind you of regular tasks, it’s even more important to keep an up-to-date to-do list that’s specific to <em>your</em> home.</p>
<p>I keep our to-do list in <a href="https://basecamp.com/2">Basecamp</a>, a web-based project-management tool that I already use for other projects. (I’ve heard good things about <a href="https://asana.com/product">Asana</a> too, although I’ve never used it.) You might keep your to-do list in a spreadsheet or even a spiral notebook.</p>
<p>For each room in the house and area of the property, I keep a separate list of tasks that need to be completed. To start, I populated these lists in two ways:</p>
<ul>
<li>I went through the pre-purchase inspection report and added <em>every</em> problem the inspector had flagged. Some of the stuff he noted was minor. In these cases, I made sure to mark the task as “low priority”.</li>
<li>Kim and I made a slow tour of our home and yard in order to catalog other projects we wanted to complete. For example, <em>every</em> room in the house needs new paint. <em>Every</em> corner of the yard needs to be weeded and re-landscaped.</li>
</ul>
<p>We refer to our to-do list constantly. Whenever we have a free weekend for home maintenance (as we did last weekend…and this coming weekend), we check the list to see which tasks are most pressing and/or most appealing.</p>
<p>Finally — and this is important (if somewhat obvious) — whenever we find a new project that needs to be tackled, we add it to our list. By keeping our home projects to-do list up to date, needed maintenance should never be neglected.</p>
<h2>Keep a Home Journal</h2>
<p>Before we even moved in to our current home, I started keeping a “home journal” to log everything we learned about the place. Honestly, it’s one of the smartest things I’ve ever done.</p>
<p>I keep this home journal in a Microsoft Word document. (<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/11AZgoB19uc6fQmf-CJWKvKWCXGRYxL_iMo8C_9QBqWM/edit?usp=sharing">I’ve uploaded an edited version</a> to Google Docs for you all to look at.) Every time we do major work on the house, I make an entry in the journal. Every time we discover something new about the property, I make a note in the journal.</p>
<p>Here’s a typical entry from my home journal:</p>
<p><img alt="Our Home Journal" class="aligncenter green-border" height="181" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/955/42303089791_a61a6208c9_b.jpg" title="Our Home Journal" width="1024" /></p>
<p>Each note includes a date and the type of work done, then a narrative description giving more detail. In some cases, I document costs. Most of the time, however, we keep receipts and invoices and other documentation in a dedicated Dropbox folder, which is where the home journal lives too.</p>
<p>This journal is mostly meant for me. From past experience, I know that I’ll forget what work we did when, which usually leads to a frustrating search for documentation. With my home journal, I have all of the needed info in one place.</p>
<p>This home journal has a secondary purpose. I want to use it as documentation if/when Kim and I decide to sell this place. I want to be able to show prospective buyers all of the upgrades we made to the house. (Note that this benefit is purely theoretical. When we sold our motorhome recently, we learned that many buyers view work like this as evidence there’s something <em>wrong</em> with what you’re selling.)</p>
<blockquote class="highlight"><p>On a similar note, it’s smart to perform periodic video tours of your home and property. These are useful not only for you but also in the event of an insured loss, such as robbery or house fire. When shopping for a house, I film every home I tour. After buying and moving into a new place, I do another pass through with the camera. Going forward, I try to do a video tour about once per year.</p></blockquote>
<h2>Build a List of Trusted Contractors</h2>
<p>Over the past fifteen years, I’ve learned that contractors come in all kinds of flavors. Some are cheap. Some are fast. Some do quality work. I’ve also learned that it’s impossible to find a contractor that possesses all three traits. Two of them? Sure. But not all three. (In other words, if a contractor is fast and high-quality, she’s going to be expensive.)</p>
<p>When we started looking for homes last Spring, my friend <a href="https://www.emmapattee.com/">Emma Pattee</a> — who has experience buying and remodeling rental properties — suggested that I start a spreadsheet to list trusted contractors. “My husband and I have done this for a while now,” she told me, “and it really helps. When we find somebody we like to work with (or think we might want to work with in the future), we add them to the spreadsheet. I’ll send you our current list, if you’d like.”</p>
<p>Kim and I have referenced Emma’s spreadsheet to find plumbers and electricians. We’ve also started building our own list of contractors we trust. (For instance, we love the guy who did our carport. We hired him to do our back deck project too. He’s not cheap, but his quality is amazing!)</p>
<p>Even with a list of trusted contractors, it’s important to follow standard advice when hiring folks to work on your place:</p>
<ul>
<li>Get price quotes from multiple sources. It’s smart to know what your options are even if you ultimately don’t go with the lowest bidder.</li>
<li>Seek referrals. When you’re ready to hire somebody for a project, ask your friends (Facebook is good for this) <em>and</em> contractors you’ve liked in the past. I’ve found that good contractors know who the other good contractors are, and they’re happy to recommend them.</li>
<li>Ask for references. If you haven’t worked with a contractor before, request contact info from past clients. These references will be cherry picked, of course, but they’ll still give you some idea of what the company is like.</li>
<li>Check reviews on <a href="https://www.angieslist.com/">Angie’s List</a> (or similar sites). View these reviews through skeptical eyes, but check to see if there’s some sort of pattern. I’ve been able to rule out potential contractors, for instance, because of multiple reviews complaining about lack of communication.</li>
</ul>
<p>Searching for new contractors can be a little scary. You don’t want to make a mistake by choosing somebody who’s too expensive or whose work is shoddy. (Or, worse, both at once!) By maintaining a list of trusted vendors, you can reduce some of the trepidation. Plus, the list is something useful you can share with friends and family!</p>
<h2>There’s No Place Like Home</h2>
<p>I also think it’s smart to set aside money for future repairs and improvements. One common <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/25-favorite-financial-rules-of-thumb/">financial rule of thumb</a> is to contribute 1% of your home’s value to a dedicated “home maintenance” savings account each year. After Kim and I are done with this initial round of work, we’ll probably do so.</p>
<p>The deck and hot tub project should be our final large home-improvement expense for many, many years. During the past eleven months, we’ve repaired and/or replaced <em>every</em> major system in this house. Sure, there’s still some small stuff that needs done — we want to paint each room, for instance — but these jobs are minor. They’re things we can do ourselves for cheap.</p>
<p>Honestly, I’m looking forward to some peace and quiet. It’s been exhausting to live and work in a construction zone!</p>
<p>First, though, I’m going to have our house inspected again. After plowing so many resources into repairing and renovating this place, I want to have a neutral third party go back through to make sure we’ve addressed all of the important issues — and that these issues have been handled correctly.</p>
<p>As frustrating (and expensive) as the past year has been, we don’t regret buying this house. We love it here. We want to continue loving this place, which means we’re going to do our best to stay on top of maintenance and home improvements. We’re going to do our best to be proactive homeowners.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/home-improvement/" rel="nofollow">The proactive homeowner: How to stay on top of home improvement</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org" rel="nofollow">Get Rich Slowly</a>.</p>The Modern Wealth Index2018-05-17T12:55:26.961000ZJ.D. Rothhttps://www.getrichslowly.org/modern-wealth-index/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" style="padding: 6px;width: 36px;white-space:nowrap" width="36" valign="top"><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0b2306f69f3543ef7c94dfa464d20d01" style="width: 36px; height: 36px; border-radius: 4px;"></td>
<td width="100%" style="padding-top: 6px;">
<b>
amijangos
<a href="https://amijangos.newsblur.com/story/the-modern-wealth-in/6269004:b1b006">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/6269004.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> Get Rich Slowly:</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
My Score was 87!
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="clear: both; margin: 0 0 24px;">
<p>Charles Schwab has released its <a href="https://www.aboutschwab.com/modern-wealth-index-2018">2018 Modern Wealth Index</a>, a survey of the saving and investing habits of 1000 Americans. Here’s how the company describes its methodology:</p>
<blockquote><p>The Modern Wealth Index…is based on Schwab’s <a href="https://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/investing/why_choose_schwab/investing_principles">Investing Principles</a> and composed of over 50 financial behaviors and attitudes. Each behavior or attitude is assigned a varying amount of points depending on its importance, out of a total of 100 possible points…Quotas were set so that the sample is as demographically representative as possible.</p></blockquote>
<p>This survey divides respondents into two categories: those <em>with</em> a written financial plan and those <em>without</em> a written financial plan. About 25% of people are “Planners”; the rest are “Non-Planners”.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, the survey found that Planners are more likely to be in control of their finances. For instance, 75% of Planners pay their bill and still manage to save each month. Only 33% of Non-Planners are able to do this. Almost two-thirds of Planners have an <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/emergency-fund/">emergency fund</a>; less than one-quarter of Non-Planners have set money aside for a rainy day.</p>
<p>And the higher a person’s score in Schwab’s Modern Wealth Index, the more likely they are to have a written plan!</p>
<p>If having a written financial plan is so strongly correlated with desirable monetary outcomes, then why don’t more people do it? For most folks, it’s because they don’t think they have enough money to warrant one.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.aboutschwab.com/modern-wealth-index-2018"><img alt="Roadblocks to financial planning" class="aligncenter" height="525" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/977/41231657645_8408d9e1dc_o.jpg" title="Roadbloacks to financial planning" width="1000" /></a></p>
<p>Personally, I’ve never had a written financial plan, although I do see their value. If I were to start again as an adult today, I’d probably create one.</p>
<p>I thought that the most interesting part of the Schwab survey was how participants viewed wealth. One question asked participants about their personal definition of wealth. What <em>is</em> wealth? Two of the top three answers weren’t about money at all:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.aboutschwab.com/modern-wealth-index-2018"><img alt="What does wealth mean to you?" class="aligncenter" height="500" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/825/41231657785_ee996621bc_o.jpg" title="What does wealth mean to you?" width="1000" /></a></p>
<p>Related to yesterday’s article about the relationship between <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/time-money-happiness/">time, money, and happiness</a>, Americans say the things that make them feel wealthiest in their day-to-day lives are having personal free time and spending time with family. (When asked to focus on the numbers, respondents said they needed $1.4 million on average to be “comfortable”, or $2.4 million to really be wealthy.)</p>
<p>Want to see where you fit on Schwab’s Modern Wealth Index? You can <a href="https://content.schwab.com/modernwealth/">take a 16-question quiz</a> at their website. But note that some questions aren’t really applicable to folks who have already retired or achieved Financial Independence. <strike>Also note that you’ll have to enter your contact info in order to actually see your results. (I took the quiz, but didn’t see my results because I hate giving out personal info.)</strike></p>
<p><strong><em>Update!</em></strong> I just received an email from the Schwab PR team. As Rita noted in the comments below, it <em>is</em> possible to see your score without supplying contact info. When the contact info form appears on the screen, just leave everything blank and click the button below to move on to the numbers. I scored an 83. I think that’s largely because I didn’t know how to answer the income questions since I don’t really have an income anymore.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.aboutschwab.com/modern-wealth-index-2018"><img alt="Wealth Index Score" class="aligncenter green-border" height="480" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/977/28282034138_21297c23a2_n.jpg" title="Wealth Index Score" width="360" /></a></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/modern-wealth-index/" rel="nofollow">The Modern Wealth Index</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org" rel="nofollow">Get Rich Slowly</a>.</p>Managing Money With Your Partner When You Earn More2018-05-17T12:31:08.458000ZHolly Perezhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MyMint/~3/tBUHFJyNc_Q/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" style="padding: 6px;width: 36px;white-space:nowrap" width="36" valign="top"><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0b2306f69f3543ef7c94dfa464d20d01" style="width: 36px; height: 36px; border-radius: 4px;"></td>
<td width="100%" style="padding-top: 6px;">
<b>
amijangos
<a href="https://amijangos.newsblur.com/story/managing-money-with-/1490217:deaa0d">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/1490217.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> MintLife Blog:</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Really interesting the concept of the three accounts.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="clear: both; margin: 0 0 24px;">
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MyMint?a=tBUHFJyNc_Q:quljxCHtocM:D7DqB2pKExk"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MyMint?i=tBUHFJyNc_Q:quljxCHtocM:D7DqB2pKExk" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MyMint?a=tBUHFJyNc_Q:quljxCHtocM:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MyMint?i=tBUHFJyNc_Q:quljxCHtocM:gIN9vFwOqvQ" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MyMint?a=tBUHFJyNc_Q:quljxCHtocM:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MyMint?i=tBUHFJyNc_Q:quljxCHtocM:F7zBnMyn0Lo" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MyMint?a=tBUHFJyNc_Q:quljxCHtocM:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MyMint?i=tBUHFJyNc_Q:quljxCHtocM:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MyMint?a=tBUHFJyNc_Q:quljxCHtocM:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MyMint?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MyMint?a=tBUHFJyNc_Q:quljxCHtocM:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MyMint?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a>
</div><img alt="" height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MyMint/~4/tBUHFJyNc_Q" width="1" />Is it better to rent or buy? How to know when renting a home makes sense2018-05-12T11:57:22.175000ZJ.D. Rothhttps://www.getrichslowly.org/rent-or-buy/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" style="padding: 6px;width: 36px;white-space:nowrap" width="36" valign="top"><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0b2306f69f3543ef7c94dfa464d20d01" style="width: 36px; height: 36px; border-radius: 4px;"></td>
<td width="100%" style="padding-top: 6px;">
<b>
amijangos
<a href="https://amijangos.newsblur.com/story/is-it-better-to-rent/6269004:7b6d83">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/6269004.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> Get Rich Slowly:</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
These numbers may not mean a whole lot on their own, but they can give you some sort of idea whether housing is overpriced in your area. Plus, it seems safe to assume based on past figures that most families can comfortably afford a home that costs about 2.5x their annual income. (So, if your family makes $80,000 a year, you can afford a $200,000 house.)
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="clear: both; margin: 0 0 24px;">
<p>I’ve been a homeowner for 24 of the last 25 years. Based on this, you might think I’m an advocate of homeownership over renting. That’s not the case. The older I get, the more I appreciate there’s no correct answer in the perennial “is it better to rent or buy?” debate. Sometimes buying a home makes the most sense. Sometimes renting is the smarter choice.</p>
<p>In an <a href="http://www.kiplinger.com/article/investing/T038-C000-S002-what-your-home-is-and-isn-t.html">editorial in the June 2007 issue</a> of <i>Kiplinger’s Personal Finance</i>, Knight Kiplinger wrote, “It often costs less to rent. The annual cost of owning a property, be it a house or a condo, is usually greater than the cost of renting, after taxes.” I agree.</p>
<p>Today, let’s look at a handful of ways to evaluate the rent versus buy decision from a financial perspective.</p>
<h2>The Price-to-Rent Ratio</h2>
<p>One way to tell whether it’s better to rent or buy is by calculating the price-to-rent ratio (or P/R ratio). This number gives you a rough idea whether homes in your area are fairly priced. Figuring a P/R ratio is simple. All you need to do is:</p>
<ol>
<li>Find two similar houses (or condos or apartments), one for sale and one for rent.</li>
<li>Divide the sale price of the one place by the annual rent for the other. The resulting number is the P/R ratio.</li>
</ol>
<p>For example, say you find a $200,000 house for sale in a nice neighborhood. You find a similar house on the next block for rent for $1,000 per month (which works out to $12,000 per year). Dividing $200,000 by $12,000, you get a P/R ratio of 16.7. But what does this number <em>mean</em>?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/28/business/28leonhardt.html">Writing in <em>The New York Times</em></a>, David Leonhardt says, “A rent ratio above 20 means that the monthly costs of ownership well exceed the cost of renting.” That’s a little opaque, I know. Leonhardt is saying that the higher the P/R ratio, the more it makes sense to rent — and the less it makes sense to buy.</p>
<p>The normal P/R ratio range nationwide is between 10 and 14 (meaning it would cost between $1200 and $1600 to rent a $200,000 house). During the 1990s, just before the housing bubble, the national P/R ratio was usually between 14 and 15 (about $1100 to $1200 to rent a $200,000 house). During last decade’s housing bubble, national price-to-rent ratios rose to 22.73 (in 2005) then to 24.50 (in 2007) before the market collapsed. As most folks were rushing to buy homes, the numbers said they ought to be renting.</p>
<p>Based on this info, I’d argue that:</p>
<ul>
<li>When price-to-rent ratios are under 12, it’s generally better to buy than to rent.</li>
<li>When price-to-rent ratios are between 12 and 15, the financial decision is murky.</li>
<li>When price-to-rent ratios climb above 15, you’re probably better off renting.</li>
</ul>
<p>Nationwide numbers don’t tell the full story, of course. While the national price-to-rent ratio might be around 20, the actual numbers in your city could be very different.<span id="more-235910"></span></p>
<h2>Price-to-Rent Ratios for U.S. Cities</h2>
<p>In the past, I’ve struggled to find current price-to-rent ration figures. Recently, however, I learned that Zillow has <a href="https://www.zillow.com/research/data/">a dedicated page for researching housing data</a>. From here, you can download tons of different tables related to home sales and rental prices, including <a href="http://files.zillowstatic.com/research/public/Metro/Metro_PriceToRentRatio_AllHomes.csv">monthly price-to-rent info from October 2010 until today</a>. <strong>If you’re looking to relocate, this is a fantastic resource for finding where your housing dollars will go farthest!</strong></p>
<p>For kicks, I wasted ninety minutes playing with price-to-rent ratios using Zillow data. (What can I say? I’m a nerd!) I downloaded their list of <a href="http://files.zillowstatic.com/research/public/Metro/Sale_Prices_Msa.csv">median home prices</a> and <a href="http://files.zillowstatic.com/research/public/Metro/Metro_MedianRentalPrice_Sfr.csv">median monthly rents</a>, then calculated the P/R ratio for 48 major metro areas. (For a variety of reasons, this is a somewhat arbitrary selection of cities.) Here’s my list of price-to-rent ratios in the United States as of January 2018.</p>
<p><img alt="Current Price-to-Rent Ratios" class="aligncenter green-border" height="1110" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/950/27150746167_c7a6bbd03d_o.jpg" title="Current Price-to-Rent Ratios" width="486" /></p>
<p>If you’re moving to Scranton for your new job at <a href="https://www.dundermifflin.us/">Dunder Mifflin Paper Company</a>, it’s likely you’ll want to purchase a home. But if you’re headed to the Bay Area, your best bet is going to be to rent.</p>
<p>I’m somewhat skeptical that these numbers are accurate — they do come from a site eager to create homebuyers, after all — but it’s tough to find better info. As far as I’m aware, there’s no reliable source that generates these stats on a regular basis. (I personally believe <a href="https://smartasset.com/mortgage/price-to-rent-ratio-in-us-cities">numbers from articles like this are more accurate</a>. However, that article is also eighteen months out of date and doesn’t explain its methodology.)</p>
<p>Please note that city-wide price-to-rent ratios only really matter if you’re moving from another town. Otherwise, what actually matters are price-to-rent ratios for the specific properties you’re thinking of buying or renting.</p>
<h2>Home Price vs. Household Income</h2>
<p>Another way to gauge the cost of housing is to compare it to your family’s income. From 1984 to 2000, median home prices were about 2.8 times the median yearly family income. (In other words, the typical house cost about three times what a family earned in a year.) During the early 1970s, home prices were about 2.3 times median family income. During the housing bubble, this ratio jumped to 4.2.</p>
<p>These numbers may not mean a whole lot on their own, but they can give you some sort of idea whether housing is overpriced in your area. Plus, it seems safe to assume based on past figures that most families can comfortably afford a home that costs about 2.5x their annual income. (So, if your family makes $80,000 a year, you can afford a $200,000 house.)</p>
<p>According to the most recent numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, the median household income in the United States was $57,617 at the end of 2016. (Average household income is greater — <a href="https://www.bls.gov/cex/22017/midyear/income.pdf">$73,207</a> — but that number is skewed by high earners, which is why I prefer to use the median.)</p>
<p><img alt="Median Household Income" class="aligncenter green-border" height="648" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/956/40213034190_2b0c294e97_o.jpg" title="Median Household Income" width="648" /></p>
<p>Using the current U.S. median home price of $232,700, we can see that home prices are currently running at about 4.04 times the typical household income. This ratio isn’t quite as high as it was during the housing bubble, but it’s still pretty steep.</p>
<h2>My Favorite “Rent or Buy?” Calculator</h2>
<p>Finally, I want to share what might be my favorite way to compare the costs of renting against the costs of buying.</p>
<p><em>The New York Times</em> has a great <strong><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/buy-rent-calculator.html">rent vs. buy calculator</a></strong> that can help you decide which is best for you. Just plug in the numbers for your situation, and the calculator tells you how long it would take you to break even if you bought a house. <strong>This calculator is an amazing tool.</strong> Although it lives behind a soft paywall (which can be circumvented using incognito mode in your browser), it’s well worth using if you’re trying to make a decision about whether to rent or buy.</p>
<p>For fun, I ran the numbers for my own situation. Last summer, Kim and I purchased our current home for $442,000. When you figure all of the remodeling we’ve done, our actual cost will be closer to $600,000. (Holy cats!) Based on our situation, the <em>NY Times</em> calculator says that we’d be better off renting if we could find a similar property for less than $2767 per month.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/buy-rent-calculator.html"><img alt="Better to Rent or Buy?" class="aligncenter green-border" height="551" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/965/41300983924_6b3d011dac_o.jpg" title="Better to Rent or Buy?" width="1065" /></a></p>
<p>Scanning current listings, there are <em>three</em> nearby rental homes similar to ours (more than 1200 square feet, more than an acre of land). They’re fetching $2900 to $3000 per month. So, it sounds like buying or renting a property like ours in Portland is a toss-up at the moment. (If I run the numbers using our home’s actual purchase price — $442,000 — I’d have to be able to rent for less than $2100 for that to be the smarter option.)</p>
<h2>The Bottom Line</h2>
<p>Deciding whether to rent or to buy is a complicated financial and emotional decision. I believe it’s a shame when folks who are unprepared get driven into the housing market due to misplaced notions of imagined benefits. Homeownership is not a panacea. Renting is not universal folly.</p>
<p>Part of the problem is the vast Real-Estate Industrial Complex, each piece of which has a vested interest in convincing consumers that bigger is better. (As I mentioned in my recent article on the <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/homeownership/">history of homeownership</a> in the U.S., the real estate industry is a relatively recent invention, barely 100 years old. But in that hundred years, it’s grown into a powerful force in our economy.)</p>
<p>The housing industry does its best to propagate certain myths about homeownership, myths like:</p>
<ul>
<li>If you rent, you’re throwing your money away. (This is false. As with all financial choices, there are <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/opportunity-costs/">opportunity costs</a> whether you choose to rent or choose to buy.)</li>
<li>Owning a home is a forced savings plan. (Also false. Yes, it’s possible to build equity in a home if you buy it in the right place at the right time and/or you stay put for a while. Most folks don’t stay put, however, so they end up paying a whole lot toward interest and very little toward building equity before buying a bigger, “better” place.)</li>
<li>You should buy as much home as you can afford. (Complete and utter bullshit. You should spend as little as you possibly can. Instead of pushing the upper bounds of your housing budget, as happens in most cases, you should instead be aiming as low as you can go.)</li>
</ul>
<p>Now, let me be clear. There’s no question that buying a house makes sense for some folks, but mainly for non-financial reasons. Owning a home gives you stability (you’re not at the mercy of a landlord) and freedom (you can do what you want with the place). Heck, last year I chose to buy an eighty-year-old “country cottage” on the outskirts of Portland, so I completely understand the non-monetary reasons for wanting to own.</p>
<p>But there are also advantages to renting.</p>
<p>For one, you have flexibility; you can move at a moment’s notice. For another, you’re not responsible when things go wrong. If the shower starts leaking before you leave for your vacation in Duluth, you don’t have to worry about it — you call in the landlord.</p>
<p>If you decide to buy a home, do it for the right reasons: because it fits your goals and will make you happy. <em>Don’t</em> do it because you think it’s a good investment. A mortgage is <em>not</em> a retirement plan — it won’t make you rich. Instead, think of it as purchasing a way of life.</p>
<p>If homeownership is a lifestyle you want and can afford, then buy. If not, rent.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/rent-or-buy/" rel="nofollow">Is it better to rent or buy? How to know when renting a home makes sense</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org" rel="nofollow">Get Rich Slowly</a>.</p>20 Quick & Easy Dinner Recipes For People Who Hate Cooking2018-05-08T20:12:07.178000ZHolly Tranthamhttp://thefinancialdiet.com/20-quick-easy-dinner-recipes-for-people-who-hate-cooking/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" style="padding: 6px;width: 36px;white-space:nowrap" width="36" valign="top"><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0b2306f69f3543ef7c94dfa464d20d01" style="width: 36px; height: 36px; border-radius: 4px;"></td>
<td width="100%" style="padding-top: 6px;">
<b>
amijangos
<a href="https://amijangos.newsblur.com/story/20-quick-easy-dinner/5727045:a4fd5c">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/5727045.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> The Financial Diet:</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
I need to do this next year.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="clear: both; margin: 0 0 24px;">
<p>My mom used to tell me never to use the word “hate.” “You don’t hate it, Sarah, you just dislike it.” Thanks for the advice mom, but no. I’m allowed to hate things. And anyone who reads my blog knows that I hate cooking. I’m terrible at it, and the only part I enjoy is the […]</p>
<p>The post <a href="http://thefinancialdiet.com/20-quick-easy-dinner-recipes-for-people-who-hate-cooking/" rel="nofollow">20 Quick & Easy Dinner Recipes For People Who Hate Cooking</a> appeared first on <a href="http://thefinancialdiet.com" rel="nofollow">The Financial Diet</a>.</p>What It’s Like To Have Your Parents Go Bankrupt To Give You The Life You Want2018-05-08T20:11:27.235000ZHolly Tranthamhttp://thefinancialdiet.com/what-its-like-to-have-your-parents-go-bankrupt-to-give-you-the-life-you-want/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" style="padding: 6px;width: 36px;white-space:nowrap" width="36" valign="top"><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0b2306f69f3543ef7c94dfa464d20d01" style="width: 36px; height: 36px; border-radius: 4px;"></td>
<td width="100%" style="padding-top: 6px;">
<b>
amijangos
<a href="https://amijangos.newsblur.com/story/what-its-like-to-hav/5727045:106c71">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/5727045.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> The Financial Diet.</b>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="clear: both; margin: 0 0 24px;">
<p>“I’m sorry we can’t come down and visit you like we planned,” she said. “Things have been harder than usual around here, and the 300-mile journey is just gonna cost too much…And you know, since your dad and I filed for bankruptcy in September, we have a lot on our plate.” Bankruptcy? I thought this […]</p>
<p>The post <a href="http://thefinancialdiet.com/what-its-like-to-have-your-parents-go-bankrupt-to-give-you-the-life-you-want/" rel="nofollow">What It’s Like To Have Your Parents Go Bankrupt To Give You The Life You Want</a> appeared first on <a href="http://thefinancialdiet.com" rel="nofollow">The Financial Diet</a>.</p>Progress Report April ’182018-05-08T20:07:29.257000ZJoe Abercrombiehttps://www.joeabercrombie.com/2018/04/30/progress-report-april-18/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" style="padding: 6px;width: 36px;white-space:nowrap" width="36" valign="top"><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0b2306f69f3543ef7c94dfa464d20d01" style="width: 36px; height: 36px; border-radius: 4px;"></td>
<td width="100%" style="padding-top: 6px;">
<b>
amijangos
<a href="https://amijangos.newsblur.com/story/progress-report-apri/26220:ab645f">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://www.newsblur.com/rss_feeds/icon/26220" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> Joe Abercrombie:</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Good thing there are other things to read along the way, but my heart is now set for more of the bloody nine in summer of 2019.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="clear: both; margin: 0 0 24px;">
<p>Four months into 2018, and I suppose I can just about spare a few moments from playing God of War (which is magnificent) to tell you lot where I’ve got to. With my book, that is. Not God of War.</p>
<p>You can get more details of my current project in earlier progress reports, if you are among the pitiful damned who do not hang upon my every post. Essentially I’m writing a new trilogy in the First Law world, but writing it all in one go before I revise and refine each book for publication. Each one of these three books is in three parts, and I am currently writing the NINTH AND FINAL PART. Indeed I’m about 20,000 words into it, so some 40,000 words to go until a super-rough draft of the entire thing is FINISHED and I can begin the lengthy process of taking stock of where the whole thing is and polishing this unwieldy mass into a diamond.</p>
<p>Getting towards the end of such a massive project is a lovely feeling, I must say. I mean, there’s a huge amount of work in the editing and revision, but a lot less than the drafting, and generally I find that the fun part. Probably the work is getting sloppier and sloppier but the whole point is just to bosh it all down as quickly and roughly as possible so I can take stock of the shape, see what I need to change and refine, and begin to make it lovely (or as lovely as I can). I’ve always felt this approach would prove worthwhile for a hefty series, but writing the final chapters I feel it’s really starting to pay off. Being sure of how things end for a character really helps to crystallise what their story is about, and therefore where they need to start and what they need to be, the nature of their relationships with the secondary characters, their thoughts, feelings, concerns.</p>
<p>So it goes pretty well, in short, in spite of various real life distractions (not to mention God of War). I very much hope that by early June I will be tapping out the final words and starting to take stock of the almighty task of revision and alteration. Though I’ll probably need to do a reread of all the other First Law books first, just to make sure there are no opportunities missed or history I’ve forgotten or messed up on. Publication of Book 1, <em>A Little Hatred</em>, still looks good for late summer ’19. But I, of course, make no promises…</p>
<div style="margin: 25px 0;"><h3>Sharing is Caring:</h3><div class="synved-social-container synved-social-container-share" style="text-align: left;"><a class="synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-48 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-facebook nolightbox" href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.joeabercrombie.com%2F2018%2F04%2F30%2Fprogress-report-april-18%2F&t=Progress%20Report%20April%20%E2%80%9918&s=100&p[url]=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.joeabercrombie.com%2F2018%2F04%2F30%2Fprogress-report-april-18%2F&p[images][0]=&p[title]=Progress%20Report%20April%20%E2%80%9918" rel="nofollow" style="font-size: 0px; width: 48px; height: 48px; margin: 0; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-right: 10px;" target="_blank" title="Share on Facebook"><img alt="Facebook" class="synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share" height="48" src="https://www.joeabercrombie.com/wp-content/plugins/social-media-feather/synved-social/image/social/regular/96x96/facebook.png" style="display: inline; width: 48px; height: 48px; margin: 0; padding: 0; border: none;" title="Share on Facebook" width="48" /></a><a class="synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-48 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-twitter nolightbox" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.joeabercrombie.com%2F2018%2F04%2F30%2Fprogress-report-april-18%2F&text=Via%20JoeAbercrombie.com%3A" rel="nofollow" style="font-size: 0px; width: 48px; height: 48px; margin: 0; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-right: 10px;" target="_blank" title="Share on Twitter"><img alt="twitter" class="synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share" height="48" src="https://www.joeabercrombie.com/wp-content/plugins/social-media-feather/synved-social/image/social/regular/96x96/twitter.png" style="display: inline; width: 48px; height: 48px; margin: 0; padding: 0; border: none;" title="Share on Twitter" width="48" /></a><a class="synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-48 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-google_plus nolightbox" href="https://plus.google.com/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.joeabercrombie.com%2F2018%2F04%2F30%2Fprogress-report-april-18%2F" rel="nofollow" style="font-size: 0px; width: 48px; height: 48px; margin: 0; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-right: 10px;" target="_blank" title="Share on Google+"><img alt="google_plus" class="synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share" height="48" src="https://www.joeabercrombie.com/wp-content/plugins/social-media-feather/synved-social/image/social/regular/96x96/google_plus.png" style="display: inline; width: 48px; height: 48px; margin: 0; padding: 0; border: none;" title="Share on Google+" width="48" /></a><a class="synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-48 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-reddit nolightbox" href="http://www.reddit.com/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.joeabercrombie.com%2F2018%2F04%2F30%2Fprogress-report-april-18%2F&title=Progress%20Report%20April%20%E2%80%9918" rel="nofollow" style="font-size: 0px; width: 48px; height: 48px; margin: 0; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-right: 10px;" target="_blank" title="Share on Reddit"><img alt="reddit" class="synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share" height="48" src="https://www.joeabercrombie.com/wp-content/plugins/social-media-feather/synved-social/image/social/regular/96x96/reddit.png" style="display: inline; width: 48px; height: 48px; margin: 0; padding: 0; border: none;" title="Share on Reddit" width="48" /></a><a class="synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-48 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-pinterest nolightbox" href="http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.joeabercrombie.com%2F2018%2F04%2F30%2Fprogress-report-april-18%2F&media=&description=Progress%20Report%20April%20%E2%80%9918" rel="nofollow" style="font-size: 0px; width: 48px; height: 48px; margin: 0; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-right: 10px;" target="_blank" title="Pin it with Pinterest"><img alt="pinterest" class="synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share" height="48" src="https://www.joeabercrombie.com/wp-content/plugins/social-media-feather/synved-social/image/social/regular/96x96/pinterest.png" style="display: inline; width: 48px; height: 48px; margin: 0; padding: 0; border: none;" title="Pin it with Pinterest" width="48" /></a><a class="synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-48 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-linkedin nolightbox" href="http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.joeabercrombie.com%2F2018%2F04%2F30%2Fprogress-report-april-18%2F&title=Progress%20Report%20April%20%E2%80%9918" rel="nofollow" style="font-size: 0px; width: 48px; height: 48px; margin: 0; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-right: 10px;" target="_blank" title="Share on Linkedin"><img alt="linkedin" class="synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share" height="48" src="https://www.joeabercrombie.com/wp-content/plugins/social-media-feather/synved-social/image/social/regular/96x96/linkedin.png" style="display: inline; width: 48px; height: 48px; margin: 0; padding: 0; border: none;" title="Share on Linkedin" width="48" /></a><a class="synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-48 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-mail nolightbox" href="mailto:?subject=Progress%20Report%20April%20%E2%80%9918&body=Via%20JoeAbercrombie.com%3A:%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.joeabercrombie.com%2F2018%2F04%2F30%2Fprogress-report-april-18%2F" rel="nofollow" style="font-size: 0px; width: 48px; height: 48px; margin: 0; margin-bottom: 10px;" title="Share by email"><img alt="mail" class="synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share" height="48" src="https://www.joeabercrombie.com/wp-content/plugins/social-media-feather/synved-social/image/social/regular/96x96/mail.png" style="display: inline; width: 48px; height: 48px; margin: 0; padding: 0; border: none;" title="Share by email" width="48" /></a></div></div>Free retirement planning guide from Vanguard2018-04-25T17:34:05.998000ZJ.D. Rothhttps://www.getrichslowly.org/retirement-planning-guide/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" style="padding: 6px;width: 36px;white-space:nowrap" width="36" valign="top"><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0b2306f69f3543ef7c94dfa464d20d01" style="width: 36px; height: 36px; border-radius: 4px;"></td>
<td width="100%" style="padding-top: 6px;">
<b>
amijangos
<a href="https://amijangos.newsblur.com/story/free-retirement-plan/6269004:734e5a">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/6269004.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> Get Rich Slowly:</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Vangard's Free Retirement Planning Guide
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="clear: both; margin: 0 0 24px;">
<p>Vanguard, the mutual fund company, recently published a free retirement planning guide for folks like me who aren’t interested in hiring a professional financial advisor. <a href="https://institutional.vanguard.com/iam/pdf/ISGRFS.pdf">Vanguard’s Roadmap to Financial Security</a> is a 32-page document intended to provide DIY investors with a framework for decision-making in retirement.</p>
<p><a href="https://institutional.vanguard.com/iam/pdf/ISGRFS.pdf"><img alt="Free retirement planning guide" class="aligncenter green-border" height="338" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/905/40784643215_9c109118ec_o.jpg" title="Free retirement planning guide" width="680" /></a></p>
<p>Here’s an excerpt from the intro to this retirement planning guide:</p>
<blockquote><p>Retirement is complex. In the face of often competing goals and numerous risks, the choices can be overwhelming, leaving many retirees unsure of where to begin. To help balance the many decisions to be made, we have constructed a retirement planning framework that allows retirees to capture their unique priorities and use their financial resources in a way that best aligns with achieving their goals and mitigating their risks.</p></blockquote>
<p>Like me, Vanguard believes that <strong>retirement planning starts by setting goals</strong>. What do you want to get out of life? In the case of retirement, how much do you want to spend on basic living expenses? How much do you want to have set aside for “contingencies”? How much do you want to spend on fun? How much do you want to leave after you die?</p>
<p>Next, Vanguard’s retirement planning guide spends six pages exploring <strong>the risks of retirement and how to mitigate them</strong>. According to Vanguard, there are five primary risks in retirement:</p>
<ul>
<li>Market risk, the possibility of losing purchasing power due to movements in the financial markets.</li>
<li>Health risk, a combination of your physical condition and your ability to pay for needed care.</li>
<li>Longevity and mortality risk, which are two sides of the same coin: living longer than expected, or dying sooner than anticipated.</li>
<li>Event risk, those unexpected occurrences that cost big bucks.</li>
<li>Tax and policy risk, the odds that governmental and economic forces will have an impact on your retirement planning.</li>
</ul>
<p>The next stop on Vanguard’s retirement planning roadmap is <strong>assessing your financial resources</strong>. How much have you saved? Do you have access to private pensions or annuities? What kind of insurance do you have? What’s your asset allocation? How will you spend your money in retirement? Will you work during retirement? (There are those who would argue that if you’re working, you’re not retired. I disagree. As we discussed a few weeks ago, there’s no single <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/defining-retirement/">definition of retirement</a>, and only one definition involves not working.)</p>
<blockquote class="highlight"><p>The Vanguard retirement planning guide spends some time talking about home equity and how it relates to wealth. This is a fascinating subject, something GRS readers often discuss in the comments, and something that comes up all of the time at various early retirement events I attend. Most retirees hold a high percentage of their wealth in home equity. Should this value be considered when evaluating your net worth? When making plans for retirement spending? It’s an interesting question that we’ll have to explore further in the future.</p></blockquote>
<p>The final stop on Vanguard’s retirement roadmap is <strong>developing a plan</strong>. After you’ve set goals, evaluated risks, and assessed your assets, it’s time to pull all of this info together to create a financial strategy.</p>
<p>“There’s no universal formula for building the optimal retirement plan,” Vanguard writes. “The right mix of resources should be tailored to each household or individual. It should take into account the relative importance of competing goals and the risks that a retiree may be susceptible or sensitive to.”</p>
<p>The ultimate aim, says this retirement planning guide, is to obtain financial security, to know financial peace during your golden years.</p>
<p><a href="https://institutional.vanguard.com/iam/pdf/ISGRFS.pdf">Vanguard’s Roadmap to Financial Security</a> isn’t complex and it’s not earth-shattering. It’s a simple and useful framework for retirement planning. If, like me, you do most of your own financial planning, I suspect you’ll find it thought-provoking.</p>
<p><em>[via <a href="https://obliviousinvestor.com/retirement-planning-roadmap-also-two-books-updated-for-2018/">The Oblivious Investor</a>]</em></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/retirement-planning-guide/" rel="nofollow">Free retirement planning guide from Vanguard</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org" rel="nofollow">Get Rich Slowly</a>.</p>The stages of financial freedom: The road to financial independence2018-04-19T01:46:14.519000ZJ.D. Rothhttps://www.getrichslowly.org/stages-of-financial-freedom/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" style="padding: 6px;width: 36px;white-space:nowrap" width="36" valign="top"><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0b2306f69f3543ef7c94dfa464d20d01" style="width: 36px; height: 36px; border-radius: 4px;"></td>
<td width="100%" style="padding-top: 6px;">
<b>
amijangos
<a href="https://amijangos.newsblur.com/story/the-stages-of-financ/6269004:ee3452">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/6269004.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> Get Rich Slowly.</b>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="clear: both; margin: 0 0 24px;">
<p>Today we’re going to explore the six stages of financial freedom. First, though, I want to introduce you to my friends Mac and Pam.</p>
<p>Pam is a <a href="http://explorehealthcareers.org/en/Career/121/Pathologist">pathologist</a> and an <a href="https://ultrasignup.com/results_participant.aspx?fname=Pam&lname=Smith">elite ultra-runner</a>. Mac is a former high-school science teacher and current stay-at-home dad. Together, they form a formidable financial team.</p>
<p>They’re also a couple of nerds. I mean, look at them!</p>
<p><img alt="[Pam and Mac]" class="aligncenter green-border" height="500" src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5804/23184147234_29067a9384.jpg" title="Pam and Mac, somewhere in the mountains for an ultramarathon" width="500" /></p>
<p>Maybe because they’re such nerds, Mac and Pam have <em>always</em> put an emphasis on saving. But they don’t just pinch pennies. They’ve optimized their lives to boost their income <em>and</em> their happiness. They’re well on their way to financial independence. In many ways, they epitomize the ideals espoused by my Money Boss philosophy.<span id="more-235834"></span></p>
<h2>The Money Boss Method in Real Life</h2>
<p>When Pam was in her final year of med school, for instance, Mac worked as a research tech at a neuroscience lab. He brought home only $18,000 but they were careful to avoid living paycheck to paycheck.</p>
<p>“We would pay the rent,” Mac says, “we would put money into savings, and we’d still have money left over at the end of the month. <strong>We made choices not to buy the little things that could have killed our future.</strong>”</p>
<p>After med school, Mac and Pam moved to Portland. While Pam did her pathology residency at <a href="http://www.ohsu.edu/">Oregon Health & Science University</a>, Mac taught high-school science. At that time, their salaries were similar.</p>
<p>When their first child was born in January 2005, Pam took maternity leave until Spring Break. From Spring Break until the end of the school year, Mac brought the baby with him to work and placed her in the student-run daycare.</p>
<p>“Counting the cost of daycare, my teacher’s salary went down to minimum wage,” Mac says. At the end of the school year, he asked for a year off. That year turned into forever. “It came down to whether I wanted to raise other people’s kids or whether I wanted to raise my own.”</p>
<p>The traditional choice is for the mother to stay home with the kids, but that seemed silly in their situation. With her residency completed, Pam could earn four or five times what Mac could make as a teacher. “It didn’t make sense to throw away the money we spent on Pam’s education to not reap the benefits of that education.”</p>
<p>For the past decade, Mac and Pam have worked in tandem toward family and financial goals. Pam makes the money. Mac takes care of two kids and day-to-day household operations while also managing their investments. They’re <em>both</em> careful with spending.</p>
<p>“We spend a lot less than all of our friends who earn similar amounts,” Mac says. “Lots of our doctor friends have multiple houses. They own fancy cars. They spend lots of money and we don’t. Neither of us wants a second home. I drive a 2007 minivan and Pam drives a 2004 Avalon. Our only debt is our house. We pay off our credit cards every month and we have no car payments.”</p>
<p>From the beginning, saving has been a priority for Mac and Pam. And as they earned more, they saved more. It’s true their spending increased too, but at nowhere near the same rate. A higher income meant they could put more in the bank — not buy more stuff.</p>
<p>Because they’ve been so diligent for so long, Mac and Pam will be able to retire in their forties. They’ve made the choices and done the work necessary to achieve Financial Independence at a young age.</p>
<p>“We’d rather accumulate our wealth, to live how we want later in life than spend on things now,” Mac says. Yes, they could afford to buy things today, but doing so would require sacrificing more important opportunities tomorrow.</p>
<p>These two are money bosses! They’ve been climbing the ladder of financial freedom for a long time.</p>
<p><img alt="[The Smith Family]" class="aligncenter green-border" height="285" src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5648/23729823221_6cc86e5b51.jpg" title="Here's the whole happy family." width="500" /></p>
<h2>The Six Stages of Financial Freedom</h2>
<p>I used to believe that financial freedom meant just one thing: Having enough money that you never had to work again. Over the years, people like Mac and Pam have taught me that financial independence exists on a continuum. It’s not “all or nothing”, but an ever-increasing range of options. It’s a process.</p>
<p><strong>Each stage of financial freedom allows you greater autonomy and self-expression, and these are qualities that lead to happiness.</strong></p>
<p>Nearly a decade ago, I came up with what I called the <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2009/02/06/what-next-the-third-stage-of-personal-finance/">three stages of personal finance</a>. Later, I expanded this to four or five stages. Today, I recognize there are <em>many</em> degrees of financial independence.</p>
<p>For our purposes, we’re going to keep things simple.</p>
<p>After blending my ideas with <a href="http://radicalpersonalfinance.com/174-the-stages-of-financial-independence-a-useful-roadmap-to-help-you-navigate-from-from-broke-to-financial-freedom/">those of Joshua Sheats at Radical Personal Finance</a>, I’ve come up with a model that tracks six stages from financial dependence to financial abundance.</p>
<p>But before you can begin progressing through the six stages of financial freedom, there’s a preliminary hurdle you have to clear. You’re in this “zeroeth stage” if your expenses exceed your income.</p>
<h3>Stage 0 – Dependence</h3>
<p>In this stage, your lifestyle depends on others for financial support. We <em>all</em> start here. We’re born this way. How long it takes to break free varies from person to person. You’re in this stage if you rely on financial support from your parents. You’re in this stage if you spend more than you earn. You’re in this stage if your debt payments exceed your income.</p>
<p>After you begin to earn a profit, you begin to progress through the six stages of financial freedom. The first three are the “surviving” stages. </p>
<h3>Stage 1 – Solvency</h3>
<p>Solvency is the ability to meet your financial commitments. You reach this stage when you no longer rely on anyone else for financial support — when your income exceeds your expenses, when you are no longer accumulating debt. When you are earning a profit, you have achieved solvency. Some people reach this stage in their teens. Some <em>never</em> reach it. (I reached it at age 35 in October 2004, when I stopped debting and began to repay what I owed.)</p>
<h3>Stage 2 – Stability</h3>
<p>You achieve stability once you’ve repaid your consumer debt, established some emergency savings, and continue to earn a personal profit. You may still possess some “good debt” — college loans, a mortgage — but you’ve eliminated other obligations and built a buffer of savings to protect you from unfortunate events. (I reached this stage at age 38 in December 2007, when <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2007/12/03/free-at-last-saying-good-bye-to-20-years-of-debt/">I made my final debt payment</a>.)</p>
<h3>Stage 3 – Agency</h3>
<p>The final “surviving” stage is free agency, the ability to work and live how and where you want. In this stage, you’ve eliminated <em>all</em> debt (including student loans and mortgage) and you have enough banked that you could quit your job at a moment’s notice without hesitation. This is commonly called “screw-you money”. (I achieved agency in March 2008.)</p>
<blockquote class="highlight"><p><em><strong>Note:</strong></em> I know first-hand there are times you might prefer to carry a mortgage even if you don’t have to. For the purposes of this stage, if you have enough saved and invested to pay off your mortgage, it’s the same thing as not having one.</p></blockquote>
<p>In the final three stages, you move from surviving to thriving. Money is no longer a safety net, but a tool to help you build the life you envision for yourself and your family. Remember our discussion of <a href="https://getrichslowly.org/crossover-point/">the “crossover point”</a> earlier this week? That concept is key to defining where you are in these latter stages of financial freedom. (Each of these stages assumes no debt. Or, as explained in the note above, enough cash on hand to instantly repay your debt.)</p>
<h3>Stage 4 – Security</h3>
<p>You achieve financial security when your investment income can cover your basic needs. That is, based on how much you have saved and invested, you could live a meager existence for the rest of your life. Even if you never worked another day in your life, you have enough to afford simple housing, basic food, essential clothing, and insurance.</p>
<h3>Stage 5 – Independence</h3>
<p>Financial independence is the ultimate goal for most folks. At this stage, your investment income is sufficient to fund your current standard of living for the rest of your life. You can afford the basics, but you can afford some comforts too. You have Enough. (I leaped from agency to independence in April 2009. This is the stage I’m in today.)</p>
<h3>Stage 6 – Abundance</h3>
<p>In the final stage of financial freedom, you have “enough — and then some”. Your passive income from all sources will not only fund your lifestyle indefinitely, but grant you the freedom to do whatever you want. You can share your wealth with others. You can indulge in luxury, explore the world. You can build a business empire.</p>
<blockquote class="highlight"><p><em><strong>Note:</strong></em> Where am I on this scale? I’ve definitely achieved Financial Security. If you’d have asked me a year ago, I would have told you that I was solidly in stage five, Financial Independence. Honestly, that’s probably still accurate — but a lot about my financial situation seems less certain than it did a few months ago. That’s a topic for another conversation…</p></blockquote>
<p><strong>The more money you save, the more freedom you have, and the greater risks you can take.</strong> As your financial independence increases, you chip away at the wall of worry. You’re able to make decisions based on happiness and not on dollars.</p>
<p>And here’s the thing: As you develop smart money habits and skills, these will not only help you obtain whatever immediate level of financial freedom you’re working toward, but also progress toward future levels of freedom.</p>
<p>If you’re working toward debt freedom, for instance, as you learn to spend less and earn more, this profitability will continue to help you once you’ve achieved solvency. You can apply the same ideas as you work to obtain stability, and then agency.</p>
<p>I spent <em>far</em> too long this morning playing in Photoshop to create the summary below. I am <em>not</em> a graphic artist…but I try.</p>
<p><img alt="[The Stages of Financial Freedom]" class="aligncenter green-border" height="1024" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1587/23440575834_c247120755_b.jpg" title="It took me far longer to create this graphic than you might expect. I am not a graphic artist." width="627" /></p>
<h2>Summing Up</h2>
<p>That’s it for migrating the Money Boss crash course to Get Rich Slowly!</p>
<p>Over the past few weeks, I’ve shared the nuts and bolts of my financial methodology. To summarize:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/you-are-the-boss-of-you/">You are the boss of you.</a> Nobody cares more about your money than you do, so assume responsibility for your financial future. Run your life like a business.</li>
<li>The best way to get what you really want is to become clear on your goals and values. That’s why everyone should craft a <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/personal-mission-statement/">personal mission statement</a>.</li>
<li>Your <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/saving-rate/">saving rate</a> is the most important number in personal finance. Savings — which I like to think of as “profit” — gives you the power to do what you want in life.</li>
<li>Frugality is the cornerstone of wealth-building, but <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/best-way-to-spend-less/">the best way to spend less</a> is to cut back on the big stuff.</li>
<li>You are 100% responsible for your income. To <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/earn-more-money/">earn more</a>, learn more. Work more and work better. Sell yourself. If you take the time to supercharge your income, your profits will soar.</li>
<li>Think like a billionaire by carefully guarding each dollar you earn. Recognize that every time you spend today, you’re sacrificing a piece of tomorrow. Be wary of <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/opportunity-costs/">opportunity costs</a>. Practice mindful spending.</li>
<li>Invest wisely. Don’t try to get rich quick. Develop an investment philosophy and develop an <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/investment-strategy/">investment strategy</a> that supports this philosophy.</li>
<li>Use barriers and pre-commitment to automatically <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/do-the-right-thing/">do the right thing</a> — every time.</li>
<li>As you adopt this philosophy, your wealth snowball will begin to grow. The more you work at it, the bigger it’ll get. Protect it. Your wealth snowball is the key to your financial future. Eventually, you’ll reach the <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/crossover-point/">crossover point</a>, that place where your investment income exceeds your day-to-day spending. You’ll have achieved Financial Independence.</li>
</ul>
<p>It was a lot of work to put this together, but it was also a lot of fun. I’d love feedback if you have it. <strong>I want this info to be as useful as possible to future readers, so drop me a line to let me know what you liked — and what you didn’t.</strong> Constructive criticism will <em>not</em> offend me.</p>
<blockquote class="actionitem"><p>I’ve collated this series of articles into a free ebook called <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0GiJgxlfgA7R2hwNzJmdjVsN1k/"><em><strong>A Brief Guide to Financial Freedom</strong></em></a>. Like much of this material, it’s still branded for Money Boss, but soon I’ll revise everything to be GRS-specific.</p></blockquote>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/stages-of-financial-freedom/" rel="nofollow">The stages of financial freedom: The road to financial independence</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org" rel="nofollow">Get Rich Slowly</a>.</p>Eight Amazing Things That Happen When You Finally Pay Down Debt2018-04-18T14:26:54.119000ZHolly Johnsonhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thesimpledollar/~3/xvQ7ZWgLHR8/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" style="padding: 6px;width: 36px;white-space:nowrap" width="36" valign="top"><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0b2306f69f3543ef7c94dfa464d20d01" style="width: 36px; height: 36px; border-radius: 4px;"></td>
<td width="100%" style="padding-top: 6px;">
<b>
amijangos
<a href="https://amijangos.newsblur.com/story/eight-amazing-things/2473:bc8c2a">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/2473.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> The Simple Dollar:</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Great Feeling!
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="clear: both; margin: 0 0 24px;">
<p>Living with debt may be seen as “normal” these days, but the damage debt does to our lives is far from okay. After all, carrying too much debt can cause more than budgeting problems; it can stress and personal problems, too.</p>
<p>Experts at <em><a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-mentally-strong-people-dont-do/201507/what-your-financial-health-says-about-your-mental" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Psychology Today</a></em> say that that your mental health and financial health are irrefutably intertwined. People in debt are more likely to drink and abuse drugs, and there is a distinct correlation between high debt levels and increased risk of suicide, they note. A study from <em><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24121465">Clinical Psychology Review</a></em> even showed that indebted consumers are three times more likely to suffer from a mental health condition.</p>
<p>And what about how debt affects your dreams? Carrying too much debt can put your goals out of reach – or even out of mind, since you know you can’t afford them. When you’re deep in debt, you may never take the vacation you’ve dreamed of, purchase the home you’ve always wanted, or have the cash to pursue the hobby you love. You may have to turn down exciting but low-paying opportunities while you toil in service of your debts, or wind up working forever — even until the day you die. That means that debt could be the reason you <a href="https://www.thesimpledollar.com/when-its-too-costly-to-retire/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">never actually retire</a> — or at least never have a retirement you can afford to enjoy.</p>
<h2>Eight Ways Life Changes After You Pay Off Your Debt</h2>
<p>Everything you’ve just read may be depressing, but it’s true. While it’s easy to buy now and pay later, few people are aware of the effect debt makes on their lives until it’s too late. Of course, debt isn’t a death sentence — or, at least it doesn’t have to be. No matter how helpless your situation feels or how much debt you have, it’s possible to turn things around and make dropping debt a priority.</p>
<p>While the road out of debt won’t be easy, there are benefits waiting for you at the very end. And, those benefits extend far beyond the relief you’ll feel when you make the final payment on your credit cards, student loans, and personal loans; some of the benefits of becoming debt-free are so huge they can change your life forever.</p>
<p>If you’re working your way out of debt and wondering what’s in store in the future – and whether it’s worth the sacrifice – here are some things you can to look forward to.</p>
<h3>#1: You have a lot more money to spend, save, or invest.</h3>
<p>Paying down debt requires a huge commitment of money and time. Whether you choose to utilize the debt snowball or debt avalanche methods or just pay whatever you can each month, most of your expendable income needs to go toward debt repayment if you want your actions to count.</p>
<p>But, something crazy happens the second you make the final payment toward your debts. All of a sudden, all the income you’ve been throwing toward your debts each month becomes<strong> yours.</strong> With no more debts to pay off, you get to experience what your paycheck actually feels like without the burden of debt payments every month.</p>
<p>As a result, you’ll have a lot more money to save, spend, or invest going forward. At first, you may even feel rich!</p>
<h3>#2: Getting a good night’s sleep becomes easy.</h3>
<p>The burden of debt may take more of a mental toll than you think when you add up all the worry, stress, and sleepless nights your debt has caused. Especially at the beginning of your journey, it’s likely you struggled financially and emotionally before building up the courage to change your spending habits and your life.</p>
<p>When you pay down your debt, all of that changes. All of a sudden, you no longer have to worry about insurmountable balances, looming due dates, and relentless interest charges. Without any debts to worry about, your monthly expenses will drop, freeing up your <a href="https://www.thesimpledollar.com/personal-cash-flow-and-you/">personal cash flow</a> and allowing you to focus on savings and daily living expenses.</p>
<p>Few people understand just how free you can feel when you’re no longer beholden to a slew of banks and lenders. But, when you get there, you will instantly feel the power the comes with that freedom.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Related</strong>: <a href="https://www.thesimpledollar.com/freedom-money/">‘Freedom’ Money</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>#3: Your credit score may improve.</h3>
<p>The amount you owe on your debts in relation to your credit limits, also known as your <a href="https://www.thesimpledollar.com/why-is-credit-utilization-such-a-big-deal/">credit utilization</a>, accounts for 30% of your FICO credit score. Because of this, your credit score has the potential to improve with each monthly payment you make.</p>
<p>And, since your payment history is the <a href="https://www.thesimpledollar.com/the-most-important-factor-in-your-credit-score/">biggest determinant of your credit score</a>, your regular monthly payments will also help boost your score over time.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Related</strong>: <a href="https://www.thesimpledollar.com/the-second-most-important-factor-in-your-credit-score/">You Can Improve This Part of Your Credit Score Almost Immediately</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>#4: You can dream up new financial goals.</h3>
<p>Getting out of debt can take years, depending on how deep of a hole you’re in, and the process itself takes self-discipline and courage. During your journey, you likely kept your head down and focused on your goal. After all, too much distraction can cause you to get off track or fall back into bad habits.</p>
<p>When you’re finally debt-free, however, your journey comes to an end. And while it can <a href="https://www.thesimpledollar.com/how-to-stay-motivated-when-youre-already-debt-free/">almost be disorienting</a> to stop working toward this goal you’ve held for years, after all your hard work, you can finally come up with new dreams that are <em>a lot more fun</em> than paying off old debts.</p>
<p>Maybe you want to <a href="https://www.thesimpledollar.com/how-much-do-you-really-need-to-save-to-retire-early/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">retire early</a>, or perhaps you want to help your kids save for college. Maybe you’re finally ready take that family vacation you’ve been dreaming of for what seems like forever. Heck, maybe you just want to sit back and enjoy the peace that comes with being debt-free for a while.</p>
<p>Whatever you really want out of life, becoming debt-free will help you get there faster. Without a ton of bills to pay each month, you can finally save for what <em>you </em>want and pay for it in cash.</p>
<h3>#5: You can work less if you want.</h3>
<p>A lot of people make huge changes to finally pay off debt, and often those changes include picking up a second job or <a href="https://www.thesimpledollar.com/11-side-hustles-for-people-who-hate-people/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">side hustle</a>. Maybe you’ve been driving for Uber on the weekends to earn more money for debt repayment. Or, you might have picked up some seasonal work, babysitting, or lawn mowing jobs.</p>
<p>No matter your hustle, paying off debt means that you may not have to work quite so hard anymore. If you’re been putting in more hours than you really want to just to pay down debt, reaching your goal may mean it’s time to work less and enjoy life more. Chances are, having the freedom to work less is one of the reasons you decided to get out of debt in the first place.</p>
<h3>#6: You have more options.</h3>
<p>In addition to not having the option to work less if you want, paying down debt makes it possible to change your life in myriad ways. Maybe you wished you would change careers but couldn’t afford to take a pay cut in the past, or perhaps you want to go back to school to finally finish your degree.</p>
<p>Maybe you want to cut down to part-time work to spend more time with your kids. Whatever it is you want, becoming debt-free means you now have less financial obligations, and more options than ever. Without all your old bills hanging over your head, you can build the life you <em>want </em>instead of the life you had.</p>
<h3>#7: Debt becomes something you strive to avoid.</h3>
<p>When you’re already in debt, it’s easy to think that adding to the pile won’t even matter. What difference will another credit card or a new car loan make when you’re already struggling as it is?</p>
<p>When you finally become entirely debt-free, you realize that it <em>does </em>matter how much you owe every month. Each bill may not seem like a lot on its own, but the sum of all your debts can make your life harder in too many ways to count.</p>
<p>Once you’ve spent years paying down debt, chances are good you will never want to go down that road again. As a result, you will likely do anything you can to avoid debt like the plague it is. And, if that means spending less and living more frugally, so be it.</p>
<h3>#8: You get to finance your own dreams interest-free.</h3>
<p>The final benefit of becoming debt-free is one that may not sound exciting until you actually get there – eventually, you will get to finance some of your dreams in cash.</p>
<p>That living room furniture set you’ve always wanted? Imagine walking into your local furniture store and writing a check to pay for whatever you wanted. Need a new car? Imagine having the savings to negotiate a cash price then driving off the lot with your new ride and <a href="https://www.thesimpledollar.com/if-you-ask-whats-the-monthly-payment-youre-asking-the-wrong-question/" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em>no car payment</em></a> to look forward to.</p>
<p>And, how about retirement? Imagine having enough extra money that you can boost your retirement savings without it hurting your bottom line, then retire earlier than you ever dreamed.</p>
<h2>The Bottom Line</h2>
<p>These are just some of the things you can do if you pay down debt, but there are endless other scenarios to consider. When you’re finally debt-free, you get to design the life you want instead of enduring a life that was built to keep up with endless bills.</p>
<p>If you’re ready to become debt-free or in the throes of a debt repayment plan, it’s crucial to keep your eye on the prize and remember what your life will be like when you reach your goal. There’s so much more to life than debt and “stuff,” and it’s hard to enjoy the spoils of your hard work when all your money is going to somebody else.</p>
<p>You get to decide how you want to live your life. Become debt-free, and you get to call all the shots. Spend your life in debt, and your labor will always belong to someone else.</p>
<p><em>Holly Johnson is an award-winning personal finance writer and the author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Zero-Down-Your-Debt-Reclaim/dp/1633534790/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481201603&sr=8-1&keywords=zero+down+your+debt"><strong>Zero Down Your Debt</strong></a>. Johnson shares her obsession with frugality, budgeting, and travel at <a href="http://www.clubthrifty.com/"><strong>ClubThrifty.com</strong></a>.</em></p>
<p><strong>Related Stories:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.thesimpledollar.com/in-what-order-should-i-pay-off-my-debts/">In What Order Should I Pay Off My Debts?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.thesimpledollar.com/eight-money-mistakes-the-middle-class-keeps-making/">Eight Money Mistakes the Middle Class Keeps Making</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.thesimpledollar.com/saving-enough-for-retirement-when-money-is-tight/">Saving Enough for Retirement When Money Is Tight</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.thesimpledollar.com/should-you-use-a-personal-loan-to-pay-off-credit-card-debt/">Should You Use a Personal Loan to Pay Off Credit Card Debt?</a></li>
</ul>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.thesimpledollar.com/eight-amazing-things-that-happen-when-you-finally-pay-down-debt/" rel="nofollow">Eight Amazing Things That Happen When You Finally Pay Down Debt</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.thesimpledollar.com" rel="nofollow">The Simple Dollar</a>.</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/thesimpledollar?a=xvQ7ZWgLHR8:kbQ9b8aNN28:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/thesimpledollar?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/thesimpledollar?a=xvQ7ZWgLHR8:kbQ9b8aNN28:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/thesimpledollar?i=xvQ7ZWgLHR8:kbQ9b8aNN28:F7zBnMyn0Lo" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/thesimpledollar?a=xvQ7ZWgLHR8:kbQ9b8aNN28:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/thesimpledollar?i=xvQ7ZWgLHR8:kbQ9b8aNN28:gIN9vFwOqvQ" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/thesimpledollar?a=xvQ7ZWgLHR8:kbQ9b8aNN28:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/thesimpledollar?i=xvQ7ZWgLHR8:kbQ9b8aNN28:V_sGLiPBpWU" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/thesimpledollar?a=xvQ7ZWgLHR8:kbQ9b8aNN28:I9og5sOYxJI"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/thesimpledollar?d=I9og5sOYxJI" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/thesimpledollar?a=xvQ7ZWgLHR8:kbQ9b8aNN28:D7DqB2pKExk"><img border="0" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/thesimpledollar?i=xvQ7ZWgLHR8:kbQ9b8aNN28:D7DqB2pKExk" /></a>
</div><img alt="" height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/thesimpledollar/~4/xvQ7ZWgLHR8" width="1" />Turkish Delight2018-04-18T13:49:19.958000Zhttps://xkcd.com/1980/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" style="padding: 6px;width: 36px;white-space:nowrap" width="36" valign="top"><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0b2306f69f3543ef7c94dfa464d20d01" style="width: 36px; height: 36px; border-radius: 4px;"></td>
<td width="100%" style="padding-top: 6px;">
<b>
amijangos
<a href="https://amijangos.newsblur.com/story/turkish-delight/5994357:d5826a">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/5994357.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> xkcd.com:</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Turkish Delight
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="clear: both; margin: 0 0 24px;">
<img alt="I take it Narnia doesn't have Cinnabons? Because if you can magic up a plate of those, I'll betray whoever." src="https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/turkish_delight.png" title="I take it Narnia doesn't have Cinnabons? Because if you can magic up a plate of those, I'll betray whoever." />Everything You Need To Know About Emergency Funds2018-04-11T17:57:26.128000ZMary Parisihttp://thefinancialdiet.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-emergency-funds/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" style="padding: 6px;width: 36px;white-space:nowrap" width="36" valign="top"><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0b2306f69f3543ef7c94dfa464d20d01" style="width: 36px; height: 36px; border-radius: 4px;"></td>
<td width="100%" style="padding-top: 6px;">
<b>
amijangos
<a href="https://amijangos.newsblur.com/story/everything-you-need-/5727045:f635b7">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/5727045.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> The Financial Diet.</b>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="clear: both; margin: 0 0 24px;">
<p>You’ve probably heard the term “Emergency Fund” tossed around so many times that you’re getting sick of it. You’re probably especially getting sick of it if you don’t have one, because you feel like it doesn’t apply to you. But that’s where you’re wrong — it really truly applies to you. We talk about emergency […]</p>
<p>The post <a href="http://thefinancialdiet.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-emergency-funds/" rel="nofollow">Everything You Need To Know About Emergency Funds</a> appeared first on <a href="http://thefinancialdiet.com" rel="nofollow">The Financial Diet</a>.</p>Mastering the abundance mindset (and changing your money blueprint)2018-04-11T17:56:25.464000ZJ.D. Rothhttps://www.getrichslowly.org/abundance-mindset/<table style="border: 1px solid #E0E0E0; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-color: #F0F0F0" valign="top" align="left" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" style="padding: 6px;width: 36px;white-space:nowrap" width="36" valign="top"><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/0b2306f69f3543ef7c94dfa464d20d01" style="width: 36px; height: 36px; border-radius: 4px;"></td>
<td width="100%" style="padding-top: 6px;">
<b>
amijangos
<a href="https://amijangos.newsblur.com/story/mastering-the-abunda/6269004:5cf850">shared this story</a>
from <img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/icons.newsblur.com/6269004.png" style="vertical-align: middle;width:16px;height:16px;"> Get Rich Slowly.</b>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="clear: both; margin: 0 0 24px;">
<p>Old habits die hard.</p>
<p>When you get to be <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/life-philosophy/">a middle-aged man like me</a>, you have forty-nine years of learned behavior to guide your actions and decisions — even when you <em>know</em> your choices aren’t necessarily for the best. Our mental blueprints (including our <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/money-blueprint/">money blueprints</a>) are deeply ingrained and tough to change.</p>
<p>Don’t worry. I haven’t turned into a spendthrift or anything. But I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how certain parts of my past continue to affect me, sometimes in huge and annoying ways. For instance, I fight an ongoing battle against a scarcity mindset. I haven’t been able to master the abundance mindset.</p>
<p><a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/vGQ49l9I4EE"><img alt="Mastering the abundance mindset is a key part of pursuing financial freedom" class="aligncenter green-border" height="628" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/800/26453966077_1d9c3d4c52_o.jpg" title="Mastering the abundance mindset is a key part of pursuing financial freedom" width="1200" /></a></p>
<h2>Scarcity and Abundance</h2>
<p>I’ve been reluctant to talk about scarcity and abundance because the terms have been co-opted by <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/there-is-no-secret-the-myth-of-the-law-of-attraction/">“Law of Attraction” types</a> who use them to encourage magical thinking. I hate the New Age-y approach to these concepts. I want to discuss them from a psychological perspective.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>With a scarcity mindset, you believe that everything is limited.</strong> Time is limited. Money is limited. Love is limited. This causes you to worry about the future. You’re consciously or unconsciously more concerned with what might go wrong than with what could go right. You make fear-based decisions. You’re afraid of missing out. You’re afraid of not having enough. You have trouble with moderation and often exhibit “all or nothing” behavior.</li>
<li><strong>With an abundance mindset, you believe there’s plenty for everyone.</strong> There’s plenty of wealth, prestige, and happiness to go around. You’re optimistic about the future. You think things will work out even if there are bumps along the way. You make decisions based on the Big Picture rather than a single snapshot in time. It’s easy for you to balance tomorrow <em>and</em> today.</li>
</ul>
<p>I’ve written before about my trouble with impulse control. In the past, I’ve had problems with overspending, overeating, video game addiction, alcohol consumption, and borderline hoarding behavior. (I’m a <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/further-adventures-in-my-war-on-stuff/">compulsive collector of Stuff</a>.)</p>
<p><em>All</em> of this — the collecting, the addictive tendencies, the lack of self-control — stems from a scarcity mentality. But I didn’t realize it until a few years ago when <a href="http://www.jdroth.com/my-introduction-to-therapy/">my therapist helped me see the source</a>.</p>
<p>Because my family didn’t have much when I was young, I find it difficult to defer gratification. My default mindset — even when life is grand — is that if I want something and it’s available, I should get it <em>now</em>. Somewhere deep inside, I feel as if there won’t ever be another chance. My father had this mindset. My mother had it. My brothers have it too. (Like me, Jeff and Tony have both learned to fight the feeling of scarcity in their own fashion.)</p>
<blockquote class="highlight"><p><strong><em>A Real-Life Example of the Scarcity Mindset</em></strong><br />
Over the past year, my deeply-seated scarcity mindset has begun to manifest itself in another annoying way.</p>
<p>Since moving into our new house last July 1st, we’ve had to make tens of thousands of dollars worth of repairs. About $56,000 of these costs came from the sale of our previous home, but that still leaves us on the hook for $30,000 or $40,000. We have one last project to do before we believe we’re finished: We want to replace the rotting back deck <em>and</em> install a hot tub. (This was the first project we had planned to tackle when we moved in, but we had to put it off for more pressing priorities.)</p>
<p>Kim and I know without a doubt that we’ll use the deck and hot tub nearly every single day of the year. (TMI: Currently, she and I both take several hot baths each week. If we had a hot tub, we’d be able to soak together.) It’s not a question of whether we’ll get value from building an outdoor oasis. No, the problem is that I’ve reached some sort of mental breaking point.</p>
<p>I’m reluctant to spend another penny on home improvement. I’ve over it. I hate the idea of cashing out yet another chunk of my index funds. Hate it, hate it, hate it. I feel like that’s money I’ll never get back. (I feel this way despite the intellectual understanding that we’d recoup maybe 80% of our costs if we were to sell the home in the future.)</p>
<p>I recognize that this is my scarcity mindset kicking in, yet I cannot shake these feelings. They’re a part of my <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/money-blueprint/">money blueprint</a>.</p></blockquote>
<p>Here’s the thing: In so many ways, <strong>financial freedom depends on casting aside this scarcity mentality and embracing an abundance mindset instead</strong>. Financial well-being is fundamentally tied to positive expectations of the future.</p>
<p>Let’s look at three ways the scarcity mindset can manifest itself — and how to embrace abundance instead.<span id="more-235836"></span></p>
<h2>Jealousy and Spite</h2>
<p>For some, the scarcity mindset manifests as jealousy and spite. These folks resent the success of others, financial and otherwise. They find it tough to be happy when something good happens to a friend or family member. They’re territorial, reluctant to co-operate toward a greater common good.</p>
<p>Here’s how Stephen Covey describes this flavor of scarcity in <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/7habits"><em>The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People</em></a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>People with a scarcity mentality tend to see everything in terms of win-lose. There is only so much; and if someone else has it, that means there will be less for me.</p></blockquote>
<p>This type of scarcity mindset is the source of the average American’s <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/coping-with-haters/">love-hate relationship with wealth</a>. Most people want to be wealthy — but are suspicious of those who already are. They typical person believes that when <em>she</em> makes money, it’s a result of hard work and skill. But others who get rich? They’re lucky jerks who don’t deserve it.</p>
<p>People with this form of the scarcity mindset don’t just hold back themselves but they keep down the people around them. This usually manifests as gossip and griping. Sometimes these people “keep score”. In extreme cases, they actively work to sabotage the success of others.</p>
<p>People with this type of scarcity mindset are a drag on life, a net negative to the world at large.</p>
<blockquote class="actionitem"><p><strong>What if you suffer from this sort of scarcity mentality?</strong> Train yourself to be happy for others. Recognize that <em>my</em> success does not diminish you. Life is not a zero-sum game. To that end:</p>
<ul>
<li>Don’t compare yourself to other people. Focus on yourself, on your own goals and accomplishments. If you must compete, compete with yourself. Strive for constant self-improvement.</li>
<li>Practice a win-win approach to life. Look for ways to improve your own situation while also helping those around you. When faced with a conflict, don’t try to be the “victor”; instead, work toward a solution beneficial to both parties.</li>
<li>Teach yourself to share. Force yourself to give things — time, money, resources — to other people. When you have a surplus of something, spread the love. (More on this later.)</li>
</ul>
<p>Jealousy and spite <em>can</em> be overcome, but it takes work. Making the effort is a great way to change your outlook, creating a better life for yourself and the people around you.</p></blockquote>
<h2>Never Enough</h2>
<p><a href="http://loc.gov/pictures/resource/fsa.8b29516/"><img alt="For some who grew up deprived, the scarcity mindset manifests itself as an inability to spend -- even when it's okay" class="alignright green-border" height="320" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/783/26454407347_eab9f4830a_n.jpg" title="For some who grew up deprived, the scarcity mindset manifests itself as an inability to spend -- even when it's okay" width="257" /></a><br />
For others, the scarcity mindset manifests as <a href="http://www.raptitude.com/2011/03/why-your-fears-wont-come-true/">fear of the future</a>. These people think and act like children of the Great Depression. They’re so worried about how bad things <em>could</em> get that they’re unable to recognize and enjoy what they already have — even when they have a lot.</p>
<p>Let me give you an example.</p>
<p>I once met with a woman who had over $6 million in the bank. She was my age — mid forties — and lived a modest lifestyle. She wasn’t overly frugal, but she didn’t spend a lot either. Plus she had just landed a job that paid half a million per year. Nice position to be in, right? Not to her. She was scared to stop working because the didn’t want to run out of money.</p>
<p>Based on standard assumptions about inflation and stock market returns, this woman could probably spend $240,000 per year for the rest of her life and still die rich. (That’s without taking into account her new $500k per year position!) Her spending was closer to $50,000 per year, yet she fretted about not having enough.</p>
<p>Other folks are more extreme. I’ve known retirees who have millions in the bank but who are so frightened of the future — inflation! peak oil! stock market collapse! — that they won’t spend on needed home repairs and health concerns. What good is all of that money if you’re dead or your house falls down around you?</p>
<p>These folks aren’t harming anyone else (at least not directly), but they’re doing severe damage to their own well-being. They sacrifice happiness today in order to have more tomorrow — but they never enjoy tomorrow.</p>
<p>People with this type of scarcity mentality never have enough. No amount of money will allow them to sleep soundly at night.</p>
<blockquote class="actionitem"><p><strong>What if you feel like you’ll never have enough?</strong> Unlike those who suffer from jealousy and spite, you <em>should</em> keep score. Do this in two ways:</p>
<ul>
<li>First, keep a journal — a standard daily diary. It doesn’t have to be detailed. Write down the most important events from your life. And <em>every day</em> note at least one thing for which you are grateful. At the end of each year, go back and re-read what you’ve written. (This exercise will increase in value the longer you keep at it.)</li>
<li>Second, track your <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/net-worth/">net worth</a> and spending. Know how much you have and how much you need. Remember this rule of thumb: For every $25 you’ve saved, you can probably spend $1 each year without worry. (If you’re <em>really</em> nervous, you might change that to $1 for every $30 or $40 saved.)</li>
</ul>
<p>If you have <a href="http://moneyboss.com/beyond-wealth/"">more than enough</a> stashed away and still fret about the future, force yourself to spend. I’m dead serious. Pick something you’ve always wanted to do or have, and go get it. Money is a tool to build a better life. If the tool sits unused, what’s the point?</p></blockquote>
<h3>Instant Gratification</h3>
<p>Finally, there are the folks like me, people who find it tough to wait for what they want. We’re “shopaholics” and compulsive spenders. With our flavor of the scarcity mindset, we’re so skeptical about tomorrow that we enjoy <em>too much</em> today. We want it all and we want it now.</p>
<p>A decade ago, when I still struggled with money, I had nothing saved. No retirement, no nothing. What I ought to have been doing was paying down my debt and building a foundation for the future. Instead, I was spending everything I earned on books, comics, and computer games. It never occurred to me to wait. I wanted things <em>now</em>, so I bought them.</p>
<p>As I mentioned at the start of this article, my therapist helped me to understand that growing up poor had given me a loathing of uncertainty and an inability to delay gratification. My <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/money-blueprint/">money blueprint</a> was largely constructed around a fear of missing out. During my transition from spendthrift to money boss, I learned to put off potential spending. I learned to wait for the things I wanted.</p>
<p>Like the last group, people with this sort of scarcity mentality never have enough. But the lack manifests in a different way. Instead of needing more money, we need more Stuff. We buy and buy and buy and are never satisfied. There’s no amount of possessions that will make us happy.</p>
<blockquote class="actionitem"><p><strong>What if a feeling of scarcity drives you to always want more?</strong> Practice the art of deferred gratification. I learned this skill by using the 30-day rule. Here’s how it works:</p>
<ol>
<li>When you see something you want, make a note of what it is, where you saw it, and how much it costs. But don’t buy it yet.</li>
<li>Over the next 30 days, be on the lookout for free or cheap alternatives. Does the library have that book? Can you borrow that tool from a friend? Could the local thrift store have a similar shirt?</li>
<li>At the end of 30 days, if you <em>still</em> want the item then consider buying it. In most cases, however, you’ll find the urge to purchase has passed.</li>
</ol>
<p>Also practice moderation. Recognize that most things in life don’t require an “all or nothing” approach. You can have some, and that’s okay.</p>
<p>Finally, keep a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lauren-jessen/gratitude-journal_b_7745854.html">gratitude journal</a>. The fundamental problem with this type of scarcity mindset is not appreciating what you already have. Force yourself to catalog the good things in your life.</p></blockquote>
<h2>From Scarcity to Abundance</h2>
<p>A scarcity mindset leads to self-defeating behavior. It sabotages your chances for future financial success. Even when a Depression-type scarcity mentality helps you accumulate piles of cash, you’re unable to enjoy it. You’re afraid to.</p>
<p><em>Fear</em> is always at the heart of scarcity: fear of failure, fear of the future, fear of missing out. Those with a scarcity mindset cling to the notion that there’s a limited amount of everything, and they’re afraid they won’t get their share. We’ll talk more about fear (and overcoming it) next week. For now, you should recognize that in order <strong>to achieve financial freedom, you must adopt an abundance mentality</strong>.</p>
<p>If you’re worried about lack, you aren’t free.</p>
<p><a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/pVmjvK44Dao"><img alt="To get what you want, give what you want" class="aligncenter green-border" height="628" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/868/40612664974_0687d9e52a_o.jpg" title="To get what you want, give what you want." width="1280" /></a></p>
<p>I’ve already suggested several ways to fight specific flavors of scarcity. To finish, let’s look at a technique anyone can use to move from scarcity to abundance: <strong>To get what you want, give what you want.</strong></p>
<p>What do I mean?</p>
<p>In an amazing article from the academic journal <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797612442551"><em>Psychological Science</em></a>, researchers suggest that <strong><a href="http://www.people.hbs.edu/mnorton/mogilner%20chance%20norton.pdf">“giving time gives you time”</a></strong>. The authors found that spending time on others (instead of yourself) boosts how much time you think you have — in both the present and the future.</p>
<p>Many of us feel pressured by the modern world. We feel rushed, as if there’s never have enough time to do what we want. We feel a lack, a scarcity, of minutes and hours and days. To cope with this, we tend to turn inward. We watch TV. We play videogames. We get a massage. But studies show that “wasting time” like this truly <em>is</em> a waste. When we spend time on ourselves, we feel like the time is lost.</p>
<p>On the other hand, when we give our time to others — helping friends or volunteering in the community, for instance — we experience feelings of “time affluence”. Plus our time seems “fuller”. We feel better about ourselves and what we’ve done. And as a bonus:</p>
<blockquote><p>“Giving time to others not only increases the giver’s sense of subjective time but can also increase the recipient’s objective amount of time, such that giving time contributes to the well-being of both the self and others.”</p></blockquote>
<p>That, my friends, is abundance in action.</p>
<p>The bottom line? “When individuals feel time constrained, they should become more generous with their time — despite their inclination to be less so.”</p>
<p>The same idea applies to other areas of your life in which you experience feelings of lack. When I started giving away and selling my Stuff several years ago, for example, I came to realize just how much I had. Before, when I was constantly in acquisition mode, I felt like I had very little. I was wrong. I had mountains of things!</p>
<p>If you feel a lack of respect from others, give respect to others. If you feel a lack of compassion from others, be compassionate to others. If you feel like people don’t love you, love other people. If you feel broke, donate time and money to the poor. If you feel like you’ll never have enough wealth, systematically give away some of what you have.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/7habits"><em>The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People</em></a>, Stephen Covey writes:</p>
<blockquote><p>The abundance mentality…is the paradigm that there is plenty out there and enough to spare for everybody. It results in sharing of prestige, of recognition, of profits, of decision making. It opens possibilities, options, alternatives, and creativity.</p></blockquote>
<p>The abundance mindset comes from understanding there’s plenty in the world: plenty of money, plenty of love, plenty of time. There’s plenty for everyone — both for you and for others. There’s plenty now and there’ll be plenty tomorrow. Enjoy it!</p>
<blockquote class="highlight"><p><strong><em>A Real-Life Example of the Abundance Mindset</em></strong><br />
While we were wintering in Savannah two years ago, Kim hustled to get her dental hygiene license for the state of Georgia so that she could earn some money. She spent a couple of days driving across the city, dropping off résumés and speaking with doctors. Soon she started getting calls asking her to do fill-in work while other hygienists were sick or on vacation. She also got an offer for a long-term position at a big office in town.</p>
<p>Kim <em>could</em> have taken the long-term gig. In fact, she was tempted. “What if I can’t find any other positions?” she asked as we talked through her options. “This is a sure thing. Maybe I should take it in case nothing else comes along.”</p>
<p>After a few days of internal debate, Kim decided <em>not</em> to take the long-term offer. “I’m getting plenty of calls from other offices,” she reasoned. “I’ll bet I can stay busy just with the short-term stuff, and that’ll give me greater flexibility.”</p>
<p>Sure enough. Because she refused to make a fear-based decision, because she chose to believe she’d have more opportunity rather than less, she was able to pick and choose when and where she’d work. She had more offers than she had time. She constantly got new calls asking her to fill in.</p>
<p>When we returned to Portland, she used the same experience to find permanent dental hygiene positions. She cast her net wide, then waited for the offers to come. And they came. By exercising patience and an abundance mindset, she landed two gigs that she loves. (Plus, she still gets fill-in offers all of the time.)</p></blockquote>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org/abundance-mindset/" rel="nofollow">Mastering the abundance mindset (and changing your money blueprint)</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.getrichslowly.org" rel="nofollow">Get Rich Slowly</a>.</p>