So again, today I was evaluating an Amazon purchase and trying to decide which item/version was the best for the price.  I realized about 10 minutes into my research I needed to stop digging in and just buy the damn thing and not waste my time being an idiot.

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We live at full speed much of the time.

We are moving along while working on today’s tasks, focusing on getting things done, all while looking to streamline or optimize our efforts.

Is that just me, or are you one of those logical people?  Yes, of course, you are continuously learning and working to better and improve your life.  If not, you wouldn’t be reading random-guy thoughts on the web.  You would probably be chilling and hanging out.

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I am not writing this to ask you for money.  First, I started my blog because I wanted to go to FinCon 2016 and thought it would be creepy to show up without a “content” site as I learned they are called.  Secondly, I did this of my own accord and shouldn’t expect others to fund it/me—whether you’re reading it, enjoying it, finding value or just trying to do the opposite of me.

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I’ve given this a lot of thought—especially with all the activity around the release of Jordan’s new book.

1. Do Things You Love.
2. Try New Things
3. Stay/Be Curious

I’m sure those 3 things will make your life—and the lives of those around you—better.

*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice.  I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be.  You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice. This post is not a piece of literary mastery, just a random thought I had.

He’s one alternative “Purpose” position.

I wonder…Can the driver of being Curios replace Purpose?  (see what I did there?)

As I’ve aged—up into the second half of a century—I’ve found the ability to learn new things pretty amazing and critical to growing.

With the invention of the interweb, I’ve been able to find information (real and fake) instantly.  I can think of anything and find its data—often in great detail (Wikipedia)—from many sources in text, images, audio, video, and with the proper tools augmented/virtual reality.

Data Everywhere

I can gather this data from almost anywhere.  I mean that in two ways 1) I can be on a desktop, laptop, tablet, smartphone, vehicle, etc. and 2) the information I find can be from sources all over the world and even the skies above.

I then try to turn this data into information.  A process of processing.

I now have the ability to find what I want, when I want, and for the price I want.  I can get free data or take courses from 10-20 minutes up to 30-50+ lectures online.  I can learn things in different languages and have them translated on the fly.

I’ve been able to control and fix things by finding the resources online.

I often think about the future, as I do about the technology of the past.  To me, the key to keeping my brain engaged is centered on my curiosity to gather new information.

As I get older, I find history more interesting.  Maybe it’s because I have more history myself.  Side thought: When did my music become classic rock?

So, do I have or need purpose? 

Can I just be interested?  Can I be engaged?   Can I test and try different things?

Are the Purpose Police out there knowing that I should be better?  That I should have a defining reason for my day, or getting out of bed?

Deep down, and even on the surface, I believe learning more makes for a better life.  Maybe it’s that simple.

*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice.  I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be.  You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice. This post is not a piece of literary mastery, just a random thought I had.

Perspective is an interesting thing.  It is generally envisioning from my frame of reference. 

I know it’s important to view things from others’ perspectives as well to give another data point for the upcoming processing that I tend to undertake.  But this post is about looking at something from another perspective that I chose to use.  Can I see the issue from other angles and create more data points for myself?

I moved my TV from a stand and mounted it on the wall.   I wasn’t paying attention to height other than the viewing angle.

Problem:

It turns out that my center channel speaker when placed on the old TV stand cut into the bottom of the TV picture.  The TV was too low to have the center channel speaker below it on top of the stand.

Solution:

No problem, I thought, I’d just put the speaker into the center section of the TV/equipment stand.  Uh oh, the speaker is too wide (by 1”) for the center section.

So, I ordered a new stand even though I loved my current custom-built stand.  The new stand arrived, I put it together, and the speaker fit, but the new stand was a piece of junk.  Looked stupid, looked cheap, was cheap…big mistake.

Solution 2- Better

I then thought, why don’t I just buy a new slightly smaller center channel speaker that fits in my old stand?  Details: my main speakers are Boston Acoustics.  My old center channel was a 1990 Yamaha speaker.  It turns out a new Boston Acoustic speaker (used) would fit right into the TV stand center location, AND have the same tonal properties as my mains.  That’s an important thing for most other audio people.

My new speaker arrived, I popped two wire prongs and it was working in my favorite stand and looked totally normal.  I now have a stupid $79 stand/shelf thing and 2 weeks of wasted time, all because I was taking what I focused on—the current speaker (which is nothing special) into the center section “box.” 

A whole other way to look at the problem was, what speaker can fit into the box (on the stand I love) to generate the sound I want.

Existing rectangle A will not fit into square box B.  Change Box B?   Or, get rectangle C to fit into square box b.

Not the most interesting story, but so many things in life we focus on one perspective to solve the problem instead of thinking the opposite.

Problem 2:

New example from this summer.

We were getting a new shed, 20’ long.  The shed builder started in the back corner and found the different concrete sections weren’t flat to the front corner.  The front of the shed would be 5-6 INCHES off the ground.  The high point in the concrete was about 5 feet from the back, exposing 15 feet towards the front.  (20-foot lever, fulcrum with 15’ and 5’ on each side)

The front was 5-6” in the air when the back corner was flush

I said “Make the front corner flat for 15 feet, then the 5’ in the back will be off, leaving a gap of 1 inch or less.

Once the front corner was flush (for 15 feet) then the back corner was very close to the concrete.

By thinking the opposite of filling the front 15’ long gap, I changed the front to flush knowing geometrically(?) then the back 5’ would have a lower gap.  I was right, the back gap was much lower and that small 1” gap was able to be cranked down on the anchors just enough to seal.

My takeaway is sometimes it helps to step back from the problem and look at multiple solutions before either panicking (shed) or putting a plan into place that may suck (TV stand).

Tag: Happy Wife, Happy Life

*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice.  I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be.  You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice. This post is not a piece of literary mastery, just a random thought I had.

Why do you have money in your investment and bank accounts?  Why do you own assets?  What is all of that for?  Why, why why?

I should allow for a 5-minute pause here.

Right after I typed that first sentence, I realized I needed to think about this concept more. 

In the past month, I have made some significant changes to our Fun Bucket concept to the point of funding the Fun Bucket with a massive amount of funds.  I wanted the Roaring 20s/MoJo decade of money set aside in its own account (literally) ready for spending without the need to sell assets. 

I don’t want to have to decide over the next 5 ½ years when, how, and how much to sell to have MoJo money ready for use.  Worse, I don’t want to think, “There’s a $6000, $10,000, or $34,000 fun mojo expense coming, I need liquid funds to pay the credit cards.”  That level of planning, organizing, calculating, processing, and worrying sucks.  Fun cash ready to spend—Done!

Back to the point of this post.

Plan Success Probability

Let’s say you have your retirement planning calculator/website/software all loaded up with your assets (liabilities?), spending needs, future planning expenses, contingencies, other contingencies, what-ifs, etc, and you run all that through their analysis and/or Monte Carlo engines.  You will get a score of some sort.  Usually, a percentage of success is based on past performance (projecting future success) of having enough money.  More specifically, that your assets don’t drop below zero.

Note: if you have a projected failure after 30-40 years, you have to look at when they drop below zero and then how much over the projected time until End of Plan.  This could mean your current asset vs spending plan will need adjustments now or along the way due to life/market conditions.

Now, if you were a great saver, a good investor, and project a logical spending pattern (inflation-adjusted) you may have a fantastically high probability score that your plan is solid and your money/assets will survive through End of Plan.  (it’s strange how much I enjoy typing “End of Plan,”—that’s not right)

Here’s my newest realization.

If you have a 99% Monte Carlo Probability of plan success score, AMAZING.  You have saved great, invested great, and have a spending plan that probability-calculated has an almost perfect chance of never running out of money.  GREAT JOB (saving).

The Oops:

So, if that means there’s a 99% probability that you won’t run out of money, isn’t the flip side of that saying there will be money after your End of Plan?  Yes, of course.

So that means there is a 99% probability that others will be spending your money—all that money you saved—saved for YOUR future (i.e. did not spend upon earning)—will be blown out by others.  THAT SUCKS.

The HOGs

I love discovering different angles and terms, but not in this case.

Heirs, Organizations, Government.

The HOGs will take your life savings, your lack of spending, and your remaining assets and just let it flow like all your efforts were meaningless to them.

Heirs – It’s totally reasonable you want to leave money to the people you choose.  80% of people have children.  Most have siblings and niblings.  If you have enough money that you couldn’t spend it all, you probably have friends 😎.  You can help others with your extra.  Nice, Great.

Organizations – Many people give through life, and leave money to charity, to spiritual organizations, to education scholarships, to building, etc, etc.  Nice, Great.

Government – SO MANY people leave assets with Uncle Sam as implied bills.  After End of Plan the estate must settle up with our lucky-to-have uncle.  It’s good to give our uncle what’s required to keep our amazing country running, but most don’t want to tip our uncle.  We have very little say in how Uncle Sam spends our deferred spending.

I don’t have to belabor the details of each HOG, but I did want to share that you definitely should allow your life savings to benefit you as much as possible/probable/logical so the HOGs don’t take it all and blow it.

How’s that for my 199th post?   SLAM!

*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice.  I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be.  You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice. This post is not a piece of literary mastery, just a random thought I had.