[...] Three Legislative Proposals That Could Have Major Consequences for Your Finances Thursday, 18th December 2008 (by J.D.)    This article is about Economics, News, Odds and Ends If you’re new here, you may want to learn what this site is about. I encourage you to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!J.D. is on vacation. This guest post comes from DR of The Dough Roller, a money management blog. Previously at GRS, he shared the seven habits of wealth. [...]

[...] second article was published by JD at Get Rich Slowly. Understanding the Seven Habits of Wealth discusses the daily habits we should practice if we want to achieve some degree of financial [...]

[...] Understanding the Seven Habits of Wealth – one of those excellent guest posts that I was referring to up above. Creating good daily habits is one of the keys to achieving financial freedom. [...]

[...] something for nothing, or a sure fire formula without have to risk anything. Guest blogger Dough at Get Rich Slowly puts it this way: “Hard work is the habit first among equals. Achieving financial security is [...]

[...] Seven Habits of Wealth [...]

[...] is a guest post over at Get Rich Slowly called “Understanding the 7 Habits of Wealth.” It’s a great article about the virtues needed to build [...]

[...] JD talked about the seven habits of wealth. [...]

[...] A must read guest post at Get Rich Slowly from The Dough Roller – Understanding the Seven Habits of Wealth. [...]

Just to be clear though; I’m not settling for “comfortable”, that’s exactly I want. I’ve no doubt that always being able to live comfortably is as important to me as having a life full of fun, enjoyable memories is to you.

Everyone’s after their own contentment, that’s just mine.

[...] Get Rich Slowly gives us some tips on how to understand the 7 habits of of wealth [...]

Star Money Articles for the Week of October 22…

Here are some recent interesting posts from the MoneyBlogNetwork and beyond: Blueprint for Financial Prosperity reminds you to check your asset allocation. No Credit Needed got his van. Get Rich Slowly lists the seven habits of wealth. Consumerism Comm…

[...] prefer to live.  So I read on these topics often.  A recent article that I especially enjoyed is Understanding the Seven Habits of Wealth. The article takes some excellent life aphorisms and applies them to the world of personal [...]

[...] Seven Habits of Wealth [...]

Redhead68
Of course. I do understand that balance. I don’t spend unnecessarily on fancy cars and large houses. However, I also don’t intend to work every day until I’m 65 just so I can retire. Retirement seems to be the wrong goal. Living life to the fullest seems to be a better one. And yes, I am also planning for the future, I’m just enjoying the present at the same time. My posting title by the way refers to my fitness blog’s name, not age

JenK
Sure, that’s exactly what I mean! I made good choices about my education and career. So now, I can afford to pick and choose my job. I can find one based on what I like, not based on pay. I can take months off of work and know that I’ll still be fine. Instead of counting down the days, weeks, months and years to retirement, I can save for the future while still having a great time in the present.

Sorry folks, I didn’t mean to get anyone all riled up. Your life is yours to live and you all should do whatever makes you happy. I just get annoyed sometimes with this mantra of “work hard for 45 years so you can have a comfortable retirement.” I couldn’t life with that as my only future prospect. But hey, that’s just me.

Gal

Second, I found the response to “modest living” very interesting. I spent a lot of time deciding on the word “modest” for this article. I still stand by it, although I recognize that what’s modest living for one might be frivolous living for another. I still believe that modest living produces the most contentment in life, although I can’t claim to have always practiced this idea.

“You/who live on the road/must have a code/that you can live by”

Sure beats working hard all your life and never being able to retire!

That said all this discussion of living modestly is “crap”

Think big, do big things that are different, contribute to the world and make a great deal of money -then live large.

That does not mean in debt or beyond your means as is so prevalent today.

My father worked very very hard. He amassed a nice fortune and really started to enjoy the wealth he amassed when be was about 60 years of age. He died suddenly at 63 and left a lot of chips on the table.

PS If your wondering did he leave me the money the answer is no. His will called for the establishment of a charitable trust. What I did get was a priceless education that has allowed me to be successful on my own.

Balance is key, but Self-Awareness is key to getting the right balance…

I empathize. Part of it, for me, is choosing my battles. I got the education I needed so that I can do work I find interesting. I found a job where I can work a bit less then 8 hours a day and get 4 weeks vacation a year. I’m putting up with a fair amount of muscle soreness right now because I’ve increased my activity level.

OTOH, the last time I job-searched, I turned down jobs that paid better and required 50-60 hours a week. If money was most important to me, I’d have taken it. The tradeoffs involved in working that hard don’t appeal to me. I also can live well within my means, so I have no practical need for the extra money right now.

Oh, and: I have a fear of falling. There’s no way I’m going to balance on a board placed between a ladder and the stairs to wash the second-story windows in my entryway. I could work hard to overcome this fear … but I have many, many things higher on the priority list right now

Also never forget to take action … thoughts only get you so far (and that’s not very far).

Naturally, the strongest early reaction was against the idea of “modest living”. “Modest” as used here means “limited in size, amount, or scope” “(Merriam Webster). Hello — anyone here have unlimited means or scope in their lives? Are we just in denial and trying to pretend that we can’t have everything we want when we want it?

My favorite results of embracing a modest lifestyle are:
– knowing we can weather almost any type of financial setback without losing everything.
– being out of the competition to keep up with everyone else’s expectations or definitions of success. This is where self-awareness comes in for us: our goals and sources of joy drive our lives, not yours or theirs.

I am struggling with patience, though! Once I decide to do something, I want to go do it NOW! (I think that’s the control freak coming out.) Something that isn’t quite right still isn’t right just because we don’t want to wait.

(Trying to to better self-editing BEFORE submitting an entry. )