Thanks for your support over the past few days. It means a lot to me. The first memorial service for my friend Sparky is tomorrow afternoon, and there will be another one next week.
Actual blog posts at GRS will resume tomorrow. I have guest posts scheduled from Wednesday to Sunday, and I expect a couple of more pieces to come in for early next week. On Thursday — assuming I’m in a good mental place — I’ll begin writing articles and answering e-mail again.
Meanwhile, here are a few personal finance stories from around the web:
In another great article at Brazen Careerist, Penelope Trunk explains why all your goals are bad for you. She writes, “Most of us set goals for ourselves to do things that are difficult for us to do. Instead, how about setting goals to work hard at something that is actually a pleasure?” I love this advice, especially the part about there being only one goal: finding your best self.
On a related note, Tim O’Reilly argues that it’s important to work on stuff that matters. He enumerates three points:
- Work on something that matters to you more than money.
- Create more value than you capture.
- Take the long view.
All three of these are unspoken driving principles here at Get Rich Slowly. I know they might seem hard to apply to all jobs (how would I have used them at the box factory?), but I think they’re fantastic first principles for finding a vocation.
On a different topic, when I still hoped to devote my attention to National Thrift Week, I planned to highlight a recent article at The Reductionist. Neimanmarxist writes about “what frugality means to me“. This is a nice essay, and does a good job of capturing some of my own feelings about thrift.
Finally, please stop sending me anti-Obama links. I’m not going to post them. I don’t post pro-Obama links, either. Nor did I post links in opposition to or in favor of President Bush. Get Rich Slowly is not a political blog, and it’s not about to become one. The political divisiveness in the U.S. makes me tense, and I refuse to contribute to it.
(This doesn’t mean GRS always avoids controversial topics. They’re usually approached in guest posts, however, such as Why religion is an important part of personal finance or an upcoming guest article on environmentalism. When I feature stories like these, it’s not as an attempt to promote an agenda, but as a chance to share some facet of personal finance that’s important to many people. But raw politics? No thanks.)
This article is about Spare Change
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Looking forward to the next few days! Sounds like lots of great content is about to come up!
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I think the best part of this post was the last paragraph. THanks. It shows great integrity.
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Never posted here before but I looove your blog. I truly enjoy your writing style and voice. Thank you for the last point. I appreciate your drive to keep this blog on point. There are a wealth of negative sites online that we can waste our times perusing, if we wish. ;0)
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On goals, I agree that most goals are with things we aren’t excited about and are very difficult to achieve. I like to have an overarching idea of where I want to go, but I choose waypoint goals to get me there
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THANK YOU for not making GRS a political blog. I love that you keep the content focused on personal finance.
Very sorry to hear about your friend. It sounds as though he knew how to live his life to the fullest, and that is very inspirational.
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About Goals – I find that larger goals scare me into non-action. Makes no sense, but its almost like because I cannot achieve it immediately, I feel like I cannot achieve it at all… so lately I’ve been setting micro-goals… tasks that I can complete in 30minutes or so which make me feel good about something, but also don’t overwhelm me.
So for instance right now I have a bunch of stuff to do in my apartment, and its the last thing I want to think about when I come home from work… but what I do is to come home, do one thing for 1/2 hr (which usually ends up being 1 hr) and then pat myself on the back for a job well done. I’ve been taking my finances and my paid work the same way, and its been working out quite well.. it removes the burden of the overall goal, and allows me to get instant gratification for a small portion of that goal, while still keeping my behavior consistent.
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“The political divisiveness in the U.S. makes me tense, and I refuse to contribute to it.”
My sentiments exactly. Thank you.
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“The political divisiveness in the U.S. makes me tense, and I refuse to contribute to it.”
Good for you, and THANK YOU for taking that stand. I feel exactly the same way, and have been sickened by the political venom spewed by partisans of both sides over the last few years. I’m glad to know I’m not alone.
Keep up the great work, J.D., and my condolences on the loss of your friend Sparky.
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“The political divisiveness in the U.S. makes me tense, and I refuse to contribute to it.”
I hear what you’re saying, and I wouldn’t want to see you start launching into political polemics on GRS… but unfortunately politics have a huge impact on personal finances (taxes, retirement savings laws, and on and on). The divisiveness is there for a reason – politicians have drastically different ideas about how we should be able to handle our own money.
So I understand completely where you’re coming from in regards to the blog – no sense in going there – but it’s a huge part of what’s going to happen with our money in the future. We will all need to contribute to whichever side we think is right.
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With the passing of your friend and the point that divisiveness is corrosive, your post (intentionally or not) does a fine job of implicitly stating that life is too short for divisiveness.
“We say that the hour of death cannot be forecast, but when we say this we imagine that hour as placed in an obscure and distant future. It never occurs to us that it has any connection with the day already begun or that death could arrive this same afternoon, this afternoon which is so certain and which has every hour filled in advance.” ~ Marcel Proust
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Your comments on why GRS is not and will never be a political blog were very well-done! I’m sorry your message probably will be ignored because you put it very succinctly yet diplomatically. That’s why I read this blog! You have a great way of presenting the essential without “baggage.”
Good job!
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I just want to say thank you(!) for not being a political blog.
Politics show up in so many places that they don’t need to that I am super grateful for the things that remain neutral.
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I am very sorry about your friend as well. Yesterdays entry was an incredibly touching story. It was a great tribute to him. Take the time to grieve and come back mentally healthy!
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There are thousands, if not millions, of political blogs out there. For all those viewers who crave political strife, it’s very simple and easy to find a different forum than GRS to address your needs.
I am sorry about your friend, J.D. Sounds like he had a lot to teach.
Keep up the excellent work. Oh yeah — I just signed up for an on-line Book Proposal class with a trusted source/organization and will be working on my Clothes Horse concept.
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Agreed, with Steve of Brip Blap: Personal finance is a political topic. Any nation’s economy depends massively on its politics and its leadership. The two subjects cannot be separated, because they are the same.
The beauty of Obama’s inauguration speech, which he delivered seconds ago as I write this, is that he called for integrity, confidence to grow out of that integrity, and cohesiveness to come from Americans working together. It’s long, long past time for us to quit taking pot shots at each other and come together for the sake of our nation and our children.
I’m sorry this historic moment must be darkened for you, J.D., by the loss of your friend.
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JD, thanks for your integrity on the political issue!
I think however, if you wanted to do a tax comparison/savings piece on how the average American pays/doesn’t pay taxes, that would be very interesting, but of course, to avoid being “political” you would have to span about 50 years as not aggravate the recent passion around politics
Thanks always for your work.
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I agree. I’m not for either side, but the political divisiveness is a big part of the problem in this great country! When we automatically think bad about someone because their political persuasion we are being close-minded. We will never achieve change if we can’t be understanding and respectful of other’s point of view.
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Thanks for keeping politics out of this blog! We appreciate it very much.
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Your statement on avoiding divisive politics is in the spirit of the day.
A purple nation, united!! I am so proud of us today. A round of applause for the United States!
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“Inauguration Day”? Someone taking over the GRS blog?
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You ask how you could have applied Tim O’Reilly’s principles at the box factory and I have an answer, based on my sketchy recollection of this job. My answer is a little Pollyana-ish, but today is a good day for optimism and hope.
1. Work on something that matters to you more than money. I think the box factory was your family’s business so maybe helping your family mattered more than the money you earned. Even if you took the job primarily for a paycheck, the effort you put in provided benefits not just to you (the cash) but also to your family (they had someone they knew they could trust).
2. Create more value than you capture. Again, when you worked hard and succeeded, your paycheck might not have changed but you created value for your family with your efforts, which might be measured in actual cash accruing to the company, goodwill to the company or goodwill within the family.
3. Take the long view. I think anyone can do this at any job. Do your job with a view to how it will impact your own future and the future for the company or society. Do a good job in order to get a good recommendation and get a promotion or a better job. Do a good job because it’s always more satisfying to do something well rather than to the minimum required. Do a good job because that’s what you’ve agreed to do every time you sign your paycheck and your well done job makes the company better. If you’re satisfied and the company thrives, both of you are more likely to help others and society benefits.
J.D., I’m so sorry for your loss. I wish you well during this tough time.
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Thanks for keeping the blog about the “green” and not politics. Most of us have politics coming out of our ears right now!
Sorry to hear of your friend J.D. With a name like Sparky, he had to be a good man.
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Watching both presidential candidates smile and shake hands also has me hopeful that we can put aside the extremes of partisanship and get past the “political divisiveness” and onto fixing things here in the US and overseas. I liked that Gen. Powell also mentioned that healthy partisan debate can lead to a more aware and over-reaching decision making process. We don’t have to be extreme and conflicted in the political process…
As to the three principles, I agree that they apply to any situation. Keep in mind that Working on something that matters more than money and taking the long view can imply learning all you can from your job, taking on extra tasks that give you new knowledge or skills, or just build your work ethic. The fact that you worked hard at your job, for example, and always give your best effort may be why you can succeed at writing from home now.
To my thinking, creating more value than you capture is the hard one, because with that mentality, you will continue to grow the value you capture, so you’ll have to work hard to stay ahead of it.
Provided you work for a boss that recognizes your value, that is!
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Hey. I’m currently working for money. I graduated college with $65k in debt, but was able to get a job that allowed me to pay it all off within 2 years. Yeah! I’m good at managing money, and derive some satisfaction from it. But, day to day it can be very tough.
As my mindset is still stuck in money-as-all-important mode, what do you recommend as ways to discover things more important than money, but that also pay money?
Currently my favorite things include:
-social occasions with friends and family
-flirting
-dancing
-solitary physical exercise (hiking, walking, surfing)
I’m hoping you’ll tell me how to get paid for flirting, but I’m also open to book recommendations or blog posts.
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@liz – your idea about the mini-goals is brilliant. I’m often in the same place – or, something has a number of steps which make it more complicated, so I freeze and do nothing. I am adopting this for myself to see how I go. Thanks for sharing!
Also JD, thanks for the comments about political posts. I appreciate your viewpoint and respect you for it.
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to the person speaking of the beauty of Obama’s speech. Can’t you just respect the mans wishes. There are other websites you can go to celebrate Obama. All you have to do is turn on the news. Its everywhere. I like the personal finance info here, if I want to hear about Obama I know where to find it.
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Sorry for the loss of your friend. Thank You for keeping politics off your site. It is nice to come to a site that is focused on it’s purpose. I do not return to sites that shove religion or politics down my throat. I am sure I have missed out on some good information because of it. This blog has helped me elimanite all debt except my mortgage and car payment. If the first article I had come across here was why candite X was bad, I would have read no further.
Keep up the good work.
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JD…thanks for staying on financial issues and leaving politics out of it….now if only Dave Ramsey would do the same on his radio show.
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J.D., my condolences on the loss of your friend Sparky. This is my first post, though I’ve been a reader of yours for nearly three months. I admire your style, your no-nonsense manner and your politics-free environment.
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“Your statement on avoiding divisive politics is in the spirit of the day. A purple nation, united!! I am so proud of us today. A round of applause for the United States!”
I would amend that to “a round of applause for what the US could be”.
We as individuals may be saving more than we spend, but federal politicians are spending WAY more than they are taking from us in taxes – which would be bad enough in and of itself.
Note that I’m not targeting democrats or republicans – I’m targeting BOTH!
How do we stop this profligacy???
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J.D. so sorry for your loss. What a blessing to have had such a friend for so long!
@liz: mini goals – I love ‘em. As long as I do a little bit every day to advance something (business or personal) on my project list, I’m golden!
@Ben: Get paid for flirting? and you like to dance? Consider training as a dance instructor. The Ballroom business is booming. That’s what I’m doing! Check out DVIDA at dancevision.com.
live, love, and learn, people!
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