Category: Advice
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Designing my life, part one: Building a compass
[ad_1] Last week, I raved about the book Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. These two Stanford design professors have taken design principles and applied them to helping people figure out what they want to be when they grow up. After advocating Designing Your Life to several friends, two of them suggested…
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Who coined the term FI/RE (financially-independent, retired early)?
[ad_1] It’s always fun to unearth some esoteric piece of personal finance history. I know there are only a few nerds out there who care (hello, Grant Sabatier!), but those of us who care really care. Two years ago, I published an article exploring the history of financial independence in which I noted that the…
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How self-centered shopping has made me happier with the things I buy
[ad_1] I’ve changed the way I shop over the past few years. And although the shift has been subtle, I’ve found that I’m much happier with the things I buy. In the past, my approach to shopping was simple. If I wanted a new thneed, I would go to a store (or, with the advent…
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Why I bought a NEW car
[ad_1] I am 53 years old. Never in my life have I allowed myself to buy a car I truly love…until now. This is the story of how I allowed myself to make a huge purchase just for the joy of it. And it wasn’t even a purchase I’d intended to make. Let me explain.…
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A man of no ambition
[ad_1] A memory came to me this morning while I was walking the dog, a memory of those days when I was fresh out of college and just beginning to work for my father at the box factory. A salesman had come knocking on our door. This was strange since the box factory was (and…
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A values-driven life
[ad_1] Hello, friends. Just a quick note to let you all know that my life, at last, seems to be settling. A full two months after the death of my mother, the fog has lifted and I find that I’m motivated to pursue productive pursuits once more. I spent much of the past several weeks…