And here’s the extreme version of Wear sunscreen and retire early. I promise this will be the last blog on sunscreen for a while 🙂

Spoken to the tune of “Wear Sunscreen”.

If I could give you a single piece of advice. This would be it: Be wealthy. The long term effect of accumulating wealth has been shown to lead to a richer and more interesting life whereas the rest of my advice is only based on my personal experiences.

Rent a room. If you rent an apartment, get a room mate. Turn down the thermostat. Wear layered clothes. Live close to where you work. This way you don’t need money and time to maintain a car. Walk unless you live more than two miles away. If you live more than two miles away, get a used bicycle and learn how to maintain it. You can go faster on a bike than a driver stuck during rush hour. Smile as you pass them. Never take the bus or a taxi if you can walk. Soon you will not understand why walking five miles or riding ten miles on a bicycle is considered an accomplishment by your sedentary friends. Learn to cook. Eat simple healthy meals and know your recipes by heart. Abandon shopping lists and arrange your meal plan around sales and loss leaders. When a store has a loss leader sale, you know which recipe it fits. Always buy store brand. This way there’s no need to clip coupons. Don’t drink milk and cut down on the meat. Eat more vegetables, fruit and beans. Eat oatmeal instead of sugary cereals. Eat to live. Don’t live to eat. Don’t join a gym but exercise daily. Get a barbell or a kettlebell and learn the olympic lifts. After a while your friends will think you are “freakishly strong” and wonder what your secret is. Shop at thrift stores. Learn about the difference between price and value. Dress better than other people even though you only have three outfits. Don’t watch TV. TV is a waste of time. Whenever you think of buying something put it on a waiting list. Check your list every month. Often you will find that you don’t “need” it anyway, but if you still want it after a month, buy it. Share your things and help others. When borrowing things from others return them in as good a or better condition. If you need something simple, learn to make your own from scratch. Learn how people used to solve this problem before they headed down to the Mall. If something breaks, repair it instead of replacing it. Always consider whether a purchase adds to your assets or liabilities. Learn about investing. Start thinking like a wealthy person instead of a consumer. Don’t pay other people interest, let them pay you interest. Never worry about having money or paying bills. Feel free to use credit cards knowing that you can pay it off in full every month. Wait around for the best deals. You have the upper hand now. Feel free to quit your job if you don’t like it knowing that you will not run out of money for at least a decade or maybe even the rest of your life. And never be ashamed to pick up free money from the street.

Originally posted 2007-12-22 00:42:00.