If you're new here, this blog will give you the tools to become financially independent in 5 years on a median salary. The wiki page gives a good summary of the principles of the strategy. The key to success is to run your personal finances much like a business, thinking about assets and inventory and focusing on efficiency and value for money. Not just any business but a business that's flexible, agile, and adaptable. Conversely most consumers run their personal finances like an inflexible money-losing anti-business always in danger of losing their jobs.
Here's almost a thousand online journals from people, who are following the ERE strategy tailored to their particular situation (age, children, location, education, goals, ...). Increasing their savings from the usual 5-15% of their income to tens of thousands of dollars each year or typically 40-80% of their income, many accumulate six-figure net-worths within a few years.
Since everybody's situation is different (age, education, location, children, goals, ...) I suggest only spending a brief moment on this blog, which can be thought of as my personal journal, before looking for the crowd's wisdom for your particular situation in the forum journals.
If you enjoy the blog, also consider the book which is much better organized and more complete. You can read the first chapter for free, listen to the preamble, or see the reviews (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,Z). Subscribe to the blog via email or RSS. Get updates on the facebook page, join the forums, and look for tactics on the ERE wiki. Here's a list of all the ERE blog posts.
The amount of thinking which occurs mentally is actually very hard to quantify. When I was doing research, I’d typically start out doing “nothing” for several hours—call it “warming up”. Then I’d hack around changing a few things here and there in a code or a manuscript. Maybe I’d suddenly get an idea and code it up in about half an hour. Finally, I’d read papers or try to make a good figure. If I managed to do that much in a day, I considered it a success.
If you’re just looking at what materially got done, it was very little. However, a lot could have changed mentally, though, both consciously but more importantly unconsciously.
It would be interesting indeed if it was possible to glimpse what goes on in other people’s brains beyond what gets reflected by their writing, talking, and actions.
I guess “thinking” is comparable to practicing an instrument except there’s no instrument and no sound. Still, by practicing you get better, and by getting better, you can produce something brilliant in short order when you finally do play.
Practicing is hard. This is why most people prefer not to. It is indeed much easier to “play” what you already know or to repeat what you’ve heard compared to composing your own things.
Much thanks to KC, BR, and Anon for the donations.
Originally posted 2010-09-09 22:45:34.
