Financial Independence – Happiness revisited

This post will move in two directions. I have been seeing an advertisement on television where there’s a philosophical point being made by the protagonist about wanting money under any circumstance to enjoy life and her husband talking that money is not the only thing in life.

Its something similar to “money can’t buy happiness” or “money is the root of all evils”. Like I mentioned earlier these are philosophical points with no end to debates especially in countries like ours where over the last 75 years people have seen massive poverty and are only now coming out of it.

Good Health and Happiness are very closely related. If you’re happy, you will generally be in better health and will fall sick less often. I have written multiple times earlier also that Happiness is not the destination, its the journey. We should be enjoying the journey and be happy.

Recently I was reading a book Gap and Gain by Dr. Benjamin Hardy and Dan Sullivan. In this book Ben talks about how long term toxic stress and unhappiness can cause your lifespan to reduce dramatically. He’s given examples of various studies to showcase this. They also mention how people with less toxic stress are able to fight infections better and stay healthy longer.

While not all causes of toxic stress are related to money, in a lot of cases , the lack of money causes discontent which leads to toxic stress. One of the primary reasons for divorce is also lack of Enough money, the operating word being enough, which is subjective for different people.

So while “money can’t buy happiness ” its the next best thing, because it can help keep a lot of the stress causing items at bay. So if you have money to ensure that your basic needs are met and you don’t have to struggle for the basic things in life, then you have less reasons to be unhappy. There will always be some people who will find reasons to be unhappy, but that’s another story.

When I write about financial freedom or financial independence I write from the perspective that you should have enough money so that your basic needs are met and that you don’t have to be a slave of money.

Till next time then….make money work for you and get financial independence.

Carpe Diem!!!

Happiness

Energy, Gratitude, Happiness, Human Brain, Yoga

Happiness is such a fundamental thing, as far as I am concerned, that I tell all my team members that there’s no point in doing a job if it doesn’t get you to be happy.

I have written a lot about gratitude and how it helps you feel more happy, safe etc. This is one practice that I follow a lot.

In addition I do a little bit of Yoga / Pranayam (different kinds of breathing exercises) everyday in the morning because it gets me tuned a little better to start my day. Just the fact that I take time out in the morning without looking at my phone ensures that I don’t get any SMS or WhatsApp which can cause me to become anxious.

I don’t get a newspaper at home, I don’t watch newspaper on TV and I don’t have any apps on my mobile or tablet that can give me news because all these channels only vend negativity in some form or another, which gets my brain anxious

So while I wrote about activities which stop me from getting anxious (consciously or subconsciously) as per Steven Kotler there are actually methods by which you can ensure happiness.

In his book The Art of Impossible, he also talks about Gratitude as one activity to increase happiness. Then he talks about mindfulness – while I use Yoga. Then he says even exercise makes you feel happy because it helps you reduce cortisol levels, thereby reducing stress, while increasing feel good neuro chemicals.

Finally the most surprising thing that I read was a good night’s sleep. I have known that a good night’s sleep is critical for being alert and active. But this alertness and activeness is because of the higher energy levels that you have after a good night’s sleep. As per Steven, because of the higher energy levels, your brain feels more capable of solving the challenges ahead and therefore you feel more secure, which in turn leads to feeling more happy.

But when you are under pressure, these are the exact things you stop doing, which causes a negative spiral to take place. So how do you ensure that you do these four things even when you are stressed…. I don’t know…but would definitely like to know if any of you has been able to crack this code.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Debt versus Liability- Part 2 – Happiness

Happiness, Liabilities, travel

In my post yesterday I wrote about how the book Killing Sacred Cows…. by Garrett Gunderson had got me thinking about how I can borrow money for productive use. The issue is that anything can be constituted as productive use

I have been thinking about this as to what could be easily classified as productive usage. So any borrowing for creating an asset that appreciates should be okay. Any borrowing which creates an appreciating asset and also does cash generation should be even better.

If the asset is depreciating but you generate cash many times over then also borrowing should be okay as long as the liabilities you are creating are less than the assets needed to service the liabilities.

Now happiness does not have a direct relationship with creating assets.

But if you are to look at yourself as the million dollar person who creates assets because of your ideas, then a happy million dollar person should be able to create even better assets. So creating liabilities to ensure that you get happy – like going on a cruise to Alaska – which can rejuvenate you and make you even more productive for a long period of time should be worth it.

As Dan Sullivan of Strategic Coach says, you need to put in free time into your calendar well in advance, ever so often , so that you’re operating at your best.

On the other hand a depreciating asset like a designer watch which aids your ego and is purchased by taking high cost credit card borrowing is not ok. This may give you momentary happiness , but soon you will be eyeing the next possession.

For me , I also get happy when I am surrounded by people who are thinking bigger ideas, different ideas or are just plain better than me in marketing or strategy.

Till now I used to wonder how I would finance these meetings and master – minds. This idea of debt versus liability, gives me an ability to do that. Once I am happy and my mind has also been expanded then I can be an even better and more productive asset.

I would think this can open up a whole new way to leverage growth,

Would love to hear your views if you think this makes sense.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Financial freedom – Happiness

Affirmative action, compounding, Financial Independence, Happiness, travel

You would have seen so many posts from me on compounding and rates of return and long term planning to build a large asset base even with small monthly automatic deductions from your account.

The objective of doing all this is not to stop living today for a better tomorrow.

The idea of financial freedom that I talk about is to ensure that you are no longer forced to do things for earning money. I have always wanted to have financial freedom so that I could go out and achieve all the items on my bucket list.

These items on my bucket list are what will give me experiences with my family which will in turn make me happy. I have already shared how I used these principles to travel to different countries.

The end objective of getting Financial Freedom and Financial Independence is Happiness today and in the future.

If you have to work in a job ,which does not make you happy, just because you don’t have the money then you find another job or use the magic of compounding so that over a period of time at least you are in a position to leave the job and do things which make you happy.

Through intermediate milestones, in accumulating wealth, you use the wealth to get experiences . Wealth is not to be accumulated for the sake of getting to a number. You have to enjoy the journey and be happy through all of it.

Till next time then find reasons to be happy.

Carpe Diem!!!