Saturday, May 9, 2015

Can Financial Freedom Really Bring Out An Happier YOU?

Financial Freedom
Finally, finished the book, How Life Works, from Andrew Matthews. I know, it has been more than 4 months since I bought the book (click here for my earlier post on the book), but my excuse is : I am really a slow reader... ;-)

I am a fan of Mr Andrew Matthews' works and as usual, there are many easy to digest take away from the book (some of them might be quite common sense but occasionally we just need to be reminded). Among them, I felt most connected to the following phases :

If you are miserable before a promotion, you will be miserable after a promotion ;

If you feel worthless without a million dollars, you will feel worthless with a million dollars ;

If life is empty without a boyfriend, life will be empty with a boyfriend ;

Achieving goals won't make you happy. You need to like yourself when you are not achieving!


Achieving financial freedom (through any and all legal means) seems to be the Holy Grail for most retail investors or financial bloggers, but I do agree with the author that by simply achieving your goal (the status of financial freedom in this case) will definitely not automatically make you a better or happier person. Of course, I am not saying that it is not important to be financially FREE, what I am saying is that if there is/are something that you already know you want to do/act when achieving the financial freedom, DON'T wait, do it now (maybe at a smaller scale). Because, no one can guarantee that TOMORROW will come!

Cheers!       

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12 comments:

  1. Hi Richard! I can't stress enough on how much I agree with you. Conceptually it isn't too different from certain Buddhism teachings (if you don't mind me saying) on "dwelling in the present moment".

    Only now is real. Some people are waiting their entire lives. After my degree. After my job. After my wedding. After my house. After my kids. After what else? When will one be truly alive?

    Yup. Don't wait.

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    1. Ken : Thanks for dropping by and comment. Yup! Great minds think alike ;-)

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    2. Instead of looking at more money for happiness.

      Do the reverse. Avoid unhappy situations. E.g. Lack of money to pay bills cannot be happy. Ah Long painting on the door O$P$, Still happy?

      We may not what can really made happy ; but certainly we know better what will made us very unhappy. Avoid them.

      I know you will be unhappy if you have no money to keep watching movies :-)


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    3. CW8888 : Very true on avoiding unhappy situation that we can control, but some of the unhappy moment are not within our control e.g. boss throw tantrum at you, wife scolded you for nothing ;-P So, still need to keep yourself happy in such situation right ;-)

      Oh, if I've got no money watching movies, will just watch youtube lor! lol

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    4. When we have enough FU$ or No Thanks$, we can "tell" the boss off. Once, I wrote to my higher boss to complain how about my ex boss. :-)

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    5. Cw8888 : since you are already achieved your FF status, u can do all the things you wanted now, there is no diff, I am referring to those who are still thriving ;-)

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    6. Guess you have answered your posted question on "Can Financial Freedom Really Bring Out An Happier YOU?"

      :-)


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    7. CW8888 : just to be sure, my answer is NO ie I am proponent of staying happy at this very moment, very your are FF or not ;-)

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    8. It is matter of fact. Everyone want to be happy at every possible moment. But, in practice, we can't and especially at work. Make everyday faster and cheaper. :-(

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    9. Cw8888 : errrr, I beg to differ for the following 2 reasons :
      1. The key to happiness is from inside-out, if we need to wait for the others or the environment to provide us what we want/hope, then it is destined that we would not be that happy
      2. We can't control others' action or inaction, but we can definitely control our reaction...

      Of course, I am not saying that we will stay happy every moment, but the key is that with the ups and downs in life, we still need to embrace them with positive and happier mood.

      Have a great Sunday! ;-)

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  2. Hi Richard,

    I was introduced to Andrew M when I was a teenager by my bro-in-law and sister who attended his seminars in the 90s. Today I introduce his book to my kid!

    Great author and cartoonist!

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