Principled Money Posts #34: the ‘I love being fifty’ edition

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I probably have already said this but…I LOVE BEING FIFTY! I love the whole thing; the ability to relax with friends, the possibility to crack politically incorrect jokes, to be jolly about the whole ‘mid-life crisis’ and ‘menopause’ thing. Being fifty is so liberating for a woman – and it doesn’t have to mean ‘last games in the premium league’ either.

When I recently told a friend of mine that I love being fifty because I can make in-appropriate and politically incorrect jokes, and say exactly what I mean, his reaction was: ‘I don’t recall anything stopping you before.’ Right! But you see, now I have a jolly good excuse for really going for it. I can teach in my hoodie, I can provoke my colleagues at conferences by asking simple questions like ‘is it more morally justified for children in the third world to starve than work’ and share interesting thoughts. Such fun!

We just came back from a house warming party of our friends who moved about 200 meters away – they were renting the house two removed from us and now they bought the house behind ours. He is German and she is Chinese; they have two lovely boys and the only thing is that she works away; quite a long way away at that. He is a theoretical chemist which squarely makes him a physicist – a great link between him and John. So, I was standing in their kitchen, having some wine and some food and…it hit me! There was no one in this kitchen who was ‘normal’; in fact, looking at the friends collected there, I will be having a very hard time deciding where the norm is.

This is what I love about our friends – they are all exceedingly interesting people; they are the kind of people I would love to go to hell for (you know, I have long had this thing where I believe that going to hell is really worth it because everyone interesting will be there; if one want a really boring life one should live so that they go to heaven).

Let’s see whether there were any interesting article around the blogosphere during the last week.

It is not every day that we discover a blog that we read and go: wow, this is so cool. But it happened to me recently (call me blessed) when I decided to check Tony’s blog  We Only Do This Once. If you would like to read something that is thought provoking, fun and not written by a ‘young know it all; head over there. Anyone who can discuss the art of doing nothing and contribute so much has my interest. And if you would like to have a glimpse of Tony’s insights about staying ahead in the personal finance game head over to Work Save Live and read his guest post; interesting and useful.

Pauline at Reach Financial independence asks whether we can gamble responsibly. I don’t know about you but I am a self-confessed compulsive gambler and for me there is not such notion as ‘responsible’ when it comes to gambling. There is only faster heartbeat, bulging eyes and the mind-fog that makes us do really silly things. So, Pauline, I really can’t do that; I can plan, plot and execute; I can take calculated risks and make educated guesses; but gambling I will do well to leave alone.

Have you been feeling a bit stressed lately? If so head straight to Zen Habits and get to know the seven habits of calmness. I am working at the moment on ‘don’t take things personally’ and ‘create stress coping habits’ (karate was made for me: kick, punch and shout).

A very though provoking article from the Financial Samurai. Sam, it is official; I not only love you friend Jaabir ( and I want my sons to be like him) but I also think that he is a very wealthy man. Money for its own sake is a perversion of existence because the only reason money matters at all is because it sustains the life we want for our-selves.

I have not mentioned an old favourite of mine, Control Your Cash, for some time now; this doesn’t mean that I have stopped reading it or that my admiration for Greg’s erudition and Betty’s financial savvy has declined. Recently they published an article which resonates with me not only because it is in the good tradition of their blog but because it questions some people’s obsession with scarcity; I agree, access to very low interest borrowing can be a powerful lever for wealth creation. One just has to be good at maths and smart in life.

Most personal finance is about…well, the personal, missing the fact that the financial destinies of individuals are intertwined with macro-economic developments. Pesonal finance is as much about ‘The Big Picture’ as it is about saving couple of pounds on your weekly shop. This article re-visits tax avoidance by large international corporations and proposes a way to deal with; tax avoidance is a political matter that demands a solution.

Have you come across The Bloggess? If you haven’t go there now! Have to say that Leo Babauta’s advice on stress reducing habits is splendid but the stress that left my system while reading this post was immense. I was giggling like a school girl and almost choked on my coffee. Go, have a laugh; you know you are worth it!

Last week was very good for The Money Principle – all our lines are going in the right direction (visits, visitors and page views up; bounce rate down) and we have been included in the following carnivals:

Carnival of Financial Planning at Good Financial Cents
Carnival of MoneyPros at Drop That Debt
Finance Carn. for Young Adults at Femme Frugality
Y and T’s Weekend Ramblings at Young and Thrifty.ca
Yakezie Carnival at The Frugal Toad

You see that? Seven carnival inclusions for one of my articles: ‘Take charge of your finances: focus on ‘wants’ rather than ‘needs’. One may think that we are really good at this debt busting lark :).

Many thanks to all who mentioned us in their round-ups – we are truly humbled and I wish that the ping-backs didn’t drawn in a sea of spam (this is something we need to get sorted soon).

Finally, for the connoisseurs of the bizarre an interesting fact. You know that I was born in 1962 and have been thinking that my last games in the premier league are behind me? It was premature! A 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO is for sale at $41 million which makes it a contestant for the most expensive car ever. So I am thinking that 1962 seems to be a very vintage year :).

This is all for today, friends. Speak soon.