I’ve always believed in the power of pushing myself outside my comfort zone.
Remember that I’m Cho Dan, Soo Bahk Do practitioner? (Well, practice has been a bit sporadic lately but I do have a black belt in Korean karate.). Spending two weeks in South Korea training, and sleeping on the floor, was a transformative experience for me.
More recently, I went horse riding (and I’m truly terrified of horses).
Today I went to a traditional Finish sauna in Tampere.
This involves sitting in a very hot sauna and when you simply cannot take anymore you go out and dip in the lake. My friend does this in the winter when you have to cut a hole in the ice.
Now the lake water is warm, they kept telling me; it is 15C. Frankly, for a Southern European wimp like me this was heart stopping cold – still did it! Four times.
Now feeling tired and mellow from the sauna and very proud for pushing the boundaries of my life again.
AHA of the week
What I find particularly interesting when it comes to money is that many a time the right thing to do is counter-intuitive.
For instance, I always thought that the logical thing to do when investing is to take a bit more risk at the early stages. Why?
Because, if you win your investments build faster; and if you lose, you don’t lose enough.
Apparently, I am wrong about this one. So, here come the AHA of the week:
When you start investing take small risks because you can be wiped out faster. Increase risk with growth.
Frankly, I didn’t see this coming but thinking about it…makes sense.
What am I reading?
This week I have been reading the story of the Witch of Wall Street: Hetty Green. The book is called ‘Hetty: The Genius and Madness of America’s First Female Tycoon’ by Charles Slack.
Very interesting. We need to hear about more women in the finance industry.
Where have I been?
[Thought that this bird nesting on the streets of Tampere, and people going out of their way to make it feel safe, is a good way to present to you this part of Finland.]
Last week I did some teaching on a short course. It was about evaluating organisations – interesting but not much aligned with the core interest of this blog.
Now I’m writing from Tampere in Finland. Tampere is also known as the Finish Manchester because of its cotton industry (in the past). Another claim to fame is that Lenin spent some time here before he went back to Russia (funded by Germany) to make revolution.
I’m here on academic business.
My favourite blog posts of the week
And here are my favourite blog posts of the week (these are not all about money, mind):
- ‘The inexact science of how Top Performers make everything look easy’ [I will Teach You To Be Rich]: this is about the great lagoon of difference between the myth of how easy and effortless success is and what it takes in reality to reach the top.
- ‘The Biggest Retirement Risks and How to Prepare for Them’ [The Simple Dollar]: this is a good reminder that there are things in life that could go wrong and we have no control over them. All we could do is make sure that we are prepared.
- ‘How Sam Priestley, the “Lazy Entrepreneur,” Climbed the Staircase of Success’ [Smart Passive Income]: Do you need inspiration? Read this.
- ‘The Pros and Cons of Gold Investing’ [Len Penzo dot com]: You know that I have been buying gold coins (not as an investment but as a security). Naturally, I’m reading on gold and investing in gold.
- ‘Why Cashflow is Better than Monopoly’ [Capital Matters]: I love playing Cashflow and this is an interesting article about player strategies. Where the post could expand is on the ways in which the strategies for playing, and winning, Cashflow could be applied to real life money.
This is all for now, friends. Speak soon.