Thursday Thoughts - 09/22/2022
In this short newsletter, I share the most interesting things that I’ve read, heard, and/or watched over the past week.
What I Read:
Spending Without Regrets
The premise of this post is that many people do not know how to spend their money. There is a real fear of running out of money. This is not news as this subject have been covered in countless books. My favorites on the subject is I Will Teach You to Be Rich and Die With Zero.
One thing that was new to me was the concept of spending by wealth levels. The author argues that items that cost 0.01% of your current “liquid net worth” are trivial. Liquid net worth are assets you can quickly turn into cash. This is usually money in savings and checking accounts, cash on hand, and stocks in a brokerage account. So if your net worth is $10,000, you shouldn’t really sweat it if items cost $1 more. The author uses grocery shopping as a comparison for this wealth level.
I like this handy rule of thumb on spending. The extra couple of dollars doesn’t matter if you have that more than 10,000 times that amount sitting around. It eliminates the stress and attention on small decisions.
What I Tried:
Living to 100
Speaking of Die With Zero, I recently calculated my survival threshold. I wanted to get a ballpark of when I could retire if I were to “Die with Zero”. As a part of this exercise, I had to estimate my life expectancy. As suggested by the book, I used the Living to 100 website to do this.
I was surprised by my results. My estimated lifespan is 87 years. I thought it was going to be closer to the average expected lifespan of 78 years. I was also taken aback by how much exercise can extend life. My lifespan would be increased by 5 years if I exercised for 30 minutes every day instead of just 3 times a week.
What I’m Pondering:
“Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”
Benjamin Franklin