by FunctionallyMad

Mastery Pursuits: A Protocol

This is an article about how to get good at things. You may even be able to use this article to get great at something. That’s up to you.

I tend to structure my life around what I term Mastery Pursuits. A mastery pursuit is any activity with a high skill ceiling. Golf, pottery, writing, the violin, gymnastics, bodybuilding, power lifting, cooking and carpentry are all mastery pursuits. Traveling the world, becoming a restaurant or movie buff or any other activity where progress is measured by consumption are not mastery pursuits.

Mastery Pursuits are about excellence. Getting insanely good at something and in the process finding a lot of fulfillment from the act.  This article is about how to maximise your progress in that pursuit. You’ll like it if you want a collection of meta strategies to help you get good at something.

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by FunctionallyMad

Financial Independence and the Archetypes of Income

With my research into the goal of Financial Independence I have begun to think more and more about the methods through which we earn income. For most of us, the standard protocol that is embedded within us is that of the Salaryman, the individual who earns income by trading labour to someone else and is remunerated accordingly. This archetype is overwhelmingly present in our lives because it provides additional security. But it is not the only way to earn income. Broadening income streams is a key element towards reducing redundancy in our lives.

I see that there are nine different earning archetypes that we may follow as we live our lives:

  1. Salaryman
  2. Rentier
  3. Capitalist/Industrialist
  4. Trader
  5. Craftsman
  6. Artist
  7. Speculator
  8. Farmer
  9. Celebrity

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by FunctionallyMad

The Perfection Trap

Sometimes the hardest thing of all is to simply get started. The moments in your life where you want something so badly, but it just doesn’t happen. There is something holding you back. An inner fear. You may want everything to be just right before you start. Or there may be something stopping you at the back of your mind. Something which says, you’re not good enough to do this so what’s the point of even trying?

One of the hardest elements that I’ve personally had to struggle with is the idea that things don’t have to be perfect. Sure, it would be nice if they were but they don’t have to be perfect for them to still be worth doing.

Seeking perfection stops you from even trying

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by FunctionallyMad

An Introduction to Financial Independence: Part Five – Building a financially independent life

Overview

  • Discusses how to go about structuring your life to achieve FI through the use of systems
  • Practical focus as opposed to theoretically focused.
  • Illustrates how one element of your life can impact others
  • Approximately 7300 words

Now that we have come to the end of our long journey we need to pull everything together. The previous sections have covered a reasonably thorough introduction to the world of Financial Independence and Early Retirement or FIRE. As you hopefully understand by now, FI is not a fast solution, it is not sacrifice free and it is a little bit different from the rest of the consumption oriented world. I have focused upon the financial elements in this section as opposed to the early retirement as I do not want to put the cart before the horse. Instead, we must focus upon the journey.

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by FunctionallyMad

An Introduction to Financial Independence: Part Four – Investing and Tax

Overview

  • A basic introduction to the various types of asset classes that can be used to speed your journey towards financial independence.
  • Covers Shares, Bonds and Real Estate investments and establishes the difference between speculation, investing and hedging.
  • A basic introduction to tax advantaged accounts and why you may or may not want to use them.
  • Approximately 4800 words.

The second most important concept in FI is making your money work for you. Most people reading this will be living in a western capitalist society. Capitalism, is based upon the ability of Capital to earn a return. Your money is a form of Capital, therefore there is no reason why it cannot be making a return for you.

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by FunctionallyMad

An Introduction to Financial Independence: Part Three – The Financial Technicals

Overview

  • Covers the mathematics underpinning financial independence in a graphical fashion.
  • Illustrates the impact of decisions on your long term financial health.
  • Covers key FI concepts such as the Savings Rate, Safe Withdrawal Rate and the impact of expenditures on your ability to FI.

This section will cover the technical components of Financial Independence and the broad mathematics behind it. I will attempt to make it graphical as opposed to smashing you with the equations as I believe that it is more intuitive for most people. Nothing in this section will be novel and there is substantial prior art floating around on the internet for you to take advantage of.

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by FunctionallyMad

An Introduction to Financial Independence: Part Two – Expenditures, Basic Accounts and Debt

Overview

  • Covers basic expenditures, account setup and debt
  • Split across three major sections
  • Intended to provide some information to enable you to improve your financial situation *today*
  • Approximately 4,000 words

This is part two of my series on Financial Independence. In the first part we covered the basic concept of FI as well as the psychology required to obtain it. The full series list is as follows

Now that we have covered the psychology and basic concept of working towards FI we can shift on to the more practical concepts. Expenses, security nets, investments, taxes, withdrawals and the like. I’ve listed them in the order which I think is most important, beginning with spending.

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