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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by FunctionallyMad

An Introduction to Financial Independence: Part One – The Concept

Overview

  • An introduction to the concept of Financial Independence and Retiring Early (FIRE)
  • Covers the basic background with a heavy focus upon the psychology and decision-making processes of FI.
  • Intended as a stepping stone for people new to the concept as well as a reference document for others further along the path.
  • Part One of a Six part series, approximate length is ~5000 words.

Disclaimer, nothing in this post can be constituted as financial advise for investment purposes. Please do your own research and make your own decisions when investing. I am not liable for any gains or losses you incur as a result.

Financial Independence (FI) is the idea that you don’t need to be a wage earner all your life to survive. It’s the idea that you can take control over your financial destiny and through a series of smart choices, patience and hard work can substantially improve your financial position. It’s an idea that’s based upon discipline, understanding investments and expenditures as well as taking control.

Financial Independence has a secondary component, Retire Early, hence the acronym (FIRE). Whilst I think early retirement is a worthwhile goal in and of itself it isn’t the focus of this series. Instead, this series is about obtaining the understanding and knowledge necessary to place ourselves in the best possible financial situation.

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by FunctionallyMad

Let’s Front Lever – The Mega Meta Review

Overview

  • 13 Front Lever Tutorials Condensed + 1 Book
  • Approximately 3900 words
  • Progressions, Coaching Cues, Preparation Work and Advanced Positions

Cause I’m all about that front lever? Yea, that song is terrible but hopefully this blog post won’t be, for a better version check out all about those gains. The front lever is one of the more impressive feats of bodyweight strength. The level of control and overall musculature you need to get into the position and hold it are through the roof. I’ve gone through
a number of different sources to look at the best way of obtaining this move and ascertain where they share similarities and where they differ. My two “canonical” sources are the articles by Coach Sommer and Ryan Hurst. This post is an aggregation of tutorials, I will do my best to cite sources for all of the recommendations within. What you should take away from this post is a meta review of the most prominent Front Lever articles on the net.

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