Assorted flavors
Good morning!
It's time for a little "spring cleaning" here in February...
In other words, in today's weekly I wanted to share a brief assortment of things that have been piling up in my idea capture system.
Wordle Acquired
In last week's email I wrote about Wordle and its similarities with ongoing financial planning. Well as a few of you pointed out in your email replies, Wordle was acquired by the New York Times. Just an FYI...
How many of you have played Wordle in the last week?
Well Rounded, Revisited
In my weekly email from a couple weeks back, I wrote about the Wheel of Life exercise from Money Quotient (more on them below).
More recently, I stumbled across a similar approach to evaluate and improve the entirety of your life. Called the Six Spokes Theory and written by Darius Foroux, it's another approach to take a step back and think about your life and be contemplative about things.
How's your wheel looking?
Groundhog Day
As I sit here at my keyboard, it's the morning of February 3rd.
Which means yesterday, Punxsutawney Phil had his annual day in the sun. Yes, he was literally in the sun as he reportedly saw his shadow.
For more on this annual ritual and it's relevance to the often-entertaining and just-as-often-costly game of financial forecasting, I'd love for you to read this short article by Rubin Miller.
Rubin is a writer (and advisor) I've recently discovered and come to really enjoy.
Here's another of his articles I really liked. The summary of this one is there STILL ain't no such thing as a free lunch. Despite many people's best attempts to convince you otherwise.
I expect I'll be sharing more of Rubin's writing in future weekly emails.
Right Place, Right Time
Over my 50+ years, I've come to appreciate the role of chance in our lives.
Everything from where and when we're born to the people we meet and the opportunities we grab vs those we don't.
In this article, Morgan Housel shares how serendipitous it was that he became a writer. What he refers to as "Fluke."
Personally, I appreciate that Morgan found his way to writing as I read pretty much everything he creates.
What role has luck played in your life, personally or professionally?
God Laughs
In another reference to my premise that financial planning is more about "guesses" than it is "goals" I wanted to share this quote:
I think that's another pretty good way to think about financial planning... our best attempts to make educated guesses, assumptions, and decisions about our lives, financial and otherwise, in the face of an uncertain and unknowable future.
What are you planning for?
Other Links & Things
Many of you have either heard or read my thoughts on Money Quotient and their financial life planning training program I went through last summer. So I was excited to have Brenna Baucum, Money Quotient's Director of Education and Communications, join me for the latest episode of my podcast. And as a former financial advisor herself, Brenna brings a unique perspective to her work. Check out our fun conversation here.
Just last week I wrote a "thread" on Twitter about my idea capture and note organization system and how it's evolved over time. If you're at all curious, you can read it here. This system plays a crucial role in my ability to capture ideas - some good, some not-so-good - as I go through life each day. Many of these ideas find a way into these weekly emails. Or my conversations with clients.
Thank you, as always, for reading.
And if you have any questions or an idea for a future newsletter, podcast, or blog post topic, I'd love your input.
Just hit reply - I read (and appreciate) every email you send.
Until next Wednesday,
Russ