Welcome to Wise & Wealthy: A weekly newsletter full of proven ideas to become smarter and wealthier. I send this every Monday and every other Thursday.
#36 – October 06, 2022
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Wise: Better decisions
One way to avoid mistakes is by taking action early on in the process. For example, it’s much easier for a business to pull the plug on a new product on the first sign of failure, than to do it after a few years.
The famous investor and thinker Charlie Munger says:
“The difference between a good business and a bad business is that good businesses throw up one easy decision after another. The bad businesses throw up painful decisions time after time.”
When you make small decisions early, before they become big — it’s easy. When you put off decisions, they become big — and painful.
This is also true for our personal lives.
- Decide to get on a diet when you gain a few pounds
- Decide to focus on yourself when you’re putting too much emphasis on other people’s opinions
- Decide to get a different job when your current one has no perspective
- Decide to move to a different city when yours is deteriorating
↳ Want To Make Better Decisions? Do This
Wealthy: “Enough” money
Do you have “enough” money? The truth is that “enough” means something different to every one of us.
However, if we don’t know how much “enough” is, we risk becoming overly focused on money. That takes away the joy of life.
Here’s a thought experiment to prevent that: Categorize all your needs.
There are several ways you can do this. For example:
- Security — Having a sustainable career and emergency fund
- Family — Supporting children, parents, and siblings, as far as we can
- Exploration — traveling to other countries, experiencing new things
- Hobbies — Cycling, endurance sports, collecting sports cars/toys/art
- Creative outlet — painting, writing a book, making music
Then ask yourself: What are my Top 2 Needs?
Choosing only two on the list forces you to think about whether you really want something over another. When you know what you really need, you can prioritize those over the things that matter less.
Once you take care of the top needs, you can do everything else as a bonus.
↳ You Have “Enough” Money When You Can Afford 2 Needs
One interesting thing
Here’s a brief reminder from Marcus Aurelius:
“It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.”
Remember that what you think of yourself matters more than what others think.
Thanks for reading! I hope you found this edition of Wise & Wealthy useful.
All the best,
Darius
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