Good morning – and welcome to the weekend!
As I write these words, I am still recovering from a ten-hour flight and a five-hour time difference. It was certainly the nicest (and longest) Easter holiday I’ve ever taken.
An oceanview villa with a large private pool.
A pristine, white sandy beach just 20 feet away.
Fantastic amenities, including an amazing kids club that offered a few hours of glorious peace and quiet to the parents.
Most importantly, the kind of weather you simply won’t find anywhere in Europe in April: a combination of 30+ degree heat and pure, unabashed sunshine.
Initially, my wife and I were reluctant to splurge on a holiday like this. Between accommodation and four long-haul tickets, it certainly added up.
But then we asked ourselves – if not now, when?
We probably only have ten or so proper beach holidays with the kids before our daughter loses interest in vacationing with her aging parents. Ditto for our son just a few years later.
Come to think of it, we probably have just thirty or so beach holidays before we might have to scale back on traveling.
And it certainly felt like a deserved treat after a knockout year at work and a real estate windfall.
One of the biggest challenges in personal finance is to balance saving and spending.
Stories like the one of Ronald Read are a personal finance blogger’s wet dream, but do most people really want to scrimp and save their entire life just to be recognized as a benefactor once they die?
Besides, after a certain point, saving no longer matters as much as simply staying in the game to cover your expenses.
There’s a time in life to press the pedal to the metal and really move the needle on your financial future.
But there’s also a time in life to start letting go and treat yourself to the things that really move the needle on your happiness levels.
For many of you, that time may finally be here.
Have a great Saturday – and enjoy the top-quality personal finance article below:
From Yours Truly
Why Early Retirement Terrifies Me
Getting Rich With Strategic Job Hopping
Why You Shouldn’t Worry About Low Market Returns
Building Wealth
The Two Levels of Rich – Financial Samurai
Nine Charts You Must See Before You Invest – Banker on Wheels
Frugality vs Extravagance – Ben Carlson
Inflation and Stock Market Performance – Monevator
One for all the active investors out there:
Bill Ackman Loses More Than $400m on Netflix – Bloomberg
Thankfully, most of us haven’t grown up in the projects.
When we first emigrated, my family and I did spend a few months in a somewhat dodgy neighborhood. It was mostly benign: our biggest nuisance was a crazy guy living across the street, not crackheads and drive-by shootings.
Still, we left as soon as we had the means to do so. And thus, I found the thread below both insightful and intriguing:
I grew up in the public housing projects and learned some hard lessons so you didn't have to.
Here are 11 things I learned from growing up in the hood, surrounded daily by crackheads, gangbangers, poverty, and death.
Thread
— Ed Latimore (@EdLatimore) April 18, 2022
Lifestyle Design
Six Proven Strategies To Master The Art of Discipline – Meridith Powell
Die With Zero – Tawcan
All Around
And to cap things off, here’s a fun, interactive graphic showing how immense our galaxy really is:
Have a wonderful weekend all!
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Out of curiosity, where did you go during the break? I have an young family too and it sounds a great option for a vacation.
The Caribbean.
Used to go all the time when living stateside, but haven’t been back since 2013. Definitely not as culturally interesting as Europe but great for a chilled out holiday.
“Definitely not as culturally interesting as Europe…”, ouch. As a West Indian, not sure how I feel about this statement. I don’t think your comment was malicious but you’re a smart guy, I don’t have to school you on new world history. Make no mistake, despite a lack of grand museums, the Caribbean IS a culturally rich and diverse place.
Maybe if we weren’t bleed dry by European colonizers and our indigenous people subjected to systematic genocide, we might have been left today with more of an enduring cultural legacy to share with the rest of the world. Could be something to reflect on next time you’re museum hopping, or strolling down a high street in a chic European country.
Very fair point and you are 100% right. I certainly should have phrased myself better.
What I meant is the resort-style holidays of the Caribbean don’t lend themselves to cultural exploration as easily as being in a European hotel where you are usually not on an all-inclusive package and are therefore forced to go out and explore the local neighbourhoods.
That being said, it’s the tourist’s problem, not the country’s!
If you just want to relax and be catered to, you cant beat the all-inclusive option, it’s a great deal. If you want a more authentic experience, maybe something off the more beaten track might be in order. You and the family were probably just looking to relax and enjoy the warm weather though, nothing wrong with that!
Cracking open the ‘$Nest Egg’ one has struggled for in a lifetime and then die with nothing…
Would feel uncomfortable to me, but there is a case to be built for it!
I agree with going on a decent holiday, otherwise why kill yourself working if you cannot enjoy the money with your family? Unrelated question, looking for some ideas. If one is already paying 40k in the pension and has used the cfwd allowances, what other methods could be considered to push the income under the 100k threshold?
Not sure to be honest! Perhaps childcare vouchers but I’m not 100% confident has haven’t gone that route before