I have to say that this post took me far too long to write. I am a fast writer, true, but this was hard. On the one hand, I have pledged that I’ll build a repository of book reviews that my readers can refer to – either to decide whether to read the book, or if they trust me, to take the messages I have synthesised away and ‘run with them’. On the other hand, this blog is about personal finance and the book should at least have something to do with it: but I already told you several times that in my opinion most personal finance books are a bit like conducting interviews: they start repeating themselves after the 11^th or so.

A bit of a conundrum, eh?

Well, it is. But then, thinking a bit more about this, I realised that if the technical side of these books is very repetitive their philosophical foundations can be rather different. And this is the side of the books that I can get excited about.

So, today I’ll introduce to you a book that you may have come across; in fact you probably have come across it. It is Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicky Robin. It is even likely that some of you have obeyed by the rules, good principles and techniques that it sets. This book pushes all the usual personal finance buttons and ticks all boxes: tracking your income and expenditure, frugality and frugal tips, case studies of success to prove credibility, the need to build passive income streams through investing, and even early retirement.

Furthermore, the book offers plenty of tools to do all this – tables, spreadsheets and graphs. One of my favourites is the tool mapping three graphs: your income from employment of different kinds, your expenditure and your income from investments. Reaching the cross over point between expenditure and income from investments is when you become financially independent. And you know what? This is usually achieved by doing both, increasing your passive income (investment income) and reducing your expenses.

Well, as is usual some of the technical tips and advice are probably a bit outmoded – I am not entirely convinced how wise it is at the moment to buy bonds, for instance. But this is not what this book is about.

I believe that this book is life changing not because of the technical advice it offers but because of three key messages.

1. Your money is your life. When we think about money we tend to think about numbers. This masks the fact that money is ‘embodied labour’ or life. Thinking about money as numbers can skew our decisions: paying £10 on something we don’t particularly want or like doesn’t seem like a big deal. But thinking that this is the equivalent of 10 minutes of our lives which we spend labouring spending make us realise that life and money are a unity. Interestingly, Seth Godin recently published something similar arguing that to make decisions about money we have to compare things rather than think about numbers.
2. You have to know your ‘enough’. There is an optimal point beyond which money doesn’t bring satisfaction and it is important to work this one out. Where your enough is, is not about numbers but about your desired lifestyle. I know there has been a lot written lately about lifestyle design and that it builds on a very similar premise – this book was the pioneer, though.
3. Consumption is THE PROBLEM. Our problem generally in the ‘developed’ world is not that we don’t have enough but that we consume too much. I have been thinking about this one a lot any way; about all the websites where the ambition is to enable people to consume more for less.

Now, I would leave you with some of my favourite quotes from this book.

Frugality is enjoying the virtue of getting good value for every minute of your life energy and from everything you have the use of.

Waste lies not in the number of possessions but in the failure to enjoy them. Your success in being frugal is measured not by your penny pinching but by your degree of enjoyment of the material world.

Don’t think of a clogged toilet as a tragedy; think of it as an opportunity to work your pectoral muscles.

It is empowering to know that the major driving force behind our planetary plight is not the military-industrial complex or the federal budget or defence spending – things we usually feel powerless to do anything about. Rather it is our patterns of consumption here in North America, our demand. And that is something that we can do something about…

And last but not least

Life isn’t unduly stressful; you may, however, be unduly stressed by life.

So let’s get beyond the immediately obvious in personal finance and enjoy the more profound messages of this book.

Related posts:

• The Money Principle Brainteaser: what gives you most pleasure in life?
• Gaming and life: lessons from Cashflow
• A Nice Girl changing her money profile

The Money Principle

The immediate response of the markets last week was quite muted.  They assumed that with Germany in charge of the Euro and Merkel in charge of Germany, the austerity programmes will continue to the bitter end.  Simpletons.

Faced with changes in France and another election in Greece, people then started falling over themselves talking about growth.  Voters have also spoken in Germany where Merkel’s hard line approach seems to be losing touch.   Merkel herself has to go to the polls next year.  In Spain a large banking bailout will be required to accommodate all the duff mortgages and construction loans.

Contradictions

People are now openly talking about two things which are contradictory – Greece leaving the Euro and growth pacts.   If Greece leaves the Euro, there will be such a flight of money from all Club Med countries that the Euro will find it difficult to work at all.  There will be no growth.  Investors have already had a ‘haircut’ with the Greek debt and won’t want to go there again.  Don’t imagine it will be a civilised divorce, whatever the contractual obligations and treaties.

Apart from the inevitable poverty and chaos that will happen in Greece, the real big losers will be France and Germany, which have invested most in Greece and other Club Med countries.  Companies have already started putting money in ‘safe havens’ overnight.  There is no guarantee that the money will come back.  Remember what happened with Lehman Bros?

If Greece does exit – or is evicted – then while physical Euros currently in Greece will be OK, accounts will be empty because the other banks will not lend to Greek banks at all.  Contagion will occur in the other indebted countries.  The abyss.

While Greece must bear some responsibility, the banks which lent them money are also at fault.   Some of this debt was actually to fund exports to Greece – of military hardware!  Both Germany and France are the main suppliers of such goods and have, to some extent, been competing with each other.  Presumably these exports were ‘guaranteed’ by the respective governments so if Greece does default it will be German and French taxpayers that will take the largest hit.

Forseeing this possibility, the Euro has weakened and stock markets round the world have taken a trip south.   Unless the principles I outlined last week are adopted and the European Central Bank starts behaving like a proper central bank – with all its implications not the least for the redundant national banks – the market will start to view the Euro as not as a stateless currency but a currency working under diverse and incoherent jurisdictions, which it is.  Expect then more than a few countries,  Euro-denominated bonds and instruments  to lose their credit ratings.

It is against this background that Francois Hollande is being baptised in Berlin.  He will be aware of the consequences of failing to persuade Germany that its best interests lie in growth and renegotiation.  So let’s assume that he succeeds.

Hollande succeeds …

The immediate effect is that the Euro will lose a little more value but if as a result the Eurozone economy picks up, that will be good news all round.  Changes will have to be subtle not seismic but a move from austerity to growth will bode well for the Eurozone internally.  Investors will be more realistic and accept that to get out of the mess that the Euro finds itself, they will have to be rather more patient.

It will need considerable time and, for fiscal union, political agreement which will need a new Agreement post Lisbon and not be easy.  Most importantly, something must be offered now to the innocent people while this re-orientation is going on.   There has to be hope.

As far as the consumer is concerned, it will be carry on as before.  Some countries may have painful re-orientation, property prices in Spain and Ireland will remain low and a Eurobond with the ECB as banker of last resort will drastically cut the interest payments for all.  Maybe not honey and cream but at least some jam.

… or fails

On the other hand, if there is no progress, all hell will break loose.  It is likely that social unrest in southern Europe will become a major issue; none of the countries has a passive history.  Of course, it may be that a passive and broken population of southern Europe will bow down and accept their fate but it is also possible that pigs will fly.  When people are driven to the wall with five years of constant cuts while others walk away with millions, don’t expect acquiesence.

Many people in Greece are already starving and it may soon come to Spain, Portugal and Italy.  The only one of the PIIGS which is likely to escape is Ireland because their problems were not in tax collection or overspend but in an overheated property market.   It is Club Med that will suffer I’m afraid.  Get out now while you can – there may be investment opportunities once everything has settled down but that could be years away.

There will have to be a lots more haircuts.  Investors stand to loose many billions or even trillions of Euros which will depress the world economy affecting not only Europe but also the US and China.  Therefore it behoves these countries not to rock the boat.  Europe needs some re-alignment for sure because the world does not owe it a living.  But it has many good things, not only culture but also innovation, science and a certain civilisation that has been exported all over the world.

The UK will suffer.  If our major trading partner is not purchasing, our economy will nose-dive as well and it will be impossible to square Osborne’s fiscal circle.  There is no room for schadenfreude here.

So what for the rest of the world? Pretty dire for the next 10 years or so.  While there are havens and not all countries will be affected, severe recession in Europe will take many years to recover and depress the world economy by many points.

It is in all our interests therefore that Hollande succeeds.

Related posts:

• Politics and economy in the Eurozone part 1
• Positive Money – Part 2
• Positive Money – Part 1

The Money Principle

It is this time of the week again; Friday and here is a report on our participation in Carnivals on, around and above personal finance (this is supposed to be a joke, btw).

Last week, my post Money for All Seasons II was included in these six carnivals.

Carnival of Financial Planning at Financial Excellence
Totally Money Blog Carnival at Balance Junkie
Carnival of Financial Camaraderie at Young and Thrifty
Carnival of Retirement at Simple Finance Blog
Carnival of MoneyPros at Financial Success for Young Adults
Yakezie Carnival at One Cent At A Time

Thank you guys and good job with hosting; I really enjoy the company as well.

Related posts:

• The Money Principle was Included in Eight Carnivals This Week
• The Money Principle was Included in Five Carnivals This Week
• The Money Principle was Included in Five Carnivals This Week

The Money Principle

Usually on Thursdays I tell you about a book I have read, or an idea that I have got from a book; and sometimes I also engage in polemics but then I would, wouldn’t I? These past weeks, I have been so frightfully busy and so preoccupied that I have not had the time to look at a book, even less to read one. What am I preoccupied with, you may ask?

A piece of very complex writing! It is a report but it is of very complex nature; I have all the concepts and empirical material but I still don’t have the elegance that a text ought to possess to be read and to enchant. Still working on it and experimenting but have been needing support from me ‘beehive’ and complete focus.

I very seldom allow emotions on my blog; I don’t do emotions very well to begin with; also this is supposed to be a repository of information and a place for reflexion and debate – not a gushing ground. Today though is different!

I have been feeling so tired lately that I haven’t been exactly brimming with positivity. On top of all this a student of mine has been insisting to meet me for several weeks now; he was so un-specific about the reasons for that (remember, I am on sabbatical) that I told him that I’ll let him know when I am in next. And it was today. Guess why he wanted to see me?

My student wanted to see me to give me the statuette you see on the picture. It comes from Greece and is called ‘Female figurine of the “folded arm” type’ and comes from the early Cycladic II period (2800-2300 B.C.). Don’t get excited, it is not an original. It is still beautiful; in fact I am not certain whether the picture I took does it credit but we’ll have to settle for it.

I am looking at the figurine and I am feeling all choked up. Good choked up. I do get small gifts from students from time to time (recently I got a kangaroo skin; apparently a great souvenir from Australia). But this is mostly from my PhD students and it is not surprising: after all I work very closely with them and, being rather old fashioned, I do invite them to my home. This is different! This guy is an undergraduate, one of the group that I was mentoring and teaching theory, and method.

It is a fine gift and I’ll treasure it. What choked me up though was not the statuette; it was what came with it. A small card that said:

“To my father I owe my life; to my teacher, the quality of my life.”

(Alexander the Great about Aristotle)

I have always taken great pleasure in seeing the students’ eyes light up with curiosity and thirst for knowledge; this is what I like doing! It looks like they have been paying attention and it feels so good!

These are little things that make our lives complete!

The Money Principle

The people have spoken in France and Greece.  They do not like this austerity business one little bit.  Can you blame them?  After all it was not the people who caused the problem so why should they suffer while the banks get off scot-free?

But what are the implications?  What could happen and how best can you insulate yourself?  In this series of two posts, I will tell you what I believe should be done at a Euro level, what are the implications for various countries and what you can do in this context.

After last Sunday’s elections in France and Greece the markets have remained stable so far because they expected the results.  The Euro has hardly moved. Good – we can breathe.

France is central to the whole issue so I start there.

Having discounted his victory, the markets will give Francois Hollande the benefit of the doubt for a short time and be fairly relaxed, thinking perhaps that ultimately Germany rules the Euro anyway.  But it may come that, should his policies not bear fruit, the markets will react and set French yields substantially up.  Remember that in their enthusiasm, French banks are the most exposed to Greek and other southern Eurozone debt.`

Hollande’s economic position is in some respects closer to Obama’s than was Sarkozy’s who hitched himself to the rigid German approach and paid for it at the polls.  We have seen that the US has created jobs and grown its economy but France has one of the most regulated labour markets.  How easy will it be for a Socialist government to relax labour laws?  Not at all, I suggest so don’t expect a smooth road ahead.  In his election campaign, Hollande was promising to tax the rich and somehow this was to pay for loads more teachers and so on.  All good stuff but the rich are pretty nifty at evading tax and Switzerland is not far away.

This is all of course from a conventional economic viewpoint.  Maybe Hollande can repeat the success of President Roosevelt’s New Deal although this would be very difficult to do in a very different world.  We will see.  But before then two serious problems need to be tackled.

The big questions

The issues that require Hollande’s persuasive skills are:

1. The European Central Bank is not a central bank like the Bank of England or the Federal Reserve.  It is not a lender of last resort and this is a fundamental weakness in a currency where there is no central control over spending.  This is deliberate of course because all countries should hold to the Maastricht criteria, shouldn’t they?  So it would not be needed.   But they don’t behave and the markets cannot be sure that if one country or another runs out of money, the ECB will step in and avoid a liquidity crisis – ie the investors will lose all their money.  Hence the current high yields being demanded by the markets – 7% is not far short of an unsecured personal loan from your listening bank.

Unfortunately the markets didn’t realise this so lent money as if there was no tomorrow, which just shows how stupid banks can be.  The ECB must become a lender of last resort and issue Eurobonds on behalf of all Eurozone members.  Otherwise bond yields will remain high, particularly for southern Eurozone members, and that is a massive cost to the individual governments.

This means that fiscal union and budgets set centrally (at least in percentage terms) will be essential, as foretold by Oscar LaFontaine back in 1998.  As a quid pro quo all members would then pay the same low interest rate to service their debt.   So far the Eurozone countries have been trying to have their sovereign cake and eat it but with appointed technocratic governments in some countries, there is a de facto loss of sovereignty anyway so what’s the difference?  OK Greeks have just chucked their government out but more about that later.

In addition the ECB will need to be persuaded that a little inflation in the north would not be a bad thing either and could help promote growth.  The macho inflation target of 1% ±1% has always seemed to me to be deflationary and nothing is worse than deflation as anyone with fixed costs will know.  The BoE’s  2% ±1% target seems much more sensible.

2.  The other problem is the German attitude. Will Chancellor Merkel change her position against the national view that Germany is propping everyone else up?  Will Germany drop its opposition to Eurobonds with its (by now) irrational fear of inflation?  It may be that the pfennig will drop and the German people will understand that being in the Euro gives them enormous benefits with an open market and full employment.  It is not a zero-sum game and supporting the likes of Greece is a small price to pay, particularly as they end up buying Greece as an extended holiday home.  Austerity measures on the other hand throughout the Eurozone will become self-defeating and harm Germany exports.

France as the Eurozone number 2, is the only country that can do this.  There are clear benefits in cutting the enormous risk to French banks and as a socialist, Hollande could pull it off where Sarkozy would have had no hope.  To be fair, this was something like the policy of the late departed President Bling but I hope Hollande will have no problem in pursuing it.

This is part 2 of the Great European Project and I do wonder whether the initial formation of the Euro was deliberately vague, expecting at some time these problems to arise but hoping it would be later rather than sooner!

Why should the ECB and Germany comply? 

Let’s think of the consequences of them leaving their collective heads in the sand.

It would not be a good idea for the southern European states to end up in anarchy and unrest.  You cannot carry on cutting jobs and expecting things not to blow up.  People have lives and when pensioners start committing suicide in public, not just the national politicians should notice but also the international paymasters.  Free will and history shows that they have considerable power, albeit passive, which has been enhanced in this internet age as the Arab Spring has demonstrated only too clearly last year.  Brussels beware – it is a short flight from Athens, Madrid, Lisbon and Rome.

Politicians in the north need to heed this lesson and stop strutting the stage with macho mutterings about cuts, cuts and more cuts.  Things are balanced on a knife edge and the big question is therefore will Hollande manage to persuade both the ECB and Merkel?

I will discuss the consequences next time and implications for the UK ….

The Money Principle

We live in societies of over consumption and consume to offset the consequences of over consumption. Don’t believe me? How much did you eat today? Did you go to the gym to work out these extra calories? Did you drive to the gym? Told you so!

This reminded me of my favourite minimalist: Jack Reacher, created by Lee Child. Reacher buys new clothes to change; carries his toothbrush and credit card in his pockets and lives in cheap motels

I want to be like Reacher; but now I am off to the gym to work out my rather generous breakfast.

The Money Principle

I have always known that I married well – it is a matter of choice and I took my time on this one. This week’s carnival bounty is just another sign of that!

John’s article Regulate the People, not the Banks was included in eight carnivals. Would you believe this? Well done, my love!

Fin. Carn. for Young Adults at 20′s Finances
Yakezie Carnival at The Frugal Toad
Carnival of MoneyPros at Money Cone
Top PF Posts of the Week at Personal Finance Whiz
Carnival of Retirement at Young, Cheap Living
Totally Money Blog Carnival at Debt Blackhole
Carnival of Financial Camaraderie at 101 Centavos
Carnival of Financial Planning at Card Wisdom

Yes, we could say we have had a good week; and many more like this to come.

Related posts:

• The Money Principle was Included in Five Carnivals This Week
• The Money Principle was Included in Five Carnivals This Week
• Instead of a round up

The Money Principle

During the last week, two of my favourite bloggers, and blogging buddies, published articles about the characteristics of millionaires.  Dom at Your Finances Simplified published 10 common characteristics of millionaires you can follow and Roshawn at Watson Inc asked why do the rich get richer? Both very interesting and well researched articles pointing to traits like focus, thinking big, learning, investing and leadership and to framework conditions (or outcomes) like no debt, knowledge of the tax system, ability to network and building assets.

These two posts made me think about the difference between attributes, conditions and reasons. Please, stay with me now because this is rather difficult to explain but, in my opinion, well worth it.

Most of the things on Dom’s list of ten are personal attributes or preferences; being a millionaire may be associated with displaying some of these but it is more a matter of correlation than causality. In other words, it is certainly not true that all millionaires love to teach or that they are generous. In fact, I know very few rich people but some of them are not very pleasant and by far not generous; quite the reverse in fact. Conversely, it is not true that all people who love to teach and/or are generous are millionaire. Put simply, whilst there is weak correlation there is no statistical reason to suppose causality. This becomes even more interesting when we think about the combination(s) of these attributed.

Roshawn chose a somewhat different approach discussing some of the structural conditions for being rich – anyway he moves beyond personal attributes. Even the question he asks gives the impression of causality: if not having debt is why the rich get richer then this is the reason, or the cause, for them getting richer. Except that it isn’t. Because, we can claim that A causes B under three conditions:

• A precedes B; in other words lack of debt comes before being rich;
• There is a functional relationship between A and B; and
• There is no third factor C that causes both A and B.

I believe that the third condition is where all ‘factors’ Roshawn lists fail the causality test. Because there is a factor C that ‘causes’ both the lack of debt and being rich and this is our mentality, or the way in which we think.

I was reminded about Secrets of the Millionaire Mind; a book by T. Harv Eker which discusses exactly the mentality side of being wealthy.

The main message of the book is that if you wish to be rich you have to start thinking as rich people think – because thinking is what underpins your actions, standing and approach; it also affects your motivation, persistence and ability to experiment, cope and learn from failure. What’s new you may think? Who doesn’t know that – thinking is important and if we want to change the way we behave we ought to change the way we think.

According to T. Harv Eker this is true but it is not that easy; because we all have a ‘money blueprint’, this is complex and difficult to change without getting to know it and understanding its origins. Put simply, each of us has a blueprint that either makes us rich or poor:

Money is a result, wealth is a result, health is a result, illness is a result,

your weight is a result. We live in a world of cause and effect.

T. Harv Eker’s chain of causality is as follows:

Thoughts lead to feelings.

Feelings lead to actions.

Actions lead to results.

In other words, to change the results we have to change the root cause, or our thinking. It is hard but can be fun; if you want to know how and do it – get this book, read it carefully and do what it says. You won’t regret it!

Here is a selection of the wealth files, or differences in the way rich people and poor people think, that T. Harv Eker identified.

Rich people believe “I create my life.” Poor people believe “Life happens to me.”

Rich people are committed to being rich; poor people want to be rich.

Rich people focus on opportunities; poor people focus on obstacles.

Rich people admire other rich people; poor people resent rich and successful people.

Rich people are bigger than their problems; poor people are smaller than their problems.

Rich people think ‘both’; poor people think ‘either/or’.

Rich people act in spite of fear; poor people let fear stop them

Now, it is time for the verdict; would I recommend this book. Yes, if you wish to have a go at changing your mindset – your blueprint – this book can help. You still need to do the work, though! You still need to correct yourself every time you say that ‘you didn’t get a break’ – you create opportunities, remember?

I’ll leave you with two of my favourite quotes.

The size of the problem is never the issue – what matters is the size of you!

Money will only make you more of what you are!

Are you bigger than your problems? Do you have a millionaire mind?

PS: You may try to find the link between the picture and the post but I don’t think there is any; I took this picture in Washington and kind of like it!

Related posts:

• You want to be rich? You want to be wealthy? Stop being poor then!
• The opposite of ‘poor’…
• What is your money blueprint?

The Money Principle

In ‘Money for all seasons I’ I already described the seasons of our lives according to income and spending. I also set out some expectations and used these to ask you, my readers, to position yourselves within a season. In brief, I see the expectations of pitfalls in different ‘seasons’ are the following.

In Spring you can expect:

• Low income;
• Low day-to-day expenses;
• Investment mainly in education and competencies; and
• Low or negative cash flow.

…and should:

• Keep debt optimal and not borrow more than you absolutely need; and
• Move into Summer with very low or no consumer debt.

In Summer you can expect:

• Increasing income;
• Increasing expenditure;
• Relatively low cash flow; and
• Accumulation of liabilities.

…and should:

• Increase cash flow;
• Invest;
• Minimise liabilities; and
• Enter Autumn with no consumer debt.

In Autumn you can expect:

• Lifetime highest income from variety of income streams.
• Lowest expenses.
• High cash flow.
• Aggressive and prolific investing.

…and you should:

• Invest aggressively and prolifically.

In Winter you can expect:

• Lower income mainly from pensions and investments; and
• Higher expenses mainly on medical bills and care.

…and you should:

• Ensure you have enough to live your life without becoming a liability.

Today I will use these framework to map several ideal ‘financial profiles’ and illustrate how these can be used as a simple and straight forward tool for checking on your financial health. The profiles below are just an illustration – you can map yours exactly where you using historical data (if you keep any; being a financial nerd I have records of income and expenditure going four years back – anything before that I’ll have to guess by the outcome) and projections.

Ideal financial health profile

Below is ideal financial health profile. This shows the expected cash flow for each of the seasons of life. Some may argue that the cash flow should be greater in Winter; I am a firm believer that perfect financial management means to have enough money left for a jolly pint of beer (or nice bottles of wine) of your relatives and friends after you are gone. Not one for worrying about my children’s inheritance; were I to leave inheritance it will be gold stored under my bed.

Problematic but ‘all right at the end’

This profile shows negative cash flow for most of Spring and some of Summer which means that consumer debt has been built. Given that investments in Autumn can’t be as large and aggressive as in the ideal case, this in turn means that cash flow is very precarious in late Autumn and early Winter but if sufficient control is exercised (and medical bills are kept relatively low) it is still possible to live one’s life without becoming a liability. There is not even a question about inheritance under this scenario.

The profile of despair

This profile shows consistent negative cash flow and accumulation of debt till early to mid Autumn. This means that investments are not possible which leads to what I have called ‘the point of no hope’ – this is the point where the income and expenses curves cross again in Winter. Simply put, people who have this financial profile run out of money in their Winter and either become a liability to their children or …

I would expect that most people will have a variation of the second profile. I know my profile is far from ideal but it is not the profile of despair yet. Off to do my profile and to plan how to avoid the ‘point of no hope’ – selling drugs when seventy and going to prison is not an option!

What is your financial health profile?

Related posts:

• Money for all seasons I: income, spending and age
• The Money Principle financial health: balancing the money flows
• The Money Principle financial health: money is a flowing river

The Money Principle

Did you notice the change of title? Yes, I have finally caught on to the fact that the Principled Money Posts article has not been a weekly event for some time now and decided to change the title – this one gives me more freedom. I would like to tell you about another change, though – this is more serious one and more important for me.

I used to be a very fit long distance runner – I have run a number of marathons and was planning to do an ultra-marathon (and would have done one if John didn’t threaten me with divorce if I do). Last summer, whilst training for a marathon I had to have an operation on my leg (I am not in Autumn yet so won’t talk about varicose veins) which not only stopped me abruptly but also meant that I was unable to run for several months. Gosh, does fitness go fast; just like the habit of regular and hard exercise. In short, I have morphed from a fit long distance runner into a rotund and unfit writer. Determined to keep to the ‘writer’ part, I am also resolute to get back to running.

From today, I am officially in training; will be running the Lausanne marathon in October which will be a fitting present for my birthday. Also, this marathon is something of a hurdle – I have trained for it twice and have not run it. Shall I share training tips and progress? Would you hold me to me promise to run it in 4h 30 min (it is hilly btw)?

OK, now to the posts that caught my eye recently.

What do you think about contrarian shopping? Because I am all for it; in fact I am pretty contrarian in most things (don’t see it as a universal virtue; it underpins creativity but is also rather annoying to live with). Anyway, if you would like to know what Len Penzo’s shopping contrarianism is about click here. I’ll just say that I agree with coffee, toilet paper, food and beer; would add wine though.

Whilst we are on shopping, let me tell you about my favourite shopaholic; yep, it is Aloysa at the My Broken Coin. I am tempted just to say ‘go read her blog’. But still, my round up is selective so I’ll say that I am very glad she is not going to follow this financial advice. Neither am I – travelling when you retire? How do you expand your horizons and have some fun? Make my own gifts? I think people should be grateful I don’t – both during the process and because of the outcome. As to cutting my own hair, you already know what I think about this one!

I have always believed that we can learn from anything; about almost everything. Barbara Friedberg shares the wealth lessons she learned from the Boss (Bruce Springsteen). Educate, inspire and motivate – spot on for both Barb and the Boss.

You know that Europe is divided; no, not about the euro but along very old lines of empires. To the Roman Empire we owe the butter eating, beer drinking North and the olive oil dipping, wine sipping South; to the Ottoman Empire – the coffee drinking cultures and to the British Empire the tea drinking places. This is not about empires, though, but about health – Dr Dean has good points about the health and wealth benefits of tea drinking.

Human folly knows no limit; Andrew at 101 Centavos tells us about the lawsuit that Athena Hohenberg, an American mum, has started against Ferrero, the makers of Nutella. It is all about her realising that Nutella is not really a health food, and it is not healthy either. It is just a tasty heaven!

Talking about silliness, we have quite a lot of this one going on in the UK at the moment. Karen at Help me to Save is right to take an issue with a very, very silly article on the BBC news website and ask should the over 50s resign to make space for younger people to enter the labour market. Please, take Karen’s poll; I have voted and my vote in on ‘no’. I have a better solution – everyone over 50 is offered voluntary euthanasia; I am just wondering how my sons would feel about this one ‘cause the time for me is approaching.

This last one is not so much about money or finance but I really don’t want to leave you with the bad taste of contemporary British lack of imagination and will to shake things up. So go over to Mortgage Free in Three and check out which one of the three types Elaine has come up with are you. I am certainly a ‘soar’!

Have a very good Sunday, my friends. Till next time!

This is a picture of the vineyards around Lausanne.

Related posts:

• Principled money posts of the week #15: April Fools’ Day edition
• Principled money posts of the week #11: the ‘day before Paris’ edition
• Principled money posts of the week #10: the ‘Sunny Sunday’ edition

The Money Principle