Do You Need Financial Help Or Lifestyle Help?

The personal finance blogosphere is chock full of goodness.  There are tons of great posts and resources to help you get your financial life in order.  And tons more to help you supercharge it and put yourself on the path to financial independence.

Many of these are written by experts, from accountants to certified financial planners, the community has them all.  But just as many are written by non-experts, and that doesn’t make the content any less accurate or valuable.

I discovered this community after I was already about 90% financially independent, so the basic and intermediate information was nothing new to me.  I’ve been “accidentally” practicing optimized financial habits pretty much my whole life.

But I did learn more advanced stuff like the 72t IRA withdrawal rule, the Mega Backdoor Roth, and how to self insure from awesome bloggers folks in the community.

 

Three Clicks To…. How Did I Get Here?

For the raw and straightforward content about money, the resources are abundant. 

But have you ever found yourself reading a post about money, and then three clicks later you’re neck deep in a post about finding your purpose in life?

Or maybe you land on one about depression, happiness, or how to avoid regrets. 

You may have thought, how did I get here?

Let’s face it, the money part to get to financial independence is pretty straightforward.  The formula:

Spend less than you earn, invest the difference, avoid debt, become rich.

It’s not Chinese algebra.

But the behaviors and lifestyle practices needed to be able to consistently execute that mostly simple formula are the hard part. 

That’s how you got to that site.  You were trying to save money on food, which led to exploring why you can’t seem to stop going out to eat when you know it’s wrecking your budget.  You clicked a link about discipline, and poof, next thing you know you’re listening to a podcast with Tony Robbins.

I don’t find myself reading many straightforward articles about investments or withdrawal strategies anymore.  For the most part, I know what I need to know in those areas and I can always look up the information I don’t know when I need it.  It’s transactional information.

I do find myself reading about how to cultivate better discipline, and how to meditate.  These self improvement type posts, to me, hold the key to everything.

All of the great information and resources about how to save money on food is worthless if you can’t figure out the root of the problem – why you turn to food when you’re not happy.

And far more difficult yet, why you’re not happy in the first place.

 

Money And Bodyweight

The formula I mentioned above to get the financial independence is very similar in its straightforward simplicity to the formula for losing weight.  The latter is actually as simple as it gets:

Burn more calories than you consume.

That’s it.  It’s that simple.

Then why do so many people struggle with losing weight?  And why do we continue to get fatter and more obese?

Because it’s really hard to do!

On the financial side, why can’t people spend less than they earn?  Why does personal debt continue to rise in America, dragging more more people in the opposite direction of financial independence?

Because it’s really hard to do! 

Why is the money stuff so hard to do?  Well, perhaps you should start reading some of the self-improvement type blogs to start exploring that. 🙂  That’s the point.

 

Final Thoughts

I love the raw, financial content of sites like Mad Fientist, Big Ern, and Michael Kitces.  But because of where I’m at in my journey I get more value out of content that explores the behavior and lifestyle improvements needed to execute those financial strategies.

Whether it’s from the well known folks like Tim Ferriss, or the smaller but just as awesome sites like Raptitude, Happy Philosopher, or DiverseFi, I learn the most by exploring me, the complexities of life, and how to become better.

To me the financial content and lifestyle content are intimately intertwined and have a symbiotic relationship.  That’s because getting your finances in order and on a strong path to financial independence requires constant self evaluation and improvement.

Unless you’re one of those freaks that has it all figured out and does it effortlessly.

There’s probably a million little reasons why I struggle with clutter, and I’m still on the journey of trying to deal with it. 

That’s what I need to continue to read about and explore.

 

What about you? Do you find yourself reading more content about money and investment strategies, or do you find yourself reading more content like how to meditate, how to get more discipline in your life, and how to manage your time better?