Tag: life

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Start Early to Get the Best Results with The Least Effort

If you want to get the best results possible, you’re going to want to start as early as possible. This applies to every aspect of the game of life, and it’s becoming more clear to me as I age. If I had one thing to tell my 18 year old self, it would be to start *right now*. It doesn’t matter whether your dream is to be a construction worker or a rap star. You want to get to work on your dream as young as possible, so that you can take it as far as possible.

I’ve made a lot of progress towards my dream of being a digital nomad because of the fact that I started early. I was learning about making money online from a young age, and starting around the age of 21, I decided that I was going to make it to the top of my field. I put my head down and worked, and now I’ve almost reached the living standard of an average person, globally speaking. This is all fantastic, and I’m quite happy with where I am in life, but I also know the consequences of starting late in life.

I have little to no chance of ever becoming very wealthy by western standards. I haven’t laid the groundwork for it. I don’t have the skills or relationships required to succeed. My country has been growing, and I’ve grown with it. But the United States has gotten extremely wealthy in the 6 years since I’ve left. I don’t think it really matters how hard I work. If I were to move there 5 years from now, I would probably find myself living quite poorly.

If I had done more work, or worked differently, I would have a better shot. I could have stayed on the American scene. I could have gone into tech, gotten a remote job, and been making my way up the career ladder by now. This would have yielded me a higher salary, and different opportunities as a result. But I didn’t do that work, and now I am where I am.

Experiences compound the same way money does

When it comes to money, the “retire early” types seem to understand the concept of compounding very well. But it also applies to life experiences. All of the life experiences you have compound to create you, whoever you are. I’ve experienced living in North America, creating content for money, and living as a normal person in a poor country. As such, I’m well positioned to write about self improvement, content creation, and being a digital nomad. I could learn another skillset such as IT, but I know what I’m doing in the “game” of writing and blogging too. As a result, it makes sense for me to keep writing, up until a certain point. I’ll probably be taking a hard look at IT/Computer programming soon, but I can get very far with just the written word alone.

Get on it

I got on it at the right time. As soon as I turned 21, I was focused. This is because I moved abroad from a wealthier country without much savings, and well before the passport bro phenomenon. I knew I would have to work hard just to have a bit of something in this world, and I started working as soon as I hit the ground as a result.

Make sure you’re also doing this. If you’re in a wealthy country and in your mid-20s, you should have a lot of money saved, or be studying for a great career. This is especially true in the United States. People in your age cohort are already self-made millionaires. You want to have a general direction in mind by your 20s, and be on your way by your mid 20s. For some jobs (like teaching), success is disconnected from income. That’s ok, but you want to be finding success by your 30s or 40s. From watching my parents and others work their way up the ladder, I can say with confidence that success isn’t created overnight, but you start to see the clues by the time someone is in their early 30s. A lot of this stuff is only possible if you start early. Graduating at 16 gave my parents an edge. Having successful family members has given me an edge. You don’t have to apply this to financial and career success only. If you start riding bikes at a young age, you’re more likely to be an amazing cyclist. You can apply this logic to your children too. Overall, life is long and your choices compound. Fight for what you want and choose wisely.

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Usury: The Sin of Our Modern World

The modern world is on track to crumble, and it’s not because of anything related to aliens or kidnapped children. We’re living in a world of sin, and usury is a pretty destructive one amongst all of them. It’s pretty simple: to make the global economy run, the United States of America prints money, and loans it out. Most people like to use the US dollar, it’s easy and convenient. As a result of this, most people and businesses hold their savings in US dollar. Economists call the US dollar the world reserve currency. The debt created by the US federal reserve fuels new work and powers the global economy.

This would all be fine, if humans knew moderation. The Federal Reserve would modulate interest rates, and banks would lend their money to sensible businesses. This is far from what’s actually happening. For the past couple of decades, we’ve overfunded nonsense and scams. When I say this, I don’t mean that all or most businesses are defrauding their clientele, but rather that many businesses aren’t helping the world run better. How much destruction does alcohol create? What about cigarettes? How about the credit industry? When you look at the ripple effects of routine mistakes, I think it’s pretty obvious that we’re weirdly placed on the precipice of crumbling.

I’m not one of those doomers who thinks society will collapse. People are highly adaptable and will likely find a way to survive even in the most unlikely situations. But at a certain point, the age of easy money and large inheritances will be over. This is because it’s all being propped up by debt. It’s written in Deuteronomy 23:19 that “you shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest.” So lending and charging interest is antibiblical. I don’t know whether everything in the bible is an accurate retelling of the word of God, but it has a way of giving good advice and imparting solid instructions. Interest loans hurt both creditors and debtors.

Nowadays everyone is offering credit for everything. If you want to buy a house, you can get a mortgage, and in the United States you can deduct the interest from your taxes. You can also take out a loan for your car. Or any household item for that matter. This is making it so that everybody who taps in can afford lots of things, including those who haven’t done the requisite work. This puts an overall strain on the society, making it so that productive people have to work even harder for what’s rightfully theirs. To compound the problem, it also allows people to work unproductive jobs, as fake industries are packed full of productive and talented workers. Debt destroys societies, and it does so insidiously and in a sneaky way.

The main way to avoid having to take on debt is by keeping your costs low. If you can avoid drinking, drugs, travel, luxury items, or premature children, you should be ok. The problem is, that this is a tough ask. The things I mentioned before are all a result of the trauma that is caused by our society. People indulge themselves in order to fill the void growing within them. If we can all heal our internal trauma, we can fight this insatiable urge to take on debt, and improve society. Try to fight the urge to use leverage in your daily life, and rely on the force of your willpower. My favorite Twitter account, @bowtiedbull was the first to say something similar.

If you can figure out a way to avoid usury, you’re going to be able to go far economically. The thing about debt is that it always must be repaid. The people using debt to live large are going to suffer, and those using it to start businesses are risking their financial records and reputations. The latter can work for some in wealthy countries such as the United States, but generally speaking, this way of living leads to immense suffering. Building your assets brick by brick and watching yourself succeed is a far more secure way of creating income and wealth. If you spend 20 years building true assets without taking on debt, you should have 6–7 figures to your name when you’re finished. If you’re smart and take good care to protect those, you should be living a nice life, even if you’re technically spending frugally.

Things won’t change at the macro level if we don’t talk about the problem or vote. Bring up finances when you can. Try to remain grounded, living in reality. Uplift everyone you can by remaining down to Earth.