Book Review: "One Bed, One Bank Account"

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Book Review: "One Bed, One Bank Account"

What's my rating for "One Bed, One Bank Account"?

I gave the book a 3 out of 5 Rockstar rating.

Who likes to have “the talks” with their significant other, especially “the money talks”? If I were asking this question in a room full of people, how many hands would go up? Many of us would rather go for a root canal!

There’s strong evidence that communication deteriorates over the duration of a relationship, and that this deterioration is fueled by this nasty little thing called assumptions – we think we know what our spouse thinks, likes, wants and we don’t bother to check if it’s still true. That’s why books such as “One Bed, One Bank Account” are so important in reminding us of the benefits of having these conversations, not just once but as an ongoing endeavor.

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Don’t Be a Flatliner

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Don’t Be a Flatliner

I first started noticing them well before the hype of the TV show and movies, these people who seemed to have no pulse, no passion, no soul. These people that I call the walking dead.

At various levels of predictable speed, from dragging their feet to being lost in adrenaline-filled busyness, they would get through the day, every day, as if life were something to merely survive as opposed to something we should feel privileged to experience.

I remember the first one I ever saw. It was in January 2001. I had started working at Megacorp only four months before. It was about 8am and he was pressing the elevator button to get to his cubicle and start his day. He was expressionless, resigned.

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Book Review: "Deep Work"

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Book Review: "Deep Work"

Want to know what Free to Pursue thinks about Cal Newport's book "Deep Work"?

I gave the book a 5 out of 5 Rockstar rating.

Author Cal Newport uses top insights from highly-respected sources to drive home the point that deep concentration is going the way of the dodo bird in a society increasingly focused on immediacy and that harnessing and developing this ability further leads to both a personal competitive advantage and a happier life.

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Book Review: "The Automatic Millionaire"

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Book Review: "The Automatic Millionaire"

Want to know what Free to Pursue thinks about David Bach's book "The Automatic Millionaire"?

I gave the book a 3.5 out of 5 Rockstar rating.

Here are the main points Bach covers in "The Automatic Millionaire":

  1. Want to be a millionaire? Pay yourself first.
  2. Automatic allocation of money helps us meet our goals.
  3. Homeowners are significantly wealthier than renters.
  4. Credit cards are a significant driver of consumer debt.

Despite its patent generalizations in some areas, "The Automatic Millionaire" is a book worth reading for anyone who has not reached their regular saving and/or debt repayment objectives.

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Book Review: "Everything That Remains"

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Book Review: "Everything That Remains"

Want to know what Free to Pursue thinks about The Minimalists' book "Everything That Remains"?

I gave the book a 4.5 out of 5 Rockstar rating.

Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus's memoir takes the reader on a journey from their early days to the present as each, in their own way, went about building the life they thought they wanted: getting the right job, marrying the right girl, buying the right house, car and stuff--only to find out that the life they built for themselves wasn't at all what they wanted. It might have looked like the perfect life to others, but inside they were broken, empty vessels. They'd lost themselves by spending too much time looking from the outside in instead of the inside out.

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Turning It Off - Why I’m Taking a Social Media Holiday

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Turning It Off - Why I’m Taking a Social Media Holiday

Life has gotten pretty crazy over the last couple of months. Sure, there’s the usual chaos of the Holidays, but I can’t blame the crazyness on that because we all know about it well in advance and usually plan for it fairly well.

The craziness has been brought about by some great projects I’m involved in, including:

  • Working on a book,
  • Having a fun new role,
  • Feeding a continued voracious appetite for books, and
  • Taking on a greater number of speaking engagements.

All this while running a small business, which I've been doing for years now.

And craziness has its consequences.

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Book Review: "The Total Money Makeover"

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Book Review: "The Total Money Makeover"

Want to know what Free to Pursue thinks about Dave Ramsey's book "The Total Money Makeover"?

I gave the book a 4 out of 5 Rockstar rating.

Ramsey's TTMM offers a no-nonsense approach to household money management, but some of the author's tenets seem overly prescriptive. That said, I would say that anyone who has debt and is looking for the motivation and the system to help them pay it off is not likely to be disappointed.

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Introducing My Gratitude Jar

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Introducing My Gratitude Jar

I came across this image on Social Media (see top right) while attending FinCon16 in SanDiego this past September. I mentioned it to my roommate and long-time friend Michelle and we had a good discussion at that time about the power of having a Gratitude (aka "Happiness") Jar, including her sharing with me her personal experience with the daily exercise.

That discussion stayed with me and, upon my return to Winnipeg, I went on the hunt for my very own Gratitude Jar (see bottom right). Unfortunately, my interest quickly faded and I did not maintain the activity past the first few weeks.

It was a talk I gave at a Christmas party in mid-December that reawakened my interest in it.

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Book Review: "Your Money or Your Life"

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Book Review: "Your Money or Your Life"

Want to know what Free to Pursue thinks about Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez's book "Your Money or Your Life"?

I gave the book a 5 out of 5 Rockstar rating.

Vicki and Joe invite us to rethink how we invest our time and our money in this powerful and transformative book. 

Here's a quick overview of what the authors walk us through that enables us to reframe how we think about time and money:

  1. Where We've Been: Gaining an understanding of how much money we've spent in our lifetimes and evaluating our return thus far in the form of life satisfaction.
  2. Where We Are: Evaluating the magnitude and quality of our current spending to determine whether we’re maximizing how we use our life energy (0ur most precious resource).
  3. Where We're Going: Measuring our self-sufficiency by tracking our progress toward financial independence and beyond.

If you want to stop having to work for “The Man” sooner than later, YMOYL is a must read. It’s a powerful book and should be part of every person’s lifetime curriculum.

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