To be Without

Tapas means “to be without”. Not in a way that does harm. Similar to the idea of Lent, or the ideas put forward by the Stoics. If you can get used to periods of very little, then they lose their ability to create anxiety. You know you can cope. It gives you a firm foundation from which to build. One way to imagine this is as the opposite of a holiday. If you spent two weeks a year, or a day a month very simply. Coming back to normal feels like a treat. In the opposite way, things we really enjoy can lose their edge if they become something we are used to. The Financial Freedom built through the practice of Financial Yoga is not about a path to more in a conspicuous sense. It is partly reducing the power of Financial Waves to induce fear, by conquering some of those fears directly.

Time for Basic Income

Interest is the salary of money. Money that works for someone else. The theory of reducing interest rates is that banks can then loan that money to businesses for less. Which makes things that previously weren’t profitable to invest in profitable. It also means people who live off interest get less. It is a transfer of wealth from people who lend to people who borrow. Whether or not businesses take the bait and invest. If there is general uncertainty they may choose not to. Businesses need to survive. Continuing paying workers who aren’t working when customers aren’t paying, is as difficult as continuing being a customer when work (and the wallet) dries up. Things grind to a halt. Paying workers when they don’t work is also effectively a regressive tax (higher earners get more). A Basic Income would give everyone the same, and wouldn’t place the burden on job creators who are likely under pressure. Cash in hand. Unlike businesses unsure whether to invest, people aren’t unsure whether to survive. A Basic Income can be the catalyst that lights the fire. Both to stay alive while it is cold, and to warm things up when the winds calm.

pic: www.benmolyneux.co.uk

Financial Yoga

“Yoga is stilling the waves of the mind.” My wife recently asked me when I was at my happiest. Two moments sprung to mind. When I was doing my first Yoga Teacher Training, and the period when we got together. A few months before we met, I had done the sums and made peace with a simple life in exchange for release from the Corporate World. Clearly that peace was sexy. It got me the girl. Yoga talks of three levels of relaxation – physical (no niggles), mental (no anxiety), and spiritual (no concern over you vs others). I am at my happiest when I am at my most calm. Not worried about now, but also not worried about a week from now, or a year. My “Financial Yoga” is based on this. A deeply secure foundation, where the uncertainty is upside. A comfort with the base. That doesn’t mean inactivity. Ironically, stilling the waves opens up creativity. That is the heart of the idea of Wu-Wei (Action through Inaction). Start with a buffer to reduce the noise. Build a base. Then from the stillness that comes the creativity that matters will flow.

Yoga (and silliness) in the Mountains

Little Lasting Longer

A large income can be a sign of less, rather than more, Financial Security. One way to think of how big your Buffer is, is to divide the Capital you have working for you by how much you spent last year. This gives a very rough idea of your breathing room. Too many people connect what they earn, to what they spend, too closely. Adjusting to salary increases by spending more. Someone earning a lot may have lots of fixed expense they have to meet. They may have committed to a large mortgage, maybe even a 30-year mortgage in some countries. Financial Security can be achieved more easily with those who gain comfort with very little. By gaining control over your ins and outs.

Financial Freedom can come through spending less

rather than making more