Studying the Box

Even if you can stop yourself bending to the social pressure of keeping up with the Joneses and Khumalos, you still need to eat. You cannot not care about money by ignoring it. If you do not learn to control money, it can control you. Even if you live very simply, the money must come from somewhere. We do not yet have concepts like Universal Basic Income, where the foundations are strong enough to allow everyone the security to look up and forward. 

The challenge is, no two paths are the same. Part of financial planning is deep pragmatism. All advice is autobiographical. We can only see from our perspective. Listen to others, but your choices will come from where you are. My “source of wealth” was based on leaning into the cards I was dealt, and accepting how money was made. 

I spent eight years doing formal studies. One degree and three sets of professional exams. Not out the box thinking at all. I studied the box. Studying risk, investments, and planning. Studying how barriers are built. How decisions are made. How people are empowered. How capital is built. What options are available and how they are seized. I am still studying. 

The heart of planning is being able to learn as the situation changes. To come from where you are. To control your response. To build the privilege to choose what you care about.

Defining Container

It is horrible not getting the job you want. It is worth remembering you are likely not the only one who did not get it. With so few great jobs, there are normally plenty of candidates for those roles. It would not pay well if we create work-for-work-sake. Just because we want people to have those jobs. There are limits and there are constraints to what is required. Beyond a specific role’s requirements, understanding some generic business skills is important. These are the kind of skills that that are going to be with you throughout your life whatever your “source of wealth” is. However you build your wealth, you need financial literacy. Capital helps you make money. Through financing and risk management. Supporting your skills and knowledge. Developing an understanding of the containers in which all that happens is equally important. The accounting/law/product that creates the shape and form for what you are doing. Detaching a little to understand the things that are not specifically about you and what you do. You need some awareness around that to have a plan for how you are going to build your freedom, your autonomy, and your ability to make decisions. So that one fragile job/opportunity does not become your defining container.