Well well my loves, this is a bit different isn’t it?
One of the things that has taken up significant brain space lately is personal finances. I mean obviously, the whole economy is…problematic in a global way right now (thanks ever so, Covid), but this is something that I’ve been thinking about for years. One of my overriding goals in life is to be financially independent as soon as possible; that is to say, to have paid off my student loan, bought a house, and paid down the mortgage as quickly as possible, after which I should be able to live on less than half my income, saving the remainder for retirement. That is the goal.
Now while I have been horrendously busy lately (despite taking a few weeks’ PhD leave, what is that about?!), and thus not having actually read any books, what I have been making time for in the evenings is a couple of posts from this blog I found called Mr. Money Mustache. I made the decision to read the blog from the beginning, i,e, from his first post back in April 2011 (for anyone interested, after a week I have made it to February 2012. #lockdownreading).
MMM (as those in the know call him) writes clearly and often hilariously. If you’re into personal finances (and ffs, you should be), this guy is going to serve you some truths. Not everything he says will be 
applicable to you right now (I don’t own a house, for example), but I like to think it will eventually apply and by learning now you are helping your future self.
That said, despite much of what MMM says being common sense and something you probably know, it’s a source of horrified amusement to me how often he writes about something that is really stupid (buying new books when used or free-from-the-library are available, *coughcough*) that I still do all the time despite knowing I damn well shouldn’t. If he ever ends up looking at this, however: I did have the good sense two years ago to buy a dripolator and start buying my coffee by the kilo, rather than continuing to buy three a day from the cafe by my office (I will say that I use a keep cup, though!). So I very rarely pay for that now.
Anyway! This is a very good blog to cast an eye over if you are looking to tidy up your finances, learn where and how you can lower your costs and outlays, and save money in order to retire early. This dude retired at thirty, people. I’m not talking retire at 50 instead of 65. Frickin’ 30. Incredible.
So! Not a book review this week, but this is 2020. Whatever.
Well worth a read. Go forth and be edified.
Image credit: I used a shot of MMM’s blog and I really hope he is ok with me using it here!
Categories: Personal Improvement
Printed Pages and Coffee 
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