I hear my mind calling him a modern day Buddha... but he is not... he's (just) a human being alive in 2010 like the rest of us.
But he has insight - AMAZING insight. He has touched me. 3 videos at about 18 mins each:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EpZ43Yjk-k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBe1kFcj8r8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EjlPvcgtiM
A point he made about a lot of people believing that the future is more important than the present/giving more precedence to the future than to the present has prompted me to re-examine my budget to see if I'm short-changing the present for some far-off concept of the future/retirement...
Just a thought :-)
This Guy is Amazing !
January 17th, 2010 at 12:35 am
January 17th, 2010 at 04:11 pm 1263744672
I was lucky to grow up with uber savers, who lost a relative very young, and decided with that experience to live more in the *now.* In the end, they were just excellent role models in balancing it all. Well prepared for the future, but plenty of living in the now!
January 17th, 2010 at 06:25 pm 1263752714
Yeah.. I've decided that my mind-set is TOO much into preparing for the far-off future.
I remember a quote from the Roman philosopher Seneca where he said that people are fools to put off living their lives until they reach 50/60 as a lot of humans die before reaching that age... paraphrasing very badly.
So a balanced budget might look like :
33% Long-term to include Retirement, Future Accommodation savings and long-term Stock Market Investment.
10% to Charity.
30% to cover all day-to-day living expenses including Rent.
27% to short and medium term spending to include Entertainment, Hobbies, savings for Travelling etc.
Does this look good ?
January 17th, 2010 at 06:48 pm 1263754128
In particular the day-to-day living expenses (including the Car Fund - current and future car costs) just won't squeeze into 30%. More like 42%. But this 42% covers all day-to-day expenses including Rent, food, car, internet, phone etc etc.
So maybe
30% Long-term
10% to Charity
42% Day-to-Day expenses.
18% Short-to-medium term savings ?
Although that 18% still looks pretty small... but it would be solely for entertainment, hobbies, saving for travelling etc...
January 17th, 2010 at 09:54 pm 1263765242
30% Long-term
10% Charity
40% Day-to-Day expenses
20% Short-to-Medium term spending.
So one-fifth of my income will be going towards my Now. Which is good.
I'll just have to work on saving that 2% off my expenses - should be doable.
btw... this is my proposed debt-free budget - which won't come into effect until April.
April 1st - April Fool's Day ! :-)
January 18th, 2010 at 01:48 am 1263779320
January 18th, 2010 at 12:10 pm 1263816644
A big difference is that I'm a single man with no commitments and you're in a long-term relationship with a baby on the way - so you definitely have more commitments closer to home.
It's one of the perks of being single I guess - less demands on my budget. I did find 10% a lot when I initially thought about it... but after a couple of weeks, I just accepted it and now don't even think about it... in a similar way to the way you forget about that monthly payment to savings when you first start.
It ties in with my belief in a universal energy/consciousness and that I'm only a temporary custodian of my assets/income.
January 18th, 2010 at 04:03 pm 1263830598
Thanks!
January 19th, 2010 at 02:48 am 1263869280
January 19th, 2010 at 02:06 pm 1263909977
In the meantime, eastern philosophy typically asks for a balance between learning from the past, living in the present, and planning for the future.
January 19th, 2010 at 02:21 pm 1263910913
Eckhart Tolle (the guy in the vids) says that there is only Now.... that is all there ever can be.
Past and Future are secondary.
We remember the past Now and project into the Future Now also if that makes sense.
Of course it is prudent to plan for the future etc but he says we have all we need at the moment to experience life - to connect with the universal consciousness/energy.
I'd love to see what you make of the vids BA