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This Guy is Amazing !

January 17th, 2010 at 12:35 am

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 :-)

10 Responses to “This Guy is Amazing !”

  1. monkeymama Says:
    1263744672

    Good point! I actually don't identify with most of the "uber savers"/prepare for tomorrow-types, on that level. I am much more a "live in the now" person. BUT balance that with future preparations, of course. Prepare for the future, live in the now, etc. There is plenty of room to do both, if you arrange your priorities. No doubt, I have made sacrifices in my past, for a better today, also.

    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!

  2. Apprentice Bliss Hunter Says:
    1263752714

    Thanks MM..

    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 ?

  3. Apprentice Bliss Hunter Says:
    1263754128

    Emm... I've just tried applying the above percentages to my budget and it just ain't working !

    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...

  4. Apprentice Bliss Hunter Says:
    1263765242

    Ok have settled (for the moment ! lol) on:

    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 ! :-)

  5. ceejay74 Says:
    1263779320

    Sounds pretty good to me! Our take-home pay breakdown is about the same: living expenses (including mortgage, groceries, etc.) 42%, debt repay and/or savings 38%, spending/entertainment 20%. Although it's in constant flux, and we're not afraid to reallocate funds when we want to, this is the general pattern. (We don't calculate pretax contributions to health, transportation and retirement, nor the UK rental income, part of which goes into savings.) Baby may change that a LOT, who knows? Our charitable giving is paltry; I think we gave about $60 in '09, plus a bit of food. If we manage to keep our living expenses down with our new addition, I would love to make a commitment to donating a certain fixed amount per month, even if we don't do a full 10% right away. I really admire you for committing that amount!

  6. Apprentice Bliss Hunter Says:
    1263816644

    Thanks Ceejay !

    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.

  7. Suzanne Says:
    1263830598

    Just curious - when you all figure these percentages are you working off your gross or net income?
    Thanks!

  8. Apprentice Bliss Hunter Says:
    1263869280

    I work off my Net income.

  9. Broken Arrow Says:
    1263909977

    You've got me curious, so I bookmarked your vids. I'll watch it when I get home, because it's blocked at work.

    In the meantime, eastern philosophy typically asks for a balance between learning from the past, living in the present, and planning for the future.

  10. Apprentice Bliss Hunter Says:
    1263910913

    Hi BA

    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

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