Personal finance

1 Spending for happiness

No-nonsense joint optimisation of personal finance and life satisfaction. I am sympathetic to their idea that one should maximise happiness rather than total income, and that while money is a very important part of this, these goals can diverge. See hedonism.

• Mr Money Moustache
• The Barefoot Investor
• Other FIRE (Financially independent, retire early) practitioners.

2 Australia-specific

See money in Australia.

3 Investing for retirement

Same as any portfolio investment.

4 Sharehouse accounting

Australian banks make it hard to have collective bank accounts for collective expenses, except for two people in some kind of long-term partnership. After a long search, I just gave up; it is another facet of our national collective delusion that we all live in picket-fenced nuclear families in the burbs, even though I cannot throw a stick without hitting a sharehouse full of childless adults, or a multi-generational home where no-one can afford to leave.

I auditioned several systems for “virtual” banking which ameliorate this problem by allowing you to keep a running tab. All of these systems still leave you completely cooked if someone pays you late and you simply cannot put rent into the estate agent’s account in time, but at least you know you’re cooked attributably.

• splitwise,
• most importantly Beem seems to have attained critical mass in my peer group because it integrates with (some) Australian banks.

Not quite money: but chores can be distributed via ourhome.

5 Money in personal relationships

• Familiar Finance
• What I’m Teaching my Son about Money

6 Monetising your internet persona

I think the age of AI will radically transform this business model so I am not investing in it myself (although see the cozyweb and the cryptographic web for different takes). For now, here are some resources.

• An online course by David Perell, Write of Passage

  • How to get the most from Write Of Passage
  • David Perell, Audience-First Products

• Part-Time YouTuber Academy

7 Incoming

• Thoughts on Personal Finance for Effective Altruists

  TLDR: Spend money to save time, donate money dependent on your career stage, conviction, and degree of long-termism but donate at least a minimal amount to prevent value drift. Then save up all the money you don’t spend in a financially responsible manner (e.g. ETFs).

• Features - Ledger

  Ledger is a powerful, double-entry accounting system that is accessed from the UNIX command-line. This may put off some users, as there is no flashy UI, but for those who want unparalleled reporting access to their data, there really is no alternative.

• George, In Defense Of Making Money

• finder.com.au — financial comparison shop

• A different approach to asset allocation - Bogleheads.org

  Summary: Econ grad student applies Mortgage Your Retirement theory at the top of the last bull market, starting around 2x leverage, loses $210K of borrowed money, and is forced to sell what’s left of his portfolio at S&P 821 in November 2008. The complete wipeout results in a reflective period where he recollects the circumstances that led him to adopt this strategy, some of which will be included in a book. He spends five weeks in Asia and begins writing about how risk and progress can be framed. Returning to the US, he slashes his expenses, finds several ways to increase income, earns 914% on the IRBLTG Fund, and pays off all his high interest credit card debt. Net worth tracker continues to be updated.