jlcollinsnh

The Simple Path to Wealth

You are here: Home / business / You can eat my Vindaloo, mega lottery, Blondie, Noa, Israel Kamakawiwo ‘Ole, art, film and a ride on the Space Shuttle

You can eat my Vindaloo, mega lottery, Blondie, Noa, Israel Kamakawiwo ‘Ole, art, film and a ride on the Space Shuttle

by 15 Comments

Elvis and “You can eat my Vindaloo.”

If we had ads like these I wouldn’t fast forward thru the commercials.  I’d also buy me some New Walkers Poppadums.  Bet you can’t watch it just once:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QduTLFILORY&sns=em

My pal Trish is a whip smart, drop dead gorgeous international entrepreneur.  She’s lived and traveled all over the world.  She fled the Iranian revolution with the clothes on her back only to settle in Liberia as that country went up in political flames.  The first night her new home was invaded by machine-gun toting rebels.  I still remember a line from one of her letters written during the monsoons:  “Never in my life have I seen so much vertical water.”

Trish’s self portrait

I met her when she and Wolfgang kidnapped me in Ireland. Now I come to find out she’s an artist to boot.  Who knew such an intense life could lead to such graceful drawings each with its own little tale:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/trisharay/

Her eldest son is a film maker.

La Nina del Desierto

  I see shades of the Coen Brothers in this one:

http://www.mmrempen.com/films/lanina.html

Always had a soft spot for Ms. Blondie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppYgrdJ0pWk

Good advice sung by an angel:

Life is beautiful that way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds5A-zAck54

Life can be tough, brutish and harsh.  When it gets that way for me I listen to this guy:

Israel Kamakawiwo ‘Ole

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5JicO2bKec&feature=related

No matter what your political views this is worth the five minutes it takes.  Laugh out loud funny political animation even if you have to laugh at some of your own guys:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h8O7V-WxWQ&feature=youtu.be

Let take a ride on the Space Shuttle.

Crank up your volume so you can hear all the spooky sounds.  Oh, and just to make it interesting, let’s ride on the outside:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2aCOyOvOw5c

 

The 1975 novel, A Canticle for Leibowitz, is set several hundred years after our civilization has annihilated itself in a nuclear Armageddon.

The survivors have been reduced to the stone age and have slowly begun to rebuild. Monks now keep and try to decipher the scrapes left. The most precious of all is a bit of writing, the only such to survive. Truly, they believe, the key to the past and its secrets are here.
Endless hours of scholarship are invested in its study.  Towards the end the author shares it with us. It is a grocery list: Bread Milk Cheese Beer.  Think I’ve just ruined the ending for you?  Read the book.  And remember, anything you write could all that’s left when we’re gone.

I’ve been planning a post on Gold for a while now.  My pal Mr. 101C beat me to it.  You can read his thoughts and a couple of my comments here:

http://www.101centavos.com/2012/04/05/gold-as-an-investment/

It has been awhile since I’ve written a purely business post. Shilpan’s got it covered:

http://www.streetsmartfinance.org/2012/04/01/5-keys-to-win-customers-for-life/

His insights on the business of life make him one of my favorite bloggers and here’s another reason why:

http://www.streetsmartfinance.org/2012/03/27/7-habits-to-live-happy-life-with-less/

One of my few regrets in life is that my career never led to an international posting.  With any luck my retirement will.  Mr. Stoic provides some inspiration here:

http://thestoicinvestor.com/2012/04/05/changing-your-life-by-working-abroad-the-fun-stuff/#comment-244

Here’s a unique take on how to tell your body, “Hey!  I’m not ready to die yet!”:

http://dollardisciple.com/choose-growth/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dollardisciple+%28The+Dollar+Disciple%29

The recent mega-lottery had the hopeful in a tizzy.  Let’s do a little quick math.  The jackpot was 640m.  Assuming you took the cash option, that would be cut in half:  320m.  Then the tax man takes his share(s).  The Feds will want 40%.  State and local depends on where you live, but let’s call it 8%.  That leaves you 52%:  166m.  No small sum, but not the half a billion everybody was throwing around.

Anyway, Mr. MM asks:  What would you do with way more money in his always insightful style.  Be sure to read thru the comments.  I haven’t done the calculation but, excluding those who would invest it, my guess is you’d be hard pressed to spend even 10m meeting every desire listed.

Every young person starting on their fiscal journey should read this:

http://money.ramblingfever.com/2012/04/investing-101-magic-concept-that-grows.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RamblingFeverMoney+%28RamblingFever+Money%29

“There is no good excuse for anybody to not retire a millionaire.  It is not that hard to save $2,000 per year.”

Finally, in the comments section of this post  http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/04/06/get-rich-with-nature/#comments you get to see jlcollinsnh called a “totally wrongheaded ultra-naturist.”  I’ve been called a lot of things over the years, but this is a first.  Kinder than most, too.  Oh, and the post is a great read.

Important Resources

  • Credit Cards are like chain saws. Incredibly useful. Incredibly dangerous. Resolve to pay in full each month and never carry a balance. Do that and they can be great tools. Here are some of the very best for travel hacking, cash back and small business rewards.
  • Personal Capital is a free tool to manage and evaluate your investments. With great visuals you can track your net worth, asset allocation, and portfolio performance, including costs. At a glance you'll see what's working and what you might want to change. Here's my full review.
  • Tuft & Needle (T&N) helps me sleep at night. They are a very cool company with a great product. Here’s my review of what we are currently sleeping on: Our Walnut Frame and Mint Mattress.
  • Betterment is my recommendation for hands-off investors who prefer a DIFM (Do It For Me) approach. It is also a great tool for reaching short-term savings goals. Here is my Betterment Review
  • Republic Wireless is my $20 a month phone plan. My wife is also on the $20 plan and our daughter who uses more data is on the $25 plan. Monthly total for three phones and plans: $65. We all travel widely and we can talk to each other from wherever we are and for however long we please. My RW Review tells you how.
  • Vanguard.com

These are companies I have personally vetted and recommend.

YNAB and Tuft & Needle both support this site with paid ads. If you click on those ads it shows them the ads are working for them and that support will continue.

Personal Capital, Betterment and Republic Wireless are affiliate partners of this site. Should you click though to their site from this one and chose to do business with them, this blog will earn a small commission.

Vanguard is not an advertiser or affiliate but, Vanguard if you are listening, we’d love to have you!

Filed Under: business, Life, Money, Random cool things that catch my eye

Comments

  1. I read that book back in 1977. I remember the story well and I remember the ending well after all these years. In fact the book is sitting on my shelf.

    Reply

  2. Jim – thank you. I am both humbled and honored for your kind words and friendship. I always enjoy your wit and valuable perspective on my articles. I am eternally grateful to you my friend.

    Reply

    • I keep a mental list of people I’d like to have coffee with. Yer on it, pal.

      Until I get to Atlanta, or you to NH, reading your posts keeps reminding me of important things and introducing me to others.

      Reply

    • Absolutely. Please be my guest if you come to Atlanta. I will definitely inform you if I am in your neck of the wood. It will be my pleasure to meet with you my friend.

      Reply

  3. I did see it twice… I now want me some Pappadums.

    Good remind on Canticle. It’s been on my SF reading list for a while. Now currently in the middle of The Fuller Memorandum by Charles Stross.

    Thanks for the link, btw…

    Reply

  4. Nice. Very nice …. Really like the content and the ability to have a choice. Thank you JCollins. You are an inspiration. I choose not to decay ….. Now I get to move on this choice ….

    Reply

  5. Okay, I love that “drop dead gorgeous international entrepreneur”.
    I’m hanging that quote on my computer (and on my mirror for tough mornings!) Grazie mille, you are very kind.
    In return, I have found and cleaned up a few images of Jim in Photoshop. The time you were out on the Irish bog, digging turf in the pouring rain. (Yes to the kidnapping charge. It was for your own good, to save you from being “just a tourist”.) You standing atop an ancient (Druid?) dolmen.
    And I mentioned you in the drawing I just did of Nepal and “rhino-herding” on elephant back. I don’t have a picture of being attacked by the giant sloth bear.
    And I didn’t find one of sleeping in the haystack at the Irish music festival. I could draw one…..

    Reply

    • You forgot the whip smart part. 🙂

      Thanks for the pictures from when I was your kidnapped Irish bog cutting slave. good memories.

      BTW, I tried to download one of your drawings for this post but your site wouldn’t let me. If you send me one I’ll insert it. Perhaps a self portrait?

      Reply

    • now that’s a very interesting question.

      The numbers tell us that, compounded over time, it actually takes very little money invested to grow to 1m. For instance, 15k invested in the Dow stocks in 1975 would be worth over 1m today. Pretty amazing considering the financial turmoil of those years.

      But compounding takes time. So it helps to start young.

      Then there are countless stories of people of modest income who by way of very fugal living and dedicated savings get there in remarkably short time.

      Then too, I remember having lunch with a friend of mine many years ago just before Christmas. He’d just gotten his annual bonus: $800,000. He spent the lunch complaining to me that it just wasn’t possible to make ends meet on what he made. Listening to his expenses, he was right.

      What I’ve learned is it has less to do with how much you earn — high income earners go broke while low income earners get there — than what you value. Money can buy many things none of which are more important than financial independence. But few even see that as an option.

      There is a huge marketing effort designed to keep people spending and in debt slavery. One of my key objectives with this blog is to present another way.

      More importantly, mm, cool film clip eh?

      Reply

      • Makes sense to me. But I saw that quote, “there is no good excuse for anybody to not retire a millionaire,” and I wonder how much of our economic strength is based on reckless spending, and what would happen to it if EVERYONE started acting more responsibly with their money. I might well be out of the job! After all, who needs to spend so much on movies?

        It’s no knock on your financial advice, now. Just a thought experiment.

        Reply

        • no worries, MM….

          …my advice should be expected to stand up to a few knocks. 🙂

          In fact, the whole point is to have plenty of money to do with your life as you choose. If that includes movies great. I’ve always liked movies although now we rarely go to the theater. Netflix!

          Your concern is based on a widely held view that consumption is the primary driver of economic success. counterintuitive thought it may be it is only one part of a far more complex mosaic.

          As to the concern that everyone might suddenly become responsible, it is a classic “non-problem.” “Non” because:
          1. It is unlikely to happen.
          2. If it does it will be at a very gradual rate allowing for easy adjustments.
          3. If it does it would be a very good thing. Less consumption would make for a far more sustainable world. No small consideration with 6.5 billion of us running around.

          Certainly such a change would cause a round of “creative destruction” as retailers peddling cheap crap like Wal Mart faced major adjustments. But this is already part of the capitalist system.

          In a society with frugal, debt free, financially independent people the necessary and highly beneficial process of “creative destruction” vital to a dynamic economy is far less traumatic.

          And my bet is they’ll still be going to movies.

          Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *