The 7 Personal Finance Articles We Loved This Week

It’s time for another round of awesome personal finance articles hand-picked by ESI of Rockstar Finance!

Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I’ve definitely been thinking about my life in general, including what I’m thankful for. Even though my adult life so far hasn’t been consistently smooth-sailing, I’ve been very lucky. I’m grateful to be able to do work that I genuinely enjoy every day, that I feel proud of what we’re producing, and — best of all — that I get to do it with an awesome team of women. (Of course, I also know that I had some major legs up that helped me grow into the person I am. I can take responsibility for doing work and putting myself out there, but deny that my circumstances of being born white and into a family that could pay for major things like college tuition helped me get ahead.)

Of course, there are always little ways I feel like my life could be better. For example, I’m constantly fighting my inclination to let clutter accrue all around the house — I did a much-needed closet purge earlier this week and actually/finally rearranged my closet by color. I love colors, and I decided that would be the easiest way for me to find things…and oh my gosh, putting outfits together already feels so much better. So I loved this list of specific steps you can take to make life a little better right now. It took me a while to learn this truth:

There is nothing quite as satisfying to me, all these years later, than walking into my bedroom and seeing my bed made. It instantly makes my bedroom feel cleaner and tidier, and it makes me feel proud. Yes, proud, each and every day that I do it, and accomplished.

…The idea is to give yourself some quick visual wins, so that when you walk into your bedroom, kitchen, or car, you’ll notice what you’ve already done, and enjoy the visual order. That will lead to positive self-talk such as, “I already got the bed made. What else will I accomplish today?”

Be sure to check out the rest of this week’s great picks below — and everyone have a happy Thanksgiving!

1. How I Hacked The Happiness Curve – Retire by 40

“So that’s my hack to shorten your midlife discontentment. Wouldn’t you like to have a nicer happiness curve? Why be stressed and discontented for so long? Let’s get it over with ASAP. However, I am just one data point. I wonder if other people can improve their happiness in their 40s instead of 50s.”

2. Yes, Comfort Is Bad and Here’s How To Fix It – The Frugal Gene

“Short and sweet: comfort is bad because facing adversity keeps us fighting, growing, learning and forcibly places our trust in others we wouldn’t have given away otherwise.”

3. How to Use a Side Hustle to Create an Asset, NOT a Job – Financially Alert

“When you think about asset allocation for your portfolio, what comes to mind? For most people, it’s usually just a decision between stocks and bonds. Some people might mix in a little real estate/REITs, maybe some gold and silver and since it’s 2018, there might even be some Bitcoin in there. But what about creating a side hustle that provides cash flow AND can be sold as an asset, just like a business?”

4. 50 Ways To Improve Your Finances By 1% – Choose FI

“While at first, it’s easy to make huge cuts in your lifestyle that lead to huge gains–like cutting back on your restaurant habit or avoiding Target without a concrete list, you might find that your forward momentum begins to slow with time.”

5. The gift of subtraction – Rich and Regular

“Whenever we’re faced with a challenge that must be overcome or an opportunity to take advantage of something cool, our instincts kick in telling us…what can we do? Is there an app we can download or a website we can look at real quick?. Can we ask Alexa or Siri? Should we reach out to such and such to help us think this through? Let’s add it to the to-do list on the shared drive so that we can revisit this thought later.”

6. Understanding & Improving Your Money Mindset – Mama Fish Saves

“What’s fascinating about our money mindset is that this core set of beliefs resides in our unconscious mind. And it can hang out there, dormant. But, by becoming a keen observer of your thoughts, feelings, bodily reactions, and interactions with money you gain awareness of your current set point and the ability to change your mindset.”

7. 3 Specific Steps You Can Take Right Now to Improve Your Life – The Three-Year Experiment

“The idea is to give yourself some quick visual wins, so that when you walk into your bedroom, kitchen, or car, you’ll notice what you’ve already done, and enjoy the visual order. That will lead to positive self-talk such as, ‘I already got the bed made. What else will I accomplish today?'”

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