Money Diary #52

Morning: Up around 7, check email on phone, and put on a jacket since it's a bit chilly. Brush my teeth, drink a cup of tea, and log on around 7:30. While I don't have any meetings today, my manager will be out for a few days, so I want to be online in case anything comes up. Walk around the house a bit, eat a fried egg with some cauliflower fried rice for breakfast, and go shower. Keep an eye out on my inbox and read a WSJ article that talks about how "our life's mission is to please those who can grant or withhold approval: parents, admissions officers, and job interviewers. As a result, many of us don't now what we believe or what matters to us." Oof, so much truth. Text work a couple more receipts from the trip last week. 

Afternoon: Watch my inbox, lunch is cauliflower fried rice & some veggies, and watch I Love Lucy (the California episodes are the best!). Wash dishes and then read a few Money Diaries and other articles. One of them talks about how "my time is precious to me as are my boundaries. My new year's resolution is to be firmer with them." Here are other things that I learn:

• Why I am where I am today: "My dad moved to this country with only the clothes on his back. I've always been humbled by this, particularly since I never wanted for anything ever."

• Something I need to learn: "I love the commitment she is making to enjoying living in a new city, even it ends up being temporary."

• Books to read: Your Own Worst Enemy and Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams

• What wealth is: "Wealth gives you the power to do things your own way, including not pursuing even more wealth for no particular reason."

• On white collar work: "The most disconcerting thing about the white collar world is the indirectness. At first, it seems like a secret, coded language. I worked for someone from the UK and it was 10x as indirect."

• A reminder: "When you need a service, find the provider yourself, making an unrestricted search and guided only by your own interests, preferences, and intuition. Do not accept a service from a provider who has found you."

• When presented with a $4.5 million/year offer: 

• "No way was I walking away from that offer at 50 if I had a networth of $10 million. If you had $50 million, that's a different story. If you had $10 million and were making $300k, then I'd be gone tomorrow."

• "You are making legacy-changing money. It likely won't last that long -- I'd milk it until it went dry."

• "As a spectator, I saw people in that situation typically only lasted in that type of position for about 5 years before there was a reorg, merger, new CEO who brought in new executives, or the company tanks & they'd be out of a job."


• "These kinds of jobs don't usually let you coast. It's a political death match every day with everyone else wanting those big compensation packages."

Evening: Drink tea, read another Money Diary (there's a comment about how "I love this diarist's drive to put energy into more than just her primary career choice. Seeing her intentionality in regards to networking, making new friends, and attending to multiple side hustles made me inspired to do more"), and dinner of cauliflower fried rice. More reading ("tough times are there to keep us humble during the good times" and "it's amazing how much lower your stress is when you don't have to worry about how you will afford to feed yourself"), and I learn about an app called TooGoodToGo. Try coconut oil pulling, brush my teeth, and bed around 10:30.