The Financial Philosopher

Being vs Having

"You spent the first half of your life becoming somebody. Now you can work on becoming nobody, which is really somebody. For when you become nobody there is no tension, no pretense, no one trying to be anyone or anything. The natural state of the mind shines through unobstructed -- and the natural state of the mind is pure love."
~ Ram Dass

You may have heard the saying, "If nobody is perfect, it's perfect to be nobody." This message is profoundly wise and it extends to many recurring themes found in ancient philosophy and in religious texts. The perfection of nothingness is also a theme in my forthcoming book, which I am happy to say will be finally published in 2016.

When you can detach yourself from opinions, from the most damaging of emotions, and from material things, there is nothing remaining but the authentic Self. And when you can be authentic, or what Abraham Maslow called "self-actualized," you can find true happiness.

Self-actualized people are those who are fulfilled from being, as opposed to having. Put simply, these people are happy because of what they do, not because of what they have. And ironically, many of the most financially successful people in the world became wealthy because their primary motivation was self-fulfillment, not money or material wealth. They did what they loved and the money followed.

An extreme example can be found in the late Steve Jobs, the founder of the biggest corporation in the world, Apple, Inc. Before he co-founded Apple, Jobs studied eastern philosophy, which is rooted in the virtues of simplicity, humility, and contentment. Specifically, Zen Buddhism uses the thought of death as a powerful meditation to remove the outer covers of falseness to return the the inner perfection of nothingness:

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important thing I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life, because almost everything—all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. ~ Steve Jobs

In the financial universe (and in some other realms), indifference is more powerful than love and hate.

To further qualify this statement, I would define the lovers of money as greedy and the haters of money as resentful. Financially wealthy or not, both extremes find it hard to enjoy life because their happiness is dependent on having more money. Within both perspectives, money and material wealth are believed to be the sources of happiness.

On a personal level, and in my observations of all of the thousands of people I've encountered in my 18-year investment advisory career, I can attest that those who can find contentment with or without money are bound to have the happiest existence.

Of course there are those who suffer because they do not have the means of meeting the basic physiological needs of food, shelter and clothing. Without money, especially in the modern civilized world, obtaining these basic needs of life can be challenging. But the vast majority of human beings on the planet who are unhappy because they believe they "don't have enough money" are actually unhappy because they are not self-actualizing: they are not self-fulfilled.

The Great Way is not difficult
for those who have no preferences.
When love and hate are both absent
everything becomes clear and undisguised.
~ Seng-ts'an

Money provokes the most extreme of emotions. This fact is the fundamental reason for starting this blog -- to learn more about the psychological aspects of money and to help others live a better life by sharing what I had learned. As it turned out, I found that the timeless lessons of the ancient and modern philosophers can help resolve these seemingly complex psychological challenges in the most simple and profound ways.

Believe it or not, 2016 marks 10 years since the beginning of this journey. I look forward to beginning a new decade with publication of my new book. Thank you all for reading and for participating in the journey of this blog and in the growth of my writing.

I will provide more updates at another website that is named for this new book, Perspectives for Mastery of Life. The site is under construction and in its infancy now. Watch for more updates in the next few months!

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Be Thankful, Be Content, Be Rich

"A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety." ~ Aesop

In just 13 words, Aesop captures within this quote the power of contentment and so much more than that. But who will hear the message through all of the seasonal noise?

As we Americans take pause to observe Thanksgiving, the hustle and bustle of the annual holiday often has us swallowing the feast of contentment without even tasting it. Rather than slowing down and peacefully enjoying the crust of simplicity, we feel it necessary to anxiously partake in a banquet of complexity.

In the days prior to counting our blessings around the Thanksgiving table, we cram in extra hours at the office, scramble to prepare for travel, and hurry to reach our destination, that is, assuming we only have one destination during the one or two-day break.

After the brief moment of thankfulness, we jump into an insane day of buying things, none of which we will be thankful for this time next year, and then hurry to get back home and face a busy week of catch-up work waiting at the desk, as we wonder how we can possibly fit in all the holiday parties to come in December.

"We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have." ~ Frederick Keonig

Thankfulness and happiness have overlapping meanings. But the meaning of happiness has evolved (or rather devolved) over time to be something more like fleeting pleasure than enduring contentment. The person who has recently acquired the latest tech gadget will likely be more thankful at this moment than the person who has just the basic physiological needs -- food, shelter and clothing -- but nothing more.

However, the art of thankfulness is rooted in contentment, which is true happiness. And to be rich is to be happy with what you have now. To paraphrase my late father-in-law, "All you need is a roof over your head, clothes on your back, food on the table, and someone that loves you."

That, dear reader, is the essence of wealth. He died financially poor but rich in every other way.

"I love to go out and see all the things I am happy without." ~ Socrates

This Thanksgiving, discover how rich you are now. And do your best not to allow the craziness of the holiday season to cause anxiety, hunger, or impoverishment.

Try a few of these ideas: 

• Enjoy the crust of simplicity: Eat less but taste more.  Enjoy the food but also embrace the faster pace of the holiday. Observe it as life in action; a cause of celebration, not stress.
• Light a candle: Take your own moment to meditate on the things in life that money cannot buy -- the love of a friend, the wind blowing in the trees, or a starlit night.
• Make one person happy: Intently listen as a friend or family member tells you their story; smile and encourage them to share more of it with you.
• If Black Friday is unavoidable: Happily go along for the ride so you can be with the people you love. But also remind yourself how happy you are without all of the things everyone else is buying. And if you buy, do it for someone else and keep it simple.

To be thankful is to be content; to be content is to be rich.

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Related: Have You Been to 'the Woods' Lately?

Less is More: The Wisdom of Simplicity

"The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity." ~ Walt Whitman

Life is simple; we only make it complex. We spend our lives unconsciously covering our authenticity with outer identity until at some point we begin wondering "where everything went wrong." But the tragedy for many people is that the wondering never begins and life's simple beauty is not rediscovered.

I use the word "rediscovered" because you already know that life can be simple because you experienced it as a child. If you are normal, you spent much of your life since then trying to become something other than yourself. But normal is not healthy; success in the unreal world means failure in the real one.

The power and virtue of simplicity is a universal truth; it's wisdom applies to all areas of life. What are some ways you can declutter, simplify and return to your authentic Self? Here are a few ideas that can help.

• Instead of finding new things to add to your life, find things to remove.
• If you want to increase income, decrease expenses.
• Do less thinking and do more wondering.
• Turn down the noise.
• Go to the woods.
• Listen to a child.

As a deep thinker I tend to overthink things. I have to remind myself that thinking less, or even not thinking at all, is often better than thinking more.

And on this note of simplicity, I begin with simplifying my periodic messages to you on this blog, which now has a much more simple look and feel. If you subscribe by email, you can see the blog online by following this link: The Financial Philosopher blog.

There is no reason to spend too much time trying to solve riddles or trying to find things to add. One can only find themselves by removing things, not by adding, and this removal is the foundation of simplicity.

Remove the clutter.

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