Life

Life is Short

January 23, 2020 | Reading Time: 4 minutes | 31 Comments |

Well, if you were to believe the Roman philosopher Seneca, life is not short but long if we know how to use it –

It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested. But when it is wasted in heedless luxury and spent on no good activity, we are forced at last by death’s final constraint to realize that it has passed away before we knew it was passing. So it is: we are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it… Life is long if you know how to use it.

But since we often fail to use our limited time on this planet well, life indeed turns out to be short, or so it seems.

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What Nobody Told You About Financial Freedom

January 8, 2020 | Reading Time: 5 minutes | 34 Comments |

I have not yet read Matt Haig’s book Reasons to Stay Alive, but here is an excerpt a friend shared, which instantly touched a chord –

The world is increasingly designed to depress us. Happiness isn’t very good for the economy. If we were happy with what we had, why would we need more? How do you sell an anti-ageing moisturiser? You make someone worry about ageing. How do you get people to vote for a political party? You make them worry about immigration. How do you get them to buy insurance? By making them worry about everything. How do you get them to have plastic surgery? By highlighting their physical flaws. How do you get them to watch a TV show? By making them worry about missing out. How do you get them to buy a new smartphone? By making them feel like they are being left behind.

To be calm becomes a kind of revolutionary act. To be happy with your own non-upgraded existence. To be comfortable with our messy, human selves, would not be good for business.

Ten Rules to Live By in 2020

January 3, 2020 | Reading Time: 9 minutes | 23 Comments |

I wish you a very happy, healthy, peaceful, and fulfilling 2020.

Life’s moving really fast (it’s nearly nine years since I started Safal Niveshak), so let me not waste another moment and thank you for being here for me.

As I begin 2020, here are a few things I aspire to do each day. These are more of notes to myself than advice to anyone. But if you wish to take it, I won’t mind at all. 🙂

Here I start.

51 Ideas from 2019

December 30, 2019 | Reading Time: 27 minutes | 31 Comments |

Dear Tribe Member,

Trust 2019 treated you well. It certainly was good for Safal Niveshak. The tribe crossed 60,000 members.

Anyways, right before the year ends, I thought I’d share a handful of ideas I’ve learned, re-learned, and wrote about in the past twelve months. Here are 51 of them categorized under the subjects of investing, learning, and life. I hope you find these useful, as much as I did.

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People Don’t Change

December 23, 2019 | Reading Time: 2 minutes | 11 Comments |

Okay, people change all the time.

School back-benchers turn around, finish college with top scores, get jobs or start businesses and lead mature, responsible lives.

Introverts move out of their shyness and make friends.

Stammerers get over their difficulties and become great speakers.

Alcoholics stop drinking and become mature.

Criminals convert to religion and leave the life of crime behind.

Lazy and selfish people become altruistic and devote their lives to the service of others.

Sinners become saints.

Traders who cannot see beyond an hour become investors (rare, but still) who see beyond years.

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