My friend asked me where this blog is going and how investing could possibly be related to memetics or movie reviews. Once again, it is pointed out to me that the way my brain works seems warped to most people. That’s normal. I feel more comfortable writing than talking sometimes because it helps me put my thoughts in an order that makes sense, or at least, more sense to more people. Today’s title encapsulates the mission of AFoolsFool.com: Invest in Yourself! Invest in your brain, invest in your health, invest in your future, and invest in your fun. Now for a more extensive explanation.
Social Security was designed only to support people who could exceed the expected life expectancy of 65 years old. By design, we were all supposed to die at retirement! However, now people live longer and the average life expectancy in the US is 78 years. The swelling medical costs and the number of retirees drawing benefits now far exceed the designed capacities of the system. Social Security benefits currently start at 66 years old for those born in 1955 and the minimum age is planned to increase to 67 years old for those born in 1960 or later. These are just the first steps that have been politically safe to make. The financial reserves continue to be depleted, so we should expect either our taxes to increase, our benefits to decrease, or both. Probably both. Meanwhile, most private companies have abandoned pensions so we are more reliant than ever upon our own financial capabilities. Therefore, we should invest for our futures by learning how to invest and save. Hence, I want to blog about how I’m investing – and I’d love to hear from you about your methods.
I hope that everyone I know is able to smash the expected life expectancy and live a rich productive life for a century, at least. Ignoring the odds of that actually happening, for those of us who actually live a long time, we must face the consequences of aging. Our brains and our bodies naturally tend to degenerate. We will begin to reach an age where we no longer live pain free and we need to learn about pain management! The only way to counter that decay is to actively invest in our physical and mental health so that we can delay the inevitable as long as possible.
I haven’t done any blogs on physical health yet, because I’m very far from being disciplined or an expert. I’m having joint issues that prevent me from running comfortably and I’m spending too much time at desks. However, I have found that by doing Yoga my balance has improved and I can now wake up without pain in my back every morning. I’m still figuring out what works for me and how to talk about it in the blog, but I still want to find a way to encourage physical health in others.
Mentally, I’m still active. As you can tell from the memetics blog, I nerd out over learning and I’m constantly scanning for exciting new concepts. I’m also trying to improve in many areas where I am lacking. Languages and computer systems were always so difficult for me to master that I avoided them. That changes now. I’m studying for the CompTIA Network+ exam (IT Networking basics) and investing time each day to learn the Spanish my mom tried to teach me since I was five. Sorry mom. For computers, I have found some success as a subscriber to ITPro.TV where I can watch and learn the basics then apply those basics in virtual machines hosted by the site. For languages, I had tried Rosetta Stone’s Japanese program but learning the vocabulary, the language and the characters overwhelmed me. I then decided to go back to Spanish and found Duolingo. Progress is painfully slow, but it is there! What do you do to grow your brain and improve your health?
The only truly limited resource we have is time. If we spend time working, eating, sleeping, investing our savings, working out and training our brains, there’s not so much time left. But working non-stop will erode your physical and mental health, as well as burn up your will power. No one wants to wind up attacking their family members in a haunted hotel! Thus, you have to also invest in your fun. What defines that fun is hyper-individualized and will change over time. Fun is, can be, or will be family, friends, food, Friends, France, or friends with benefits. Alcohol, marijuana, video games and comics also come into play as possible sources of relaxation and enjoyment – and various levels of addiction depending upon who you are… but I digress. Essentially, fun is whatever brings you joy and peace. I love when I sit down to watch a movie and have a great time. I hate when I sit down to watch a movie, all prepped to have a great time, and it turns out that it’s terrible. I just had my time stolen. My blogs about fun will be things that are a great way to spend your time, or about terrible experiences you should avoid. I’ll also include multiple ways to evaluate that entertainment so that you can judge for yourself if it will be an investment or a waste of your leisure time.
Perhaps at some time in the future, I may split this blog into more specialized sites. As you can tell, I’m still figuring out how to keep content flowing on one site! There’s a lot to learn about so many unexpected aspects that one site will have to do for now. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy the ride and find a way to invest in yourself today!