Picky Flamingo – Weekend Reads (02/06/2018)

Welcome to the latest edition of Picky Flamingo – Money Flamingo’s Weekly Roundup.

Picky Flamingo is a collection of the best financial independence and personal finance articles I’ve come across during the past week. Expect most of the articles to be from Australian contributors, but you will also find some great international content. The articles cover the themes we talk about here at Money Flamingo – investing, financial independence, early retirement, personal finance, frugality, lifestyle and happiness. Picky Flamingo is published every Saturday morning. If you would like my weekly picks to be delivered to your inbox, make sure to sign up for the newsletter.

Now let’s get straight into this week’s blog digest. Enjoy! 🙂

Presenting this week’s edition of Picky Flamingo:

Will automation steal your job? According to a study by McKinsey*, up to 800 million workers will be replaced by robotic automation by 2030. Olivia from Birds Of A Fire has a simple solution for us: Financial Independence. In Create Your Own Basic Income Before It’s Too Late she argues that “this probably won’t happen over the next decade. Or maybe even two. But don’t you want to be retired, or at the very least financially independent before that happens? Can’t build wealth without a good pay check!” This article is written with US readers in mind but is just as applicable for us over here in Australia. A thought-provoking read!

Which path of life are you on? This is the question The Frugal Samurai asks us in his latest post. He describes four financial paths: Consistent, Hard, Avant-Garde and FIRE. Looking at my own story, I think I was on the Avant-Garde Path for a long time, then tried the Consistent Path (that’s your standard ‘work for 40 years, then retire when you are old’ path) for a short time and hated it. And now I am on the FIRE Path. What about you? Tip: The first half of this post is a rant about traffic in Sydney, so scroll down to just after the elevator GIF if you want to skip that bit.

Ethics vs. price – everyone on the path to FI is faced with this dilemma at some point. Miss Balance helps us decide and provides some actionable tips in Can you be an ethical consumer on a budget?

It’s the little things that count, right? Not when it comes to FI, according to Pat the Shuffler. Instead of worrying about small lifestyle changes, Pat wants you to tackle the biggest spending categories of Australian households first – housing, food and transport. In Using the Pareto Principle to destroy your weekly spend he argues that “if you can manage to control your housing costs, your journey to FI/RE will be effortless”.

Time for a bit of philosophy. Maybe you lost some money in the stock market. Or you got a car loan and now regret it. Or you didn’t bother saving for retirement until you were in your 40s. But: Who’s to say what’s good or bad? Head over to The Power of Thrift to learn how you can use this question to create “a more consistent state of tranquillity”. Just like the Dalai Lama!

What did you think of this week’s selection?

If you have come across any quality content that you think I should read, please drop me a line – you can email me at moneyflamingo [at] gmail [dot] com or send a message via the contact form.

P.S.: Thank you everyone for all the positive feedback for the first edition of Picky Flamingo! Many of you have emailed me during the week with content recommendations, so I’ve added quite a few new blogs to my weekly reading list. If you have any comments or recommendations, please get in touch with me!

*Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42170100