Investing in Health: Exercise

The other half of the equation Last week we wrote about diet and food. Many readers rightly pointed out that exercise is also important, maybe even more important for health. Even if you eat right, if you don’t move your body you’ll find your energy levels falling, joints weakening, and strength and bone density shrinking. […]

Review: Linchpin

It’s all on you I’m a huge fan of Seth Godin. His daily blog is a short dose of inspiration, his talks are wonderful, and his books can be life-changing. This week I read Linchpin, in which Godin argues that work is more interesting, fun, secure, and successful when we take responsibility for our working […]

Building a Low-Energy Home

The best solution? Mark’s beautiful homeI’m really pleased to have another guest post from Mark Brierley for you today (you can see his first one here). Mark is a certified Passivhaus consultant and blogger, and he is generously sharing his knowledge and experience with us today. You can read more of his writing at his excellent […]

Investing in Health: Diet

The most valuable investment of all? We tend to focus on money. Work harder, work more, earn more, save more, invest more. All well and good, but if you’re not careful you could end up financially independent in the hospital or the ground (and no longer financially independent if you’re in the hospital for too […]

iDeCo Book

The next RetireJapan project I mentioned on the Facebook page that I am writing a book about iDeCo accounts. Now, if you can read Japanese, the best (cheapest, most comprehensive) option is to get a copy of Minako Takekawa’s 確定拠出年金活用入門. However, many of our readers would prefer to have something in English. As there are […]

Investing in Less Energy

Be more comfortable, spend less money The old Japanese house I used to live in -we got through 100 litres of kerosene a week in winter! I’m really pleased to have another guest post for you today. My friend Mark Brierley is a certified Passivhaus consultant and blogger, so it was inevitable that I would […]

40 Questions

Probably about 30 too many… Last year I taught a personal finance class in English at my university. It was an elective ‘high-level’ class, and I had five wonderful students join. We had an amazing time talking about money, happiness, and life, and how they interact. This year I am trying to repeat the experience, […]

Review: The Strategic Review

Unbelievable value I’m a huge fan of Sebastian Marshall. Who? I’m not completely sure, to be honest 🙂 I think I first came across him through Tynan, who is another person whose writing I find really inspiring. And I found Tynan through Neill Strauss’ The Game (probably his most famous book, although I enjoyed Emergency […]

Angel Investing

Stay in your circle of competence Famous investors often talk about the importance of investing in companies whose products you understand. Peter Lynch waxes lyrical on this in his very readable book One Up on Wall Street, and Warren Buffett trots out his ‘I only invest in things I understand’ humblebrag all the time. A […]

Teaching Personal Finance

A triple whammy the chalkboard after my personal finance class on investing This post is probably more of interest to teachers, or those with children. Last year I taught an optional English class for advanced students at my university. I used a discussion format (the PDR method) and we talked about personal finance topics like […]