Use This Extra Time Wisely
The Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain, also known as "Eros", in Piccadilly Circus © Photo: Katherine Hardy
Despite living in rural Suffolk, on the edge of a village with only a handful of houses nearby, last night (Thursday) it was great to hear our distant neighbours join my family in applauding those essential workers who are working long hours to keep core services functioning.
Most people who are either working from home, have been furloughed or sadly seen their work dry up, now have a lot more time on their hands. And while some will have to care for vulnerable relatives or keep children occupied (breathe deeply!), the absence of commuting, socialising, non-food shopping or other leisure activities, means even they will have more down time.
So, what are you doing with your extra time?
You might be drowning your sorrows. Apparently, alcohol sales are up 22% in March.
You might be binge watching TV shows. There are 236 episodes of ‘Friends’, whereas Game of Thrones has a more manageable 73 episodes, and comedy classic Faulty Towers only has 12 episodes.
You could do DIY around your home, but you might find it a challenge to get hold of any new tools or materials you might need, given they are not essential supplies. Not to mention, if you make any noise and mess (always a high probability on the rare occasion I try to do home DIY), you might well cause family relations to fray further.
You could do gardening, if you have one, but you’ll not be able to buy any plants or other garden materials and tools, because they aren’t essential.
Or you could read. Fiction for escapism and entertainment and non-fiction for knowledge and wisdom.
Non-fiction books (in all formats) make up less than 1/3rd of all book sales and my guess is that a good proportion of those are likely to be books that are related to research, study and education. Only a small minority of people ever bother reading much that can help them develop mastery of something practical and useful.
Money is something that is essential to understand and be able to manage, to avoid stress and have choices in life, but few people take the time to learn the necessary principles and practices. Few of us are taught about managing money well in school or by our parents, and if we are, we don’t always learn the right lessons and skills.
You are welcome to buy any of my books. Or I could recommend lots of other great personal finance books (I’ve read over 500). But that means you’d have to buy the book and then read or listen to it (if it is in audio format). So, I want to make it easier for you.
I’ve written over 70 money-related blogs over the past few years and each of them shares a principle, concept, idea, tool or practice that can help you to be better with money. None of these are deep dives into choosing investments, tax planning or other factual stuff (you can find plenty of that on the internet), but they will help you to:
- Raise your awareness of money issues in an easy to read way
- Spark your interest to learn more
- Give you confidence that you can be better with money in the future
By all means use some of your extra time during the COVID-19 restrictions period to do fun and practical activities, but why not carve out some time to read and learn about how to be better with money, by going through my blog archive?
Use the current situation to your advantage by getting focused and learning all that you can about being better with money. You’ll not regret it.
Warm regards
Jason
PS Although I can’t give personal financial advice, I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have that arise from reading my blogs.