SH70: 2023 Yearly Themes

A yearly theme is a high-level idea that guides you throughout a year or season. It's not a resolution. You don't set any specific metrics to achieve. A theme is not lose X pounds by the end of the year or read Y books this year. It's more of a high-level idea that guides your decisions throughout the year (e.g. Year of Health, Year of Order, Year of Novelty)

Last year the humans both set themes to follow (Aidan’s was Year of Experimentation and Evan’s was Year of Experience) and now it's time to review how they went and set new themes for 2023!

Standard Humans is hosted by Aidan Dennehy and Evan.

Shownotes:

What is a 'Yearly Theme'? - Video from CGP Grey

The Theme System - Website describing what a theme is and how they implement it in the Theme System Journal. Also has a few good example themes.

SH57: 2022 Yearly Themes

Episode 35: 2021 Yearly Themes

Episode 12: The Experimental Dozen

2022 Year in Review

Guinness Stout

Plastic ball in Guinness cans

SH69: FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early)

SH65: Tasting Whiskeys from Around the World

SH63: Tree Planting

What does an environmental consultant do?

Canada’s drinking problem: why alcohol is the new cigarette by Wency Leunghealth and Erin Anderssen at The Globe and Mail

Government of Canada Low-risk alcohol drinking guidelines

List of countries by alcohol consumption per capita

After Effects Kickstart — Learn After Effects in 8 weeks

Kichesippi 1855 Amber Ale

International Bitterness Units (IBU)

2023 Themes

Brickworks Batch: 1904 Dry Cider

SH64: Investing 101 - What to do before you invest, Time Horizon, and Risk Tolerance

SH66: Investing 102 - Asset Allocation, Diversification, and When to Sell

6 High-Interest Savings Account ETFs In Canada (2023)

Wealthsimple Portfolio Review

FTX: An Overview of the Exchange and Its Collapse

Leffe Blonde

Calabogie Milk Stout Brown Cow Beer

Deep Questions Podcast by Cal Newport

These Are The 25 Best-Selling Whisky Brands In The World

SH69: FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early)

What would you do if you never needed to work for money again?

How much money do you actually need to retire?

In this episode, the humans discuss FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early). A movement that embraces extremely high savings rates in order to build up enough money to live off of forever without any future income.

Standard Humans is hosted by Aidan Dennehy and Evan.

Shownotes:

The 4% Rule: The Easy Answer to “How Much Do I Need for Retirement?”

Let’s talk about what’s up with Bonds, and what ever else you’d like to ask me - Blog post by JL Collins about what Bonds are doing during the 2022 recession

Mint - Great free budgeting app

Get Smart With Money - Netflix Documentary

Great Financial Independence Resources

• Playing with FIRE - Documentary and Book

• Mr. Money Mustache — Early Retirement through Badassity - One of the original FIRE bloggers

• Mad FIentist - Blog and Podcast that get super in the weeds about saving, investing, and tax reduction strategies

• The Stock Investing Series by JL Collins - Great primer on how to invest

• Afford Anything - Podcast and Blog about how you can afford anything, but not everything

• Prince of Travel - Travel Hacking blog and YouTube channel

Financial Trackers

• Mint - Great free budgeting app

• Wealthica - Great free investment tracking app

• Portfolio Visualizer - Portfolio modeling and optimization tool

• Mad FIentist’s Lab - Tool to track your progress to Financial Independence

• Financial Independence Spreadsheet - More in-depth version of the Mad FIentist’s Lab tool. Can show you how much you’ll need to save for each ongoing expense you have.

FIRE / General Investing Tools

• T-Rex Score Calculator - Find out how much money you are losing to fees over your career (If you’re in mutual funds it’s likely over 50% of your potential gains in fees)

• Wealthsimple Trade - Brokerage with no-fee trading

• Wealthsimple Income Tax Calculator - Quickly calculates how much you will have to pay in tax based on your income level

Savings Tips/Ideas

• Killing your $1000 Grocery Bill

• Is it Convenient? Would I Enjoy it? Wrong Question.

• Cure Yourself of Tiny Details Exaggeration Syndrome

• Luxury is Just Another Weakness

• The True Cost Of Car Ownership

• Why You Should Never Buy A New Car

• Get Rich With… Bikes

• The Man Who Retired at 27: Why You Should Consider House-Hacking

• Buy Your Freedom; Rent the Rest

SH68: How to Grow Old

How do you feel about getting older?

Are you worried about losing your energy, strength, and pleasure (yes that pleasure, but also the other pleasures of life and youth)? About inching closer to death every day?

In this episode, the humans discuss ‘How to Grow Old‘ by Marcus Tullius Cicero, a book about how exaggerated/mistaken those beliefs are and how great growing old can be, that is just as relevant today as when it was written in 44 BCE.

Standard Humans is hosted by Aidan Dennehy and Evan.

Shownotes:

How to Grow Old: Ancient Wisdom for the Second Half of Life by Marcus Tullius Cicero

Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius by Ryan Holiday

SH67: the life-changing magic of tidying up

Do papers, clothes, and more constantly pile up like snow drifts throughout your home?

Have you tried tidying up before, only to relapse into messiness?

In this episode, the humans talk about the KonMari Method: a system for tidying up developed by organizing consultant and author Marie Kondo. The method promises that if you properly simplify and organize your home one time, you’ll never have to do it again in your life. In fact, none of Kondo’s thousands of clients have ever relapsed into messiness.

Standard Humans is hosted by Aidan Dennehy and Evan.

Shownotes:

the life-changing magic of tidying up by Marie Kondo

Taoism vs Shintoism: Similarities and Uniqueness

Tao Te Ching

Tidying Up with Marie Kondo Netflix Show

Sparking Joy Netflix Show

Other books by Marie Kondo

Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up: A Magical Story by Marie Kondo

Joy at Work: Organizing Your Professional Life by Marie Kondo and Scott Sonenshein

SH66: Investing 102 - Asset Allocation, Diversification, and When to Sell

How to make your money go faster than Max Verstappen (Formula 1 driver). Not actually, there’s no get rich quick schemes here, just the basics of choosing how to invest your hard-earned money for the long-term.

In this episode, the humans talk about asset allocation, diversification, how bonds work, what a dividend is, fantasy formula 1 leagues, minimizing fees, tax-advantaged accounts, and when to sell.

Standard Humans is hosted by Aidan Dennehy and Evan.

Shownotes:

What Are Index Funds?

What is an ETF?

Eat the Rich: The GameStop Saga Netflix Show

The Beer Pipeline in Bruges

Broke Millennial Takes On Investing: A Beginner's Guide to Leveling Up Your Money by Erin Lowry

Beginners' Guide to Investing in Bonds

How Bond Funds Work

Why Do Bond Prices Go Down When Interest Rates Rise?

Formula 1: Drive to Survive Netflix Show

Formula 1 Fantasy League

Tickets For Montreal Grand Prix 2023

What Is a Target-Date Fund?

Vanguard Asset Allocation Investor Questionnaire

What Did Enron Do?

TFSA (Tax Free Savings Account)

RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plan)

Tax-Free First Home Savings Account (FHSA)

Robo Advisors vs. Index Funds

Canadian Couch Potato Model Portfolios

Where to Learn More

• Wealthsimple Personal Finance 101 - Collection of great articles for understanding the basics of investing for Canadians

• “Best Investing Strategies” article by Wealthsimple

• Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together by Erin Lowry - A great book for getting through the pre-investing checklist

• The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness by Dave Ramsey - Also good for the pre-investing checklist

• Broke Millennial Takes On Investing: A Beginner's Guide to Leveling Up Your Money by Erin Lowry - Amazing beginner’s guide to investing

• A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing by Burton G Malkiel

• The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns by John C. Bogle - Investing advice from the guy who created the first index-fund

• How The Economic Machine Works by Ray Dalio - Great video to understand how the economy works

• The Financial Diet - Great YouTube channel for general money advice

• Graham Stephan - Another great YouTube channel, he gets into riskier investments and more aggressive saving than we cover in the episode, but his stuff on the stock market is pretty good. Especially if you’re looking for context on things that are currently in the news.

• What Is Financial Independence, Retire Early? A Beginner’s Guide - article by Time on the FIRE movement

Apps to track your finances

• Mint - Great free budgeting app

• Wealthica - Great free investment tracking app

• Quicken

Asset Allocation Quizzes

• Vanguard Investor questionnaire

Example Asset Allocations

• Canadian Couch Potato Model Portfolios - Most simple asset allocation strategy I can find

  • Couch Potato Portfolio Returns for 2021

• Three Fund Portfolio

• iShares Asset Allocations by Investment Style

• Questrade ETF Portfolios - Scroll down to the asset allocation section to see what they invest in based on different risk profiles

• Best SINGLE ETF Portfolio Canada (2022) YouTube Video

• The EASY ETF Portfolio! - Index Fund Stock Market Investing YouTube Video

Robo-Advisors

• Wealthsimple

• Questrade

• List of Robo-Advisors in Canada

Brokerages (Companies that you can buy stonks through)

• Wealthsimple Trade

• Questrade

• Best online brokers in Canada for 2022

ESG Investing Resources

• How to invest your money (and not wreck the climate) - Great video by Simon Clark on how to use your investments to make the world a better place and get a great return on investment

• Carbon Collective - American climate change Robo-advisor, their overarching strategy is a good template

• 10 Best Clean Energy ETFs In Canada (Oct 2022): Go Green - Good article on clean tech ETF options for Canadians

• Bank.green - Great resource for finding an eco-friendly bank

Tax Advantaged Accounts

• TFSA

• RRSP

• Tax-Free First Home Savings Account (FHSA) - New account coming 2023

• RESP

High-Interest Savings Accounts

• Best high-interest savings accounts in Canada 2022 - Moneysense article

• Best High-Interest Savings Accounts in Canada - Wealthsimple article

• EQ Bank: Savings Plus Account

Helpful Tools

• Wealthsimple Income Tax Calculator - Quickly calculates how much you will have to pay in tax based on your income level

• Portfolio Visualizer Great for comparing the performance of different asset allocations and portfolios