Short Essays
After publishing my 20+ education & mindset pieces, I started publishing short essays in late 2022. These essays are 200-400 words long and I use them to express and revise my views on themes and concepts that I am thinking about at the time.
I launched the series in November 2022 with Starting from 0 — and have been writing them ever since.
Sincerely,
Philo 🦉
Starting from 0.
“Saving is a fine thing. Especially when your parents have done it for you.” -Winston Churchill The harsh reality of capitalism is that those who have their money work for them are much better off than those who have to trade their time for money. But that’s also the bright side - that the system allows you to accumulate capital over time and start livi…
Remove more things.
“That’s been one of my mantras - focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” -Steve Jobs
On Currency (Debasement) Risk.
“Gold is money, everything else is credit.” -J.P. Morgan For the purposes of this essay, currency risk does not refer to the profit & loss implications resulting from currency price changes, but rather the risk that real returns from an investment are materially lower than its nominal returns.
Dealing with randomness.
"Luck is random. Resolve is forever." -Philo To move forward and succeed, you need to accept and understand the massive role that luck plays in your life. But that doesn’t mean it’s all random — you must equally believe in making your own luck! Every time something doesn’t work out is an opportunity to
A conversation with Philo
Hi Philo, who are you? Hi, I am an investor and businessman for nearly two decades now. I have a broad set of interests but investing and everything connected to it has been my main focus and fascination. In fact, these interests have given me advantages and made me a better investor — these include politics, geopolitics, economics, history, psychology e…
I'm quitting coffee.
Some Context ☕️ I was always someone that took on too much. I wanted to read everything, know everything and master it on top. Too much stress without enough rest however is a recipe for disaster. Coffee and caffeine was the major culprit that enabled me to stay on that path and damage my health in the process.
True Zen Never Stops.
In life you set your goals and start trying to reach them. You do this with the idea that achieving those goals will immediately give you happiness and a sense of fulfilment. You feel as if your whole life will not make sense if you don’t — and you strive even harder.
STAY VIGILANT.
"If you want to overcome the world, overcome yourself." -Fyodor Dostoevsky The distractions of modern life are increasing fast — while our demands and expectations of ourselves are higher than they’ve ever been. And we have to live with all this chaos while everyone knows that the only way is focus.
Create the Alter Ego
“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” —Aristotle We don’t know how to live. Man went to the moon in 1969 (they say!) — but 55 years later we still don’t know how to live. It’s as if we get less intelligent with time, even as we build bigger and better things. Have we lost the essence?
George Soros - the basics.
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