Bwanji ?

That's the Zambian way of asking "how are you?" or saying "hello". So how the heck are ya?! Let me know! It's week 2 of lockdowns in Melbourne which ruined my plans of going on leave, but at least I got lots of sleep ins during this time.

Also, I just realised that we're just weeks away from the Sunday Surprise's 1st birthday! It's literally a fortnight away. Thank you for coming along for the ride in what started as a lockdown project and now has just under 150 readers. I didn't I'd get to 10 let alone 100 and now nearly 150! So what should we do to celebrate? I'm thinking of doing a giveaway. Any suggestions?

As always, a small favour? Could you forward this newsletter to just 3 people that you think would like one of the articles? It helps A LOT! If you're the friend reading this, click the link below to join! Glad to have you here!

In this week's email...

• Week in the Life - read on the blog
• Creative update - randInt episode 008 (~30min) & Medium
• Gadgets & Tech - BitWarden password manager (free)
• Read - Barefoot Investor & I Will Teach You To Be Rich
• Watch - If read by Michael Caine (~4min)
• Quote - “Time obliterates the fictions of opinion and confirms the decisions of nature.”

Week in the life

It's the second week of lockdown and things feel a bit like Groundhog's day. I think after such a long lockdown last year, most people have just "slipped back into it" and I'm in that boat.

It's given me some time to catch up on errands and finish up some loose ends on projects, like editing the podcast and also getting a move on in terms of having the video for the episodes up on Youtube. I haven't done that yet, but did get a start on the editing.

Given that the last lockdown meant that normal 5km radius was exhausted quite a bit (yes, I'm being a Karen) it turns out that the gorgeous Albert Park Lake isn't too far and well within the zone! Just check out the views of the city from the lake.

My normal walking/running route also had some of the installations for the Rising festival, which was nice to see. I would've loved to have gone to some more of their paid exhibits, but alas, lockdowns. Here's a giant eel skeleton just floating on the Yarra...

The cats have loved having people around. One even went for a walk, but more on that on the blog...

Creative

randInt episode 008 (~30min)

https://anchor.fm/randint/episodes/EP-008---In-series-not-parallel-e1236t9

The latest episode of the randInt podcast is now live! We cover recent updates in the projects we've been up to as well how seemingly similar people have very different approaches to their finances. Also, what tends to define the days where you can't wait but get up and get into the day? That and the randomness you've come to expect in this episode.

On another note, I read somewhere that most podcasts tend to die off by episode 8. We have a few more planned so this is hoping randInt lives on beyond the average!

Medium

https://raffyhalim.medium.com/

Ever since Medium started several years ago, I've always wanted to publish something on there. The design of the site and focus on text made it seems like what a pro writer would publish on.

Clearly, I'm not that. Given how popular list articles are on there (and everywhere else too I suppose) I posted up my top 7 quotes to ponder during lockdown.

Gadgets & Tech

BitWarden password manager (free)

https://bitwarden.com/products/

With more and more password hacks happening, it's more important than ever to have different passwords for different sites. Keeping track of that is pretty hard though. I have used 1Password for the better part of the decade but with recent changes to their app/features, I went looking to see what else was available.

I'm trying BitWarden at the moment and for a free password manager, I think it's a pretty good deal for most people. It's pretty simple and much cleaner than 1Password and does 90% of what paid software can do. So far, I don't think I'll be switching back!

PREVIOUS/OTHER PRODUCTS

Some previous things that have been featured:

• Luminar AI - Fastest way to edit photos on your Mac or PC for both landscapes and portraits. Use code RAFFY for 10% off. IT's what I've been playing with during my leave!
• Nord VPN - Keep safe on the internet with a secure VPN. This is the cheapest but still reliable VPN that I've tested.

Read

This week is a bit different with a couple of personal finance book recommendations after some readers requested including finance topics. I don't have a lot to say on the matter so here's 2 books that most closely resemble what I do. The first has an emphasis on Australia and specifics. The second is more US focused but some of the principles of automating your finances is far easier to do in Oz than in the US. Both are best-sellers and for good reason.

Barefoot Investor (~$16)

https://amzn.to/3uN5f8I

This is a very down to Earth finance book for those who don't like finance books. I've literally played snippets from this book and watched people who were very much "not into finance" become curious and get on top of their personal finances.

No mean feat by any stretch! So if you are generally in the same camp, might be worth a look. The common sense, no jargon approach is a great way to start and will take you 95% of the way to everything you really need to know.

I Will Teach You To Be Rich (~$15)

https://amzn.to/3uXIEpP

This scammy sounding book is the one I gave to all my cousins when I visited the US a few years ago (yes, bought a bunch of copies and handed them out). It's more US specific but has advice on automating your finances so that you don't have to think about it at all. It's worth picking up the principles and translating them over to wherever you live.

Between these 2 books, you'll be pretty much set on how to have your personal finances in order.

Book I just finished:

• Happy Sexy Millionaire - Just finished this and realised that I have read a lot of the other books on the topics covered to the point where I could tell you which other books said the cover subjects of each chapter and in some cases did it better/worse. I think I'll start making little book summaries over at raffyhalim.com and this will be the first one I cover.

Watch

Kipling's poem "If" read by Michael Caine (~4min)

https://youtu.be/EEFMVIfl2UY

After the last couple of newsletters and their heavy video content, here's something a bit different: a poem.

I'm not one for poetry but I stumbled upon this one recently and it seems wonderfully appropriate for the voice of Michael Caine to be conveying the message. Hope you enjoy it!

See Also

• Is human evolution speeding up or slowing down? If you still wanted a small dose of something science-y, here's a short video explaining selection pressures and how evolution maybe shaping humans.

Quote I'm pondering

“Time obliterates the fictions of opinion and confirms the decisions of nature.”

- Cicero

I was thinking about how there's just so much information and noise out there these days (and this newsletter is ironically contributing) but it seems it's not just a modern day phenomenon. Even in ancient Roman times, there was opinions, meetings and noise with every crisis causing a rise.

This was subconsciously one of the reasons for re-reading old books that I really enjoyed: if I still enjoy them after time or find them informative, the principles must be somewhat timeless. Everything else is just noise...

That's all for another week, ! Don't forget to send me your suggestions for how to celebrate the 1st birthday of The Sunday Surprise newsletter!

- Raffy

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