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HomelifestyleBeing dumb is a good thing

Being dumb is a good thing

Screen shot 2009-11-12 at Nov 12, 2009, 11.39.53 PMI never really thought about it before, but being dumb is kinda awesome. I had a conversation with my financial analyst buddy about short term municipal bond funds. Twenty four hours ago I couldn’t have spelled municipal, but now I know a good chunk about them. I’m a tiny bit “less dumb” now because of the conversation I had with my friend.

I won’t bore you with the specifics of what we talked about, but we essentially concluded, investing in short term municipal bond funds is a worthy contender to replace our pathetic online savings accounts. Their average interest rate is near quadruple today’s money market accounts, they grow tax free, and you can sell your bond at any time hassle free (unlike a CD).

Are you bored yet? Enough about bond funds, on to the purpose of this post. Being dumb has its benefits…namely an opportunity to learn. If I didn’t have a financial analyst friend, I wouldn’t be where I was today with my personal finances. He knows more about money than me, so when I have a question I run things by him.

I’m obsessed with surrounding myself with people that know more than I do. Books are great, but personal interaction is even better. When I graduated college I had to learn how to be an adult. I didn’t really know what the “real world” was going to be like, so I decided I should sign up for life coaching. It was freakin’ awesome. For one year, I was mentored by a CEO baller in various aspects of my life (family, health, finances, faith, priorities). I was coached by a guy who went from college student to successful entrepreneur/father. He acheived what I desire, so why wouldn’t I want an opportunity to learn from him?

Take a minute and think about the company you surround yourself with. If you are the smartest person in your circle of friends, you got a problem. You should be interacting with people more knowledgeable than you on a daily basis. Make “being the dumb one” a positive thing. Grow from it, so that one day, you can educate the dumb.

Really all I’m saying is: Stimulating conversation is awesome! I think it would be really fun to hear what each one of your most recent stimulating conversations was about. Was it about relationships? Money? Biology? Mine was about short term municipal bond funds….hopefully yours was more exciting 🙂

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7 COMMENTS

  1. I second J. Money’s comment.

    My most recent mentally stimulating conversation happened with my boss. He is definitely one of the smartest people I know and I’ve only worked for him for 3 months. We talked about absolute/relative truth. To summarize, I believe in relative truth. There is an absolute truth, but I believe we as humans will never know what that is because we aren’t God and people can lie. So what we see is our truth. He is a firm believer in distinguishing the two. So even if he believes its the truth, if it is absolutely a lie, then it is still a lie.

    What do you think? Is your head hurting yet?

    We talked for over an hour until voices were raised and someone stopped by our office to be like, ok, Budgets are just not that intriguing, what the heck are you guys talking about?
    .-= Investing Newbie´s most recent blog ..iPhone Lovin’ =-.

    • Ugh, thanks for the brain cramp. It reminds me of my philosophy days in college. Contemplating the purpose of evil in the world. Love philosophical discussion, but they often leave me even more confused 🙂

  2. This is good advice. I’m usually the smartest guy in my group, and I frequently change groups just so I can get smarter. It doesn’t take more than a few months, though, for me to be the smartest one in the new group.

    • There are fees, but they’re negligible. Vanguard has some bonds with only a 0.2% fee. Check out the vanguard funds.

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