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Lifestyle Trends
One of the new Lifestyle trends that is developing is the New Entrepreneurial Nomad (NEN's). Here in the 21st century the world’s information store is at our fingertips, prosperity is increasing and even third world countries are now producing an upwardly mobile middle class. In spite of the recent economic downturn much of society is wealthier than it has been in the past and yet we are often time poor. There has been an explosion of outsourcing and the growth of service industries just so we can find a few more minutes in our busy lives.
Too busy to write that college paper, someone in India will do it for you for a few dollars. Can't advance quickly enough in that computer game, someone in Thailand will play the game for you till you reach the required level We believe we have come a long way but working a forty hour work week doesn’t allow us the time to follow the things in life that we are passionate about, like families, hobbies, romance or improving the world. And yet, hundreds and even thousands of years ago hunter-gatherer groups in abundantly resourced areas were only working 3 hours a day (a 21 hour work week) to satisfy their needs. The rest of the time they were following social, spiritual, romantic and fun endeavours like dancing, playing games, following religious rituals and exploring. Their lifestyle trends are something I would like to follow.
So, have we truly advanced? Recently Tim Ferris wrote a book ‘The 4-hour work week’. It became a best seller. Why? Because the time was ripe for it. People want a different lifestyle from the work-a-day treadmill they are on. We want to take time to smell the roses. Thus a generation of New Entrepreneurial Nomads (NENs) has developed. People who have become successful and can work from anywhere in the world while following their passions/interests. They are a new form of the nomadic lifestyle. For instance, I will be spending the next 5 months in Asia working on a charity project of mine. It is a test case for my ideas and the first step in being a NEN. Like you I am not where I want to be…yet, but I see the potential for a different way of life (since writing this, my wife and I did spend our time in Thailand and Japan). I found that the biggest issue is time. I have been so busy with administering our charity that I have not had the free time to set things up for the future. So, the first lesson is to make time for yourself. I have now taken some time to get the internet business side of things going and should see some results over the next few months. I will also step down as the president of the charity early next year so I can devote more time to business and experiment with some lifestyle trends in Japan for a year. In these pages we will discuss ways of finding a better lifestyle for each of us and point the way to what you can do to live life to your full potential and have the time to enjoy it. Remember though, even if you achieve a better lifestyle in terms of time and cash, if you don’t have your health then it will mean nothing.
I have met many millionaires, who, after the age of fifty are in such bad shape with ongoing health problems that they don’t get to enjoy their wealth. Any lifestyle trends that result in ill-health are not worth doing. So maintaining a healthy lifestyle is important and you can find out how to do that on the Health pages on this site. No matter whether you want an affluent lifestyle, minimalist lifestyle, James Bond lifestyle, simple lifestyle, rich lifestyle or frugal lifestyle, running your own transportable business that provides a passive income with minimal input from you will help you live the life you want. The choice is yours. As a Buddhist abbot once said to me ‘It is not compassionate to be poor. Not for yourself or for the world”.
I have some alternative friends who became very wealthy without losing their ideals. They now travel the world helping village communities in third world countries to improve their quality of life. They love their lifestyle. This is one of the new lifestyle trends - putting something back, and this could be you too. I am passionate about helping kids in Asia but if I could barely afford my rent there is little I could do for them. Everything is easier with cash. Here, on this website, we will bring you the latest in lifestyle trends. So get cracking and become wealthier for everyone’s sake, not just yours. If your Lifestyle Trend is not moving up or in a positive direction then you need to look at what you are doing and ask yourself over and over again 'What do I REALLY want?' Your mind will find the answer.
Health and Wealth In spite of what I said above about my personal experience of some millionaires and bad health, there is a strong, positive correlation between health and wealth. Harvard researchers found that people in the US who earned less than US$36,000 a year in 2000 had a higher risk of dying early (64% higher) than those on US$101,000 or more. A study from New York's Columbia University showed that the poorer you are, the less healthy you are likely to feel and another study from the Center for Disease Control showed that poorer people reported being in poor health more than affluent people. When I was going through university I worked part time as a chauffer/navigator/bodyguard for doctors doing after hour house calls in lower socioeconomic areas. It was interesting to see the commonality of pizza boxes piled high, empty packs of cigarettes and empty bottles of beer and other alcohol consistently lying on the lounge room coffee table. The people involved would often ask the doctor for money to buy medicines prescribed for their children as they had no cash left. Interesting. Perhaps this is one of the negative lifestyle trends. Poorer people spend more money on junk food, drugs and alcohol, perhaps to numb themselves to the life they have created for themselves or to at least give themselves short bursts of dopamine through food, drugs or alcohol to make it seem at least worthwhile. A landmark British study called Whitehall 1 compared social status of public servants and their health. The men at the bottom of the pecking order were three times as likely to die early compared to the men at the top. The connection between wealth, status and health has been discovered although it is not fully understood yet. It has been shown that after about $125,000 there appear to be no further health benefits to be gained. Education is a component of status and a Swedish study found that higher education conferred greater longevity. People with PhD's were two and a half times more likely to outlive those with a minimum education. Greater education often translates into greater income so it may be worthwhile getting yourself to university or a technical college and people returning to education is one of the growing lifestyle trends.
I have noticed a trend over the past 30 years here in Australia. Way back people weren't so concerned with wealth as the road to happiness. Now it seems that wealth is the sole path to enjoying life. People like Donald Trump are held up as role models for some reason and the sole criteria is their accumulation of money. It certainly helps to have money but I know in my own life there have been times when I have been relatively wealthy and unhappy and times when I was broke but very happy (and vice versa) so wealth is NOT the key to happiness but it can be a component of it. Every day I am bombarded by emails that promise to make me wealthy through real estate, the stock market, trading options, derivatives, foreign exchange markets,etc. The promise is that it will all happen very quickly and for some it does. A friend of mine is a great example of one of the new lifestyle trends because he has become an expat in a foreign country and lives off his stock option trading. He is very wealthy and offered to teach me to trade stock options but I declined. If you are going to make money why not make it from something that you enjoy and that contributes to other people? For me the stock exchange and real estate doesn't do that. Yes, you can argue that real estate investment provides housing for people and that the stock market provides funds for business expansion that keeps the country growing but in Australia now people are finding it harder and harder to buy a house or even rent and don't forget the real estate beginnings of the Global Financial Crisis. Thirty years ago there was discussion about companies on the stock market who were doing the wrong thing by the environment, consumers or third world countries. That rarely happens now as more and more people have bought into the share market. Of course there are good companies but there are also plenty of bad ones. A publicly listed company's duty is to maximize profits for it's shareholders and in doing that they often lose sight of the human element. So, what lifestyle trends can assist you in making cash, living a healthier life and enjoying the life you have without losing your integrity? I believe in the power of free enterprise and so I think the answer is starting your own business that provides a service to other people for a fair price. If that business is diversified enough it will ride out financial downturns and if it is internet based it will provide you with a global market, a good income and the ability to operate it from anywhere while leading a more balanced lifestyle. One of the increasing lifestyle trends of the 21st century is the rise of internet businesses with very little start-up capital. There are a number of ways to get involved with an internet business but this is my shorthand guide 1)Utilise 'Site Build It'(SBI) to set up an internet site. For $300 each year they take care of hosting, domain registration and provide you with the SBI formula for running a successful internet site as well as the tools for building your website. It takes awhile to learn but it works and puts you in control of all content and changes. It is also very ethical.
There are probably other ways as well but in the meantime don't wait for wealth in order to improve your health. If we are going to talk about lifestyle trends then they should be positive trends. There is no point in having wealth if you don't have the health to go with it and you will need health to gain the wealth so first start with your body by going here. I hope that with the information provided on this site your lifestyle trends upward and that wealth, health and happiness are what you attain. Good luck. Return from Lifestyle trends to Home page
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