German Words to Use in Your Everyday Personal Finance Conversations

This post is inspired by Messy Money's experience with schadenfreude.  All languages are classed into language families.  English's family is Germanic.  English has one of the most extensive vocabularies of any language on Earth, but somehow German still has so many words for complex concepts that would take us almost an entire sentence to explain.

Schadenfreude has already been covered, but let's look at these 8 words and examine how we could use them in our lives when we talk about money.

1. Verschlimmbesserung- Something that was supposed to be an improvement, but actually made things worse.
   Use it in a sentence:  I invested in US property in 2007.  That was a total verschlimmbesserung to my portfolio.
2. Torschlusspanik- Fear of time running out or opportunities slipping away.
   Use it in a sentence: The investors started dropping their shares as torschlusspanik set in.
3. Fernweh- The urge to leave your familiar surroundings and be anywhere else. The need to discover new places.
   Use it in a sentence: Mia realized she had made a verschlimmbesserung when two weeks into her new job, she was feeling fernweh.
4. Weltschmerz- What you want your reality to be like is not congruent with what it actually is, largely due to outside circumstances.  Weltschmerz makes you melancholy and apathetic.
   Use it in a sentence: He was born into a poor family, and felt there was no way to become wealthy, causing him great weltschmerz.
5. Vergangenheitsbewaeltigung- The struggle to come to terms with the past.
   Use it in a sentence:  She could not get her budget under control because her vergangenheitsbewaeltigung kept her from thinking about the debt she had incurred.
6. Kummerspeck- Excess weight gain from emotional eating.
   Use it in a sentence:  Once she finally confronted her vergangenheitsbewaeltigung around her debt, she binge ate for days, causing her kummerspeck.
7. Inner Schweinehund- The voice inside that causes laziness or apathy.  (Literally means inner pig-dog.)
   Use it in a sentence:  After her clothes stopped fitting, she banished her inner schweinehund and started paying off her debt.  (She also jumped on a treadmill.)
8. Handschuhschneeballwerfer- A coward willing to criticize from a safe distance. (Reminds me of blog trolls to a certain extent.)
   Use it in a sentence:  Every time she posted her budget for the month, there was a handschuhschneeballwerfer who criticized her spending down to the penny under the name "Anonymous."

Do you have German experience and want to add more words to the list?  Leave them in the comments!

Are You Defined by Your Job?

My husband and I are very different people. Sure, we have commonalities that helped us bond at the beginning of our relationship, but our vantage points of the world and life often differ in the starkest of ways.

Nowhere is this more true than our perceptions of work and identity. When I think of who I am, the first things that come to mind are generally occupational (including motherhood.) When I'm overwhelmed with life, rather than taking a break, I throw myself into my work to find peace. I like to think of myself as someone who is cultivating her entire self, but the truth is my default identity is tied closely to my occupational pursuits.

That's not necessarily a horrible thing. If you work hard enough, you can become a leader in your field. You're often a good provider. But there are also some extremely negative aspects. If you become a workaholic, your family can start to feel neglected. If something negative happens with your job, your self-esteem most likely plummets. Your value comes from your endeavors in your industry, and not from within.

My husband is the polar opposite. He's never viewed his job as who he is, but rather as something he does. He projects this image to all those around him. When I look at him, I don't see an occupation; I see a whole person. A father. A husband. A brother. A son. A friend. A sports-lover. Someone who loves to laugh. Someone who loves to make others laugh. Someone who's stubborn in his opinions. Someone who doesn't do dishes as often as I'd like him to. Someone who cares deeply for those around him.

He has a strong work ethic. He provides for our family. At one point in our relationship, he supported me when I was in school, and had no job. But he doesn't let that work consume him. He doesn't always have a tab open in his brain about his job. He shuts it off. Because while the job is important, it doesn't define him.

Sometimes I'd like to close my work tab. I'd like to worry less about security and more about what's happening right in front of me. I feel like that's going to be a long process including some deep soul-searching. I feel like it's going to be difficult, and I don't really know how to get there. But luckily I have someone near me to emulate. I have someone to learn from.

As I start this process, I want to pose a question to you: Is there someone close to you that you've learned a positive behaviour from? One that has helped you become a better person or function in life? It doesn't have to be a spouse or partner. It could be a family member, coworker, friend...the list is endless.

The final 6 months of my goal

Have you ever set a goal so high, so ridiculous you weren’t sure you’d achieve it? I did and on the journey to my goal, my life changed so dramatically, I don’t even recognize myself or the life I had when I set this goal, it just seems so far away from who I am and what I do now.

It’s 6 months until my 30^th birthday. Due to circumstances in my personal life, I can’t give exact financial details on anything anymore. I was hoping things might change but it has been over a year and still, I can’t. I will say this, the journey has been amazing and where I am at in my life is pretty close to perfect.

I find it fascinating to look back over my journey and see the things I have overcome and the things I have achieved as well as how much what I want and strive for in life has changed.

When I started this blog, it was predominantly about my desire to make more money, to become a millionaire because I was unhappy with my life.  My bucket list was full of places to travel, things to see and do. I didn’t want what I had.

Fast forward 5 years and I don’t have that life anymore, but I also don’t have that desire to travel, go everywhere else and do anything else except live the life I have. I hated my life, whereas now I love it and even though my most recent trip was to my favourite conference (FinCon) to a place I have always wanted to see (New Orleans) and I enjoyed it, before I even left I missed my life here already. I had a great time, but I wanted to be back in Canberra, with my daughters, with my family and friends.

My sister said it best when I made a comment about my lack of travel desire:

“Maybe that’s because you always had a life you wanted to escape from. Now you love your life.” Or something to that effect, and she’s right.

I am still interested in seeing the world, but only if I have my daughters with me.

Where to from here?

Right now, I own multiple sites and have various forms of income. I live in a house I know I can stay in long term, my daughters are happy and I just landed my ideal contract through my business which not only pays the bills, but helps others, particularly the disadvantaged around Canberra. My goals for the next 6 months are fairly simple.

Family

My only goal is to spend more quality time with my daughters and the rest of my family. I won’t go into more detail than that.

Health

I have achieved a few health goals, I lost over 30kgs in the time I have been blogging. I learnt a form of dance, did a 5km run and other things. I have slacked off lately. I am relatively happy with my body, but could be much healthier.

Whole 30 – I want to try doing a whole 30 month, essentially cut out sugar, preservatives and eat real food.  Whole 30 refers to an actual program my friend has tried with success. My eating habits have improved greatly over the past 5 years, but I slipped recently and want to kick start my healthy lifestyle.

Run 10km – even if it’s not a public run by my birthday, I want to be running 10km on the treadmill, the whole way.

Complete a 100 challenge – this goes for push ups, sit ups, squats and planking for 100 seconds. I see many challenges online and every time I start one I end up injured, not because of the challenge but other random ways. I want to complete at least one by my birthday.

Business

Get virtual assistants – not just one, because different assistants have different areas of expertise and I want people to spend a few hours a week focused on the areas they are strong in instead of one person trying to do it all.

Read and implement business books – I have a stack of business books I have read bits and pieces from. They have great advice and I will read and implement the applicable advice of the ones I own by my birthday.

Travel

Uluru – My daughters and I will be heading to Uluru for my 30^th, well just after in the school holidays.  That is the only travel I have planned between now and my birthday.

After I’m 30

I’ll still continue to share ways to make and save money plus goals or things I am working on here. It won’t stop just because I have reached the age for my goal. My life has changed so much that money is no longer my focus, I just enjoy the journey.

What are your plans for the next 6 months?