The recipe to being an interesting man.

Let's take a stroll down memory lane, and visit ol' Short Alpha's quest to becoming interesting and successful. I hope this will be of value to you Mr. or Mrs. Reader, as it is therapeutic to me. It is 2am and I have slept little, so bear with me.

In primary school, I was neither in the popular group nor was I a part of the nerds. I was an Inbetweener. At lunch times I played soccer or rugby with the sport nuts, and I also engaged with the kids playing Pokemon, in card form and Gameboy. The social hierarchy of primary school is a dynamic phenomenon which changes on the utter whims of prepubescent children. All it takes is for the cool kid to be seen crying when their mums drives away and bam, he's a social outcast. Yet at the same time, humans have short memories and someone else will come a long and draw the spotlight off you. So you get plenty of chances to change your position in the pecking order. Your classmate comes to school with the newest fad eg. Tech Deck or Pokemon cards. For some reason this has been endorsed by everyone else, and now you can jump in and be one of them. And as usual, that is no longer in vogue and the next fad comes around just as quickly as the last. Now you have to start all over again to be a part of the tribe. This is tribalism at it's earliest form for young people.

Do you remember a kid or a small group of kids in your grade, who never really fell too far down the hierarchical ladder?  Phil got a new Mongoose bike, now everyone wants a Mongoose. James brought Tazo's to school, now everyone is collecting them. There are usually a select few people who control what's in and what's out. And we follow along, because conformity is safe and being an individual is is likely to be social suicide. High school is even worse. Your fashion sense, your music tastes and your belief systems are all being scrutinised by everyone around you. For example. In Year 8, I came to school on Free Dress Day wearing a Johnny Blaze jersey. Within minutes of walking into the school, the toughest guy in the grade was throwing shade at me about my dress choice. Holy fuck, I was wrecked after that. I had to go another 6 hours wearing this attire that wasn't acceptable to my peers. Ouch. To quote Marge Simpson "Children can be so cruel!" Lesson learned. I remember I had a friend in Year 8 who was a colossal Blink 182 fan. The guy could play all the songs on guitar and worshipped Tom Delonge. Then come one Monday, he's done a complete "182" and decided they're the worst band ever and has moved onto a more refined and niche side of punk rock. And anyone who said they liked Blink from there on out, was a loser. Just like that.. huh.

School is a jungle. But the real world is worse. All of a sudden, you no longer have the safety of the social hierarchy at school, and you're thrown into a different world with different rules. It's now time to reinvent yourself. You're an adult now, officially. So it's time to look at making choices for your future. But you just turned 18, and you're legally allowed to buy alcohol and cigarettes. And... vote for the leaders of the country. This is a lot of responsibility to take on off the bat. Most of us don't really understand politics, or responsible drinking. We flock to a herd who have ideals on politics and social science, which gives us agency. Your friends are getting maggot every Friday night, so we do too. We're apart of a tribe, yet again. Because it's safe there. But we're not noticeable in the grand scheme of things. We're not individualistic enough to stand out.

It took me until age 25 to really come to terms with my own existence, and desires for my own growth. I started picking up different hobbies that peaked my interest. Some worked out and most didn't last long. Due to my career choice, I was no longer able to socialise and do the same routine I had been doing. I spent time learning about the world, both by reading and by experiencing. As you wade your way through the jungle waters of life, you start to make sense of the system that is designed for you. You build up a cache of wisdom and scars to prove it. Your fundamental beliefs and ideals have changed course due to your own soul searching and challenges. And with time and experimentation, you have learned more about yourself than you ever did before.

In summary, being an interesting man is a project that starts with thinking for yourself,and most importantly, spending time by yourself. There are rules and laws invoked on you; some are beneficial and others are not. But you must break the chains off and experience life. Question everything you've learned in the past. You are no longer playdoh, being moulded to your parents fragile ego's or under scrutiny of your classmates. You are free to pursue anything you want and have your own thing going. You are now in control.

Short Alpha

Advice I would have given myself in high school.

Much to my annoyance, my brain is most active when I need it not to be, like right now at 3 o'clock in the morning. I spend most of my evenings, when I'm not at my full time job, researching topics including economics, social science, and investment opportunities. My stock market investments have taken a back seat for now while I wait out some market uncertainty and look for some more diversification. I've recently restarted investing in precious metals as an insurance measure for volatility in the world economy and because it's a way to store wealth and diversify my portfolio. It's important to understand that making big money in precious metals is unlikely to happen and only setting aside 5-10% of your portfolio for precious metals is a sensible way to go. But anyway, let's move on.

I turned 30 this year. It didn't mean much to me, quite honestly. I got up that morning, went to work, then had dinner with my girl. Quite a profound difference from my 18th and 21st birthdays, where I skipped work and downed enough alcohol to kill a baby elephant. That's what time, and growth does really. And strangely enough the older you get, the fast time goes by. It's been 13 years since I "graduated" high school. I say "graduated" because somehow they let me pass even though I only handed in maybe 3 assessments during my senior years. In year 11 and 12, school and I did not go together. Year 8 to 10, I always got A's and B's in most of my subjects, without really trying. But during those senior years, I wasn't doing well. Let me delve into a bit of my history, and then I'll wrap it up with the advice I'd give myself.

                                          Lyrics from Grinspoon - More Than You Are


I struggled at home with my parents always fighting and there never being any stability. I fought, often physically with my father, and had many shouting matches with my mother. I had a long term girlfriend, but I was beyond arrogant and couldn't stay faithful to her for long before straying with another girl. I didn't know it at the time, but I was suffering mentally under the strain of my home life, and the expectations I put upon myself to be not only socially recognised, but looked at with endearment from my peers. I played guitar and had my own band. I had the rebellious edge that pissed the right people off, and was certainly popular with the ladies. But I couldn't sit in a classroom and absorb copious amounts of information while my head was already redlining over other shit. All I wanted to do was write music, drink scotch and fuck girls.

Now, I'm sure many of you who are reading this can relate. Whether you're going through it now, or like me went through it a long time ago, angst/sadness/lack of direction are common traits for kids going through puberty and high school. This isn't a unique position for an adolescent to be in at that age. And for the most part, I have turned out pretty well. I make very good money, I still have an above average intelligence level and I have some fantastic people in my world. But you should know, the younger version of you will live on inside your mind and your heart, so it's time to talk to it and put it at ease.

First of all, young Short Alpha, knock it off with the girls. Stop putting pussy on a pedestal. There a 3.7 billion sheilas on the planet, and you will never get a chance to meet them all. But they will always be there. I know I know! Tits, vagina, tits, tits.. I get it. But guess what. These young ladies are human beings too, with their own feelings. Stop being a dick, dude.

Secondly, I think its time to drop out! Go do a trade. Go do plumbing or be an electrician. Or go do an accounting course! You are intelligent, but you're wasting your time, and mum and dad's money at school. You're not thriving here. Go let the real world tear you a new one kiddo.

Lastly, it's not your fault man. Mum and Dad hate each other, and that's their problem. It is not your place to take on their problems as your own, or to take sides. You have your own life to learn and master. You can do it kid. I'll prove it to you in 13 years, but hopefully now, sooner.

- Short Alpha

The barebones of a peaceful life

As a child, my idea of a peaceful life included visiting my mums parents. Nana would have all the ingredients ready for me and my sister to bake and ice patty cakes. My pop would take me out trainspotting at the port, and fishing on occasion. Afterwards we’d head home and cheekily, and brazenly stomp up the stairs demanding “We want some lunch! We want some lunch!” and we’d sit down to a ham and salad sandwich with a cuppa tea. In the evenings, Nana would cook up a big roast; meat, potatoes, veggies with a gravy that one can only describe as being its own food group, then we’d play Yahtzee while eating biscuits and drinking more tea before turning in for the night. 

You’ll notice in my recount above, that my memories of my grandparents had nothing to do with the amount of money they spent on us, but everything to do with the amount of time they spent with us. This is a nice little lead in, to what the bare bones of a peaceful existence are.

My mothers parents raised 5 girls on a single income, in a 3 bedroom house. The house cost a little under $20,000 and my Pop's income was around 1/3 of that. Things were tight for most blue collar families, mostly due to the WW2 generation not utilising birth control measures, either because of cost, or for religious reasons. All 5 girls were put through private school until year 10, and they then went off to work. My grandmother would also work part time at a fruit shop and nursing home during the day to bring in some more coin.

*RECORD SCRATCHING SOUND*

Oh. This isn't the 60s or 70s anymore. The median house price in Australia is $809,201 and the median income in Australia is $85,982. We've gone from house prices being roughly 3 times an individuals income, to a whopping 9.5 times. And according to the ASG (Australian Scholarships Group) it can cost up to $240,679 per child, in private schooling, which has gone up 61% in the last decade. And $66,320 in public.

Each child is expected to have more things now too. Everywhere you look, you'll see a toddler with their own iPad or smartphone. In the decades preceding the new millennium, the technological age had not taken its hold on society, and it was common for the eldest child to pass down his old belongings to their younger siblings. Back then, having a roof over your head and food on the table was all you should expect, and anything else that came your way was scarce but appreciated.

Having children in this day and age, takes more planning than ever before in history. In the 1970s, the average age for a man to be married was 23. Today, that age is now 31. With housing prices being high, wages being stagnant, young adults living at home longer and not to mention, the cynical view many of us late Gen Xers and Gen Yers have on marriage thanks to our baby boomer parents who were, and still are, getting divorced left, right and center, marriage has taken a back seat in our 20's.
Today, the average age of first time mums is 28.6. Where back in the 70's, the average age was in the early 20's. So having your finances in order; stable careers, mortgage is already accounted for, little to no debt and a stable home, needs to be accomplished before increasing the size of your family.

Let's go back to the debt thing. Here's some shocking stats for you. The ratio of household debt to income in Australia, has gone up from 104% in 1995, to 212%. As a country, we have the 4th highest personal debt in the world, only behind Denmark, Netherlands and Norway. Now why exactly is this? Let's put all personal debt into it's percentages:

Mortgage: 56.3%
Personal loans: 3.1%
Investment debt: 36.5%
Student debt: 2.1%
Credit card debt: 1.9%

We often hear that "Young Australians credit card debt is out of control!" and though the stats show it's minimal compared to other forms of debt, it's still a problem. The average credit card debt in Australia is $4268, and this rises with income. The scariest statistic though, is that the average credit card debt for Australians on no income, is $3774. There is a societal problem with discipline at play, not to mention it's ingrained in us from a young age that everyone has credit card debt.

Personal loans include car loans, loans for holidays and other big ticket items such as jet ski's. Overall, this is but a small percentage of the overall debt in the country. The average cost of a new economical car in Australia is around the $25,000 mark, which is actually considerably more affordable than it used to be in the 70's. But, as it goes with our consumer crazed society, the average age of vehicles on the road is 10.1 years, but 30% of those cars are less than 5 years old. With stagnant wage growth, we're still buying new cars often and taking loans out to get them.

Investment debt. Does this not make you scratch your head? People are taking out loans to buy investments. Investments are a vehicle for potential wealth creation. Australians are obsessed with houses. And the banks, up until recently, have been very relaxed with whom they lend money to and how much they'll give them. With property prices going up and up for the last 30 years, it seems like a no brainer to get into property investing. Yet, we have a problem.

Housing prices have gone up. But the rentals prices aren't. You'll see in the third image, we're looking at a bubble in the mid-70s, early 80s, late 80s, and today is looking very similar.

I'll talk about other investment debt, like taking out margin loans to buy shares. A margin loan lets you borrow money to invest and uses your shares or managed funds as security. It can help you increase your returns but it can also magnify your losses. To manage the risk of a downturn in stock price, lenders use a Loan to Value Ratio (LVR) which is the amount of your loan divided by the total value of your shares. So if you have $20,000 worth of shares and you borrowed $10,000, your LVR ratio is 50%. If the value of your shares goes down below the LVR , the bank will do a margin call, and you will have to come up with the the capital to get the LVR back to an acceptable level by either topping it up with cash, selling part of your investment or giving security over other investments to the bank. It's a risky move, and unless you study the markets every day, just stay away from it and only invest with money you have, and are comfortable with losing.

Mortgage debt. The big elephant in the room. As I said above, Australians love property, particularly the boomers and we'll keep paying more and more to get the house of our dreams, regardless of the financial ramifications it has. The act of buying a house after you get married, bringing your kids up in it and living in it for the rest of your days before passing it on to your children is all but dead. The housing market is a bunch of stepping stones. Buy one. Build up some equity in it. Sell it and move onto another more expensive one. Rinse and repeat. Stay in debt. Stay a slave to the banks. Wither and die. All I can say on this one is, save as much money for a deposit as you can, and buy within your means. Rent is not exactly dead money, if you're saving the difference you'd pay on a mortgage and put yourself in a much better position to tackle a 40 year long sentence.

Now let's forget about finances for a moment. Say you've already got your money where it needs to be and you're financially independent and trouble free. Let's look at the people in our world. And I'm not referring to the planet. I am referring to your little world. Are these good influences on you? Do they bring out the best in you and add fulfilment and joy to your world? I personally, prefer quality over quantity in all aspects of life. I keep my circle small. It's easy to choose the friends you want around you, but you cannot choose your family. Blood may be thicker than water in consistency, but that's not the case when it comes to loyalty and happiness. If you feel depressed and unhappy with your life, before you look internally, take a look at your surroundings. And then CULL CULL CULL the bad eggs. You live and die in the blink of an eye, don't feel like you have to keep undesirable people in your little world.

To cap it all off, I want you to think back to your childhood. How did your grandparents do things? How did your parents do things? As a grown up now, you can see what they did right and what they did wrong. Learn from those before you.

• Pay off your debts. It's the greatest return on your money you'll ever get.
• Live within your means. That means doing up a monthly budget, knowing exactly how much money you're bringing in, and minimising how much is going out.
• Do not bite off more than you can chew. Can you handle the mortgage repayments if an unforeseen issue comes up, such as your wife gets pregnant and can no longer bring money into the household. Do you really need that brand new $50,000 car?
• And most importantly. Get enjoyment from the most important thing in life, each other. Take your kids somewhere to explore. Play board games and eat lollies together on occasion. Create life long memories, because time is the great enemy. And it is coming for you.

 - Short Alpha