Author: J.D. Roth

What the what? I just checked behind the scenes at Apex, and I see that this post — which was scheduled for Tuesday — never “went live”. Not sure what the problem was. No matter. I’m scheduling it for Saturday instead. Here you go, friends…
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Hey, money nerds. It’s J.D. again. As always, I’ve collected some intersting articles to share with you. If you have interesting articles to share with me, drop me a line!

Spending without regrets. [Of Dollars and Data] — “It’s not the person with a $500k net worth that regrets spending $25 on two cocktails, it’s the person with no retirement savings that does. With that being said, if your financial house is in order and you still find it hard to spend money without regret, below are some techniques to consider.”

Some interesting stats about vehicle prices. [TKer by Sam Ro] — “Like most industries, automakers have been plagued by supply chain issues. Unique issues in the rental car market have exacerbated shortages in the market for used vehicles. As a result, vehicle price inflation has been hot.”

How to establish financial priorities. [Wallet Hacks] — “There’s only so much time in the day and if you aren’t careful, it’s easy to spend too much time on things that seem urgent and important but are neither. This is especially problematic when it comes to your money because there are a lot of things that demand your attention, and often your guilt, but they usually don’t move the needle.”

Today’s cool video isn’t a video at all. It’s a website. But wow, what a website! Weather Spark offers detailed weather and climate info for nearly 150,000 locations worldwide. If you’re a weather nerd like me, you’ll love this site (despite all of the many ads).

• Climate and weather stats for major cities. (Here’s the info for my hometown: Corvallis, Oregon.)
• An interactive world map featuring “temperature fingerprints” for major cities.
• A database of past and historical weather.
• And my favorite, the city comparison tool. Add multiple locations to compare climates. So much fun!

Okay, tomorrow the team from the Plutus Foundation will be here with their Wednesday update. I’ll be back on Thursday with more finds of my own. See you then!

We’ve reached the last day of September, my friends. Another week gone. Another month gone. Another quarter gone. The relentless march of time continues, dragging us each every closer to our demise.

Haha! How’s that for some existential angst to start your weekend? Here, let me make things better. Here are four recent stories to help you master your money — and your life (and your pancakes).

An economist’s rule for making tough life decisions. [Quartz] — “But even accounting for these limitations, the results of the study still suggest a way to break out of those painful cycles of hesitation and indecision that people often get caught in when contemplating major life decisions. If the choice is between action and inaction, and you’re genuinely unsure about what to do, choose action.”

How to figure out what you want out of life. [Vox] — “When culture provides limited road maps for the future, these life events can seem nonnegotiable. External pressure from family, friends, and media further muddies the waters, potentially creating an emotional conundrum when it comes to determining what you really want for the future. Through time and reflection, you can use your values and motivations as guides for a fully authentic life.”

The last man standing in the floppy disk business. [Eye on Design] — “In the beginning, I figured we would do floppy disks, but never CDs. Eventually, we got into CDs and I said we’d never do DVDs. A couple of years went by and I started duplicating DVDs. Now I’m also duplicating USB drives. You can see from this conversation that I’m not exactly a person with great vision. I just follow what our customers want us to do.”

The world’s best pancake recipe. [Kottke] — “After discovering the recipe for Robie’s Buttermilk Flapjacks in a magazine a year or two ago, my wife has been making them for breakfast most Saturdays and they are, no foolin’, the best pancakes I’ve ever eaten. They are fluffy and moist and delicious. Here’s what you do.”

Lastly, we have a super-interesting video feature…but it’s long. It’s 50-minutes long. Don’t let the length deter you! Instead, bookmark this for future viewing (add it to your Watch Later playlist in YouTube?).

This documentary from the Defunctland channel on YouTube explores Walt Disney’s final ambitious plan, the project he hoped would leave a lasting legacy on the world: E.P.C.O.T, the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.

Disney’s dream city was made up of futuristic, visionary ideas. Even today, sixty years later, many of these ideas are progressive. He wanted to build the city of the future. It’s fun to see what he had planned. But, as the video makes clear, the only way for him to actually do these things was to not create a utopia, but a totalitarian dystopia.

This is one of my favorite videos I’ve watched this year.

And that’s it for September. Jim will be with you next week. I’ll be back in ten days to share more new discoveries from the world of personal finance.

Does it feel like autumn to you? It feels like autumn to me! Here in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, anyhow, the seasons are changing. Nights are cool, days are warm (but not hot), and everything sort of buzzes along, you know? I love it. October is my favorite month in Oregon. Such a beautiful time and place.

Let’s see what cool stories I’ve collected for you today…

The incredible true story of renting friends in Tokyo. [Afar] — “At one point the waiter offers us drinks. Yusuke says no alcohol on duty, and I realize I’d forgotten this was duty at all. I’ve paid for every word Yusuke has uttered, but I’m also certain we’ve forged something genuine…Maybe it’s easier to believe their professed affections than I’d imagined, even as the money is right there in front of you. Maybe life is complicated. Maybe affection can be paid for and real at the same time.”

Three tiresome personal-finance debates. [Humble Dollar] — “When I worked at The Wall Street Journal, editors used to quip that, ‘There are no new stories, just new reporters.’ I don’t know whether that’s the case with politics, sports and technology articles, but it sure rings true for personal finance and investing stories…That brings me to three financial arguments that never seem to end. Others still get worked up over these debates. But I find they grow ever more tiresome.” Like Clements, I too find discussions of these three topics tiresome. And several others. The reality is that there are plenty of financial decisions without a right answer.

Work is a pie-eating contest. [Money and Meaning] — “I like pie, but not that much. A couple bites is lagom for me, thank you very much. Eating a whole slice is mostly OK, but I don’t desire another slice the next day. Or the days after and after. So when I watch hard-working person go after it, I always think: ‘Too much pie!’ and wonder what’s driving them. What’s the emotional need behind this need to work so much. Fear? Ambition? Status?” [Before reading this, I think it’s helpful to have read a previous column from Douglas: Deep satisfaction in enoughness.]

My last link today has nothing to do with personal finance, but it’s cool nonetheless. It’s a site called The Electric Typewriter. It has a single purpose: Index great articles and essays by the world’s best journalists and writers. For me, anyhow, this site is a source for months (years?) of reading. I think you’ll like it too.

Okay. I’m outta here. I’ll be back tomorrow to take you into the weekend…

Good morning, my friends, and welcome to another week. This is J.D. Roth and you’re reading Apex Money, your source for curated stories about how to master your money — and your life. Let’s see what we have for you today…

Whatever happened to the starter home? [New York Times gift article] — “The disappearance of such affordable homes is central to the American housing crisis. The nation has a deepening shortage of housing. But, more specifically, there isn’t enough of this housing: small, no-frills homes that would give a family new to the country or a young couple with student debt a foothold to build equity. The affordable end of the market has been squeezed from every side.”

Generosity: No act of kindness is too small. [One Frugal Girl] — “Years ago, I couldn’t imagine ditching my stingy tendencies. Now I readily share my wealth. What changed? I began challenging my assumptions and finding new ways to give. Here are a few ways to give more generously if you are afraid to do so.”

How understanding the Marginal Utility of Money will make you happier. [The Happy Philosopher] — “Each additional dollar acquired becomes less valuable because it brings us a smaller bit of utility than the one before it. Each unit of time we trade for that depreciating money is more precious. How much is your time worth when you’re on your death bed? How much money would you trade for a few more days? Would you work or spend it doing something else?”

Incentives are the most powerful force in the world. [Collaborative Fund] — “You, me, everyone – is susceptible to and more influenced by than we want to admit: Incentives are the most powerful force in the world and can get people to justify or defend almost anything. When you understand how powerful incentives can be, you stop being surprised when the world lurches from one absurdity to the next.”

To finish things today, here’s a twelve-minute Brazilian animated film entitled “Way of Giants”. It’s beautiful, mysterious, and evocative — a wordless exploration of the circle of life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aSnTTzfR1E

And that’s it for Monday. I’ll be back tomorrow with more great stuff. See you then…

It’s been a long week for me, my friends. A long week but a short week. I’ve been fighting some sort of bug. A bunch of people came down with COVID after Fincon in Orlando last week, and I thought for sure I was one of them. But five negative COVID tests later (and five days recuperating), I feel much better. Somehow I dodged that bullet.

Fortunately, all of the downtime gave me plent of opportunity to read about money. So, here I am to close out another week with a nice stash of links. Enjoy!

Lived experience makes work better. [Behavioral Scientist] — “Solving problems requires more than just having powerful tools, you also need people who can use them properly. When it comes to fighting poverty, people with lived experience are essential teammates if we want to maximize the impact of any anti-poverty work.”

How to cut your water use in half. [Consumer Reports] — “When it comes to wasting water in the kitchen, the dishwasher isn’t the culprit — it’s probably you. Too many people rinse their dishes clean before putting them in a dishwasher designed to do that very job—and do it better than you can.” (True story: I know a woman who rinses her dishes completely clean before putting them in the dishwasher. What’s the point of even having a dishwasher in this case?)

How to save money on streaming services. [Consumer Reports] — “There are easy ways to simplify the confusing and expensive mess that streaming services have become. The following strategies can help you create a great plan for getting most of the shows you want to watch at a price you can afford.”

41 quick tips for health, wealth, and happiness [A Teachable Moment] — “Birthdays make you think, and this one’s no different. As that old dead Greek guy said, The unexamined life is not worth living. The point of aging is learning from past mistakes, figuring out what’s important, and passing this knowledge along. No need to make things more complicated than that. Almost six decades of living provide heaps of raw material. Here are some tips learned the hard way.”

And that’s it for this week. Jim will be back on Monday to educate and entertain you. I’ll see you at the end of the month. Until then, stay healthy and grow wealthy!

Today is Thursday. I’m J.D. Roth. And you are a money nerd. That means we’re all in the right place! Today at Apex Money, the four links (and one video) all require a certain amount of nerdery. They cover topics like student loan stats, net worth, and retirement spending. Boring to average folks. Exciting to Apexians like us. 😉

Who holds the student-loan debt? [Of Dollars and Data] — “Regardless of how you might feel about these ideas, there are many good discussions to be had about how to fix the student loan problem. I can only hope that, despite the complexities involved, we find a solution that works for everyone.” This is another interesting and nuanced discussion of a complex topic. [See also: Personal-finance creators share thoughts on student-loan forgiveness at Michelle Is Money Hungry and Some things I do and don’t like about student loan forgiveness at A Wealth of Common Sense]

A humanistic concept of net worth. [Money and Meaning] — “Financial net worth is an advantage that some leverage for good and others flaunt or squander or worse. When I think about net worth I use a different measure. My assets are the relationships I’ve nurtured, the growth I’ve earned through deep exploration, my creative capacities, the perspectives I’ve gained by traveling the world, the beauty that I surround myself with, my curiosity AND the financial resources I’ve worked for.”

How much do retirees spend on uncertain health costs? [Center for Retirement Research] — “Lifetime health care spending by retirees above and beyond predictable premiums is high and uncer- tain. However, Medicare, Medicaid, and other insur- ers cover a large portion of these expenditures. As a result, 65-year-old households pay, on average, $67,260 in out-of-pocket costs over their remaining lifetime, which is about one-fifth of total non-premium costs.”

What a $2 million retirement looks like in the United States. [The Wall Street Journal] — “We spoke in depth with four retirees who saved enough to build comfortable retirements, with net worths ranging from roughly $2 million to $4 million. They shared insights about how they spend their time and money, what has given them joy or anxiety, and how their expectations of life in retirement measured up to the reality.”

For once, today’s video is about personal finance. Here’s our buddy, Rob Berger, with a 45-minute video on YouTube. It’s a beginner’s guide to bonds.

Sound boring? Okay, bonds are a bit boring. But if you’re an investor, it’s important to understand how they work. And Berger is one of the best at taking complex, boring topics and making them digestable for folks like you and me.

Okay, that’s all for today. I’ll see you tomorrow as we head into the weekend…

Today is Tuesday, my friends. My name is J.D. and this is Apex Money, your source for interesting stories about money (and more). Here’s what I have for you today.

Does capitalism work? [Gotham Gal] — “Capitalism is still the most effective way to create opportunities, but it is time for a new era of capitalism where we take what works and focus on the weaknesses so that we can all succeed at the level we hope to. If we started doing that, perhaps some of the issues our communities are dealing with right now would ebb, and our economy would accelerate. Something has to change.” I love this. Thoughtful and nuanced. I’m a die-hard capitalist, but even I have begun to have misgivings. I have no answers, but our current system seems broken to me.

How young people learned to love Old-Money aesthetics. [Robb Report] — “This strain of discreet wealth has never really been out of fashion — it’s not like Ralph Lauren was ever hurting — but since the pandemic, it has entered the zeitgeist anew. As the adage goes, everything comes back around eventually. So if you’d written yourself off as a fuddy-duddy, we have good news: Your time is now.”

One woman’s quest to rescue the trash of New York. [Curbed] — “Typically, her haul doesn’t go straight to the Free Store; first, she drags it up to her apartment, where she sorts and repairs items. Then she puts some of the more valuable finds up for resale; books get posted online, while nice clothes, paintings, tchotchkes, wallets, and the like get sold at occasional sidewalk sales or on the neighborhood secondhand circuit.”

How to live a simple life WITHOUT the stark white walls. [Rich in What Matters] — “If you’re intentional about your life choices, if you dig deep and consider long and hard about how you want your simple life to look (and what you can realistically afford), then you’re being intentional. If the result is color, stuff, plenty of engagements in the diary, or more than three pairs of shoes, then great.”

Last of all, here’s a five-minute video that explains how to summon an army of worms — because you’ve always wanted to know how to do that, right?

Okay, wormies, I’ll be back on Thursday with more good stuff. But come back tomorrow too when our pals at the Plutus Foundation will be here with their Wednesday update from the personal-finance community.

Good morning, Apexians, and welcome to another week! J.D. here with some tasty money links for a Monday morning.

I’m going to start today’s Apex with an excellent non-financial video. Here’s Ed Yong talking about the hidden sensory world of animals. It’s a nine-minute Big Think production that explores how different creatures experience the world in different ways. It’s fascinating.

And let’s finish up with a handful of recent money stories, shall we?

Gas prices are high. So, quit buying gas! [Financial Panther] — “Transportation is typically considered one of the big three expenses for most families (with the others being housing and food). Since it makes up a big chunk of our income, doing anything to cut down our transportation costs can make a big difference when it comes to our finances. But to do that, you have to be willing to do things differently. And most of us aren’t willing to do that.”

Americans keep moving to where the water isn’t. [Vox] — “Faced with growing costs from extreme weather disasters and the certain reality of a warmer and more disrupted future, Americans have been responding by not only moving toward riskier areas, but also moving away from safer ones.”

A day in the life of (almost) every vending machine in the world. [The Guardian] — “Every vending machine is a battleground. Profits are ruthlessly haggled over. Competition for spots is intense. Broadly speaking, the vending game is built on deals between operators (who own machines and have the skills to install them, fix them, constantly fill them with fats and sugars) and site owners (who have the rights to advantageous pieces of land).”

The fatFIRE movement is the polar opposite of Quiet Quitting. [Fortune] — “If quiet quitting is simply doing the minimum a job requires in a quest for a more equal work/life balance, FatFIRING advocates the opposite. It tells people to lean into work rather than lean out, and hustle as much as they can to achieve the same thing most workers want: freedom.”

That’s it for today. Come back tomorrow for another dollop of the good stuff.

It’s Friday, everyone! Yay! Before you take off for the weekend, I’m here with a few final money stories that I think you might like. Take a look.

“I loved bike touring — until I got paid to do it.” [Outside] — “Ultimately, I realized that my job wasn’t to ride my bike; it was a service position with round-the-clock expectations for less than minimum wage. The outdoor industry calls this getting paid in sunsets — which wouldn’t actually sound so bad if those sunsets weren’t being blocked by a pair of full-grown adults fighting over whose turn it was to wash the group spatula. I had wanted freedom and adventure. What I got instead was too much responsibility.”

Stop wasting money by choosing bigger goals. [Becoming Minimalist] — “One reason we fall into the trap of buying things we don’t need is because we haven’t sat down and considered the full potential for our financial resources. And when our pennies have no focus or greater end, they become too easy to spend.”

Why should we save? How much should we save? [One Frugal Girl] — “If we aren’t careful, money can become our destination. We can sacrifice today for tomorrow and waste our lives working long hours hoarding cash we’ll never have the time or energy to use. We save for the sake of saving but never sit down to figure out how we want to spend or allocate it. What is the point of stockpiling our money without deciding how we want to use it?”

Cities and towns paying remote workers up to $20,000 to move there. [Fortune] — “A number of small townships and cities across the nation are looking to incentivize knowledge workers to move, rewarding them with cash, tax breaks, and even property. These programs are an appealing option for people who cannot afford real estate prices in major metro areas.”

What you’re owed if an airline bumps you from a flight. [Traveler] — “There are a few ways to avoid being bumped against your will, but if you are removed from an overbooked plane, you’re owed certain compensations from the airline. Here’s everything to know about dealing with an oversold flight.”

And with that, I’m out of here. I’m flying out to Orlando on Sunday for a week with all of my money nerd friends — including my Apex partner, Jim. That’s right: It’s time for the annual Fincon conference. Always a blast!

Welcome to Thursday, money nerds. My name is J.D. Roth and I’ll be your host as we explore some of the best recent articles from the world of personal finance. Ready? Let’s dive in!

“My ever-changing relationship with my clothes.” [Frugalwoods] — “This post isn’t about money, but it is about how material things can take on too much importance in our lives. How we can define ourselves by what we own–by what we buy.”

Are smart thermostats worth it? [Consumer Reports] — “Some people might find that a simpler thermostat suits their needs better than a higher-end model with automation. People who understand and appreciate how smart thermostats work — essentially letting their house get warmer or colder sometimes — tend to be satisfied with them.”

The affordable housing crisis explained. [Bitches Get Riches] — “The United States is currently in an affordable housing crisis…It is now significantly harder for a 25-year-old American to make rent than it was for me ten years ago when I was that age. And if they’re struggling to make rent, it’s exponentially harder for them to save up a down payment to buy a home.”

How to spot fake reviews on Amazon. [Wired] — “The overwhelming majority of fake positives are five-star reviews, and false negatives tend to be one-star reviews, so you are more likely to find legitimate reviews in the middle. Canny fake reviewers understand that overselling is a problem and may award four stars rather than the full five, but no one is paying for two- or three-star reviews.”

To close things out today, here’s a fun story from TV show 60 Minutes. It’s a 14-minute segment explaining how a retired couple from rural Michigan discovered a loophole in the state lottery — and made millions of dollars for themselves and their friends.

I’ve always wondered if something like this were possible. It’s seemed to me that there must be instances where gambling odds are such that a person could come out ahead if they placed their bets properly. Now I know this does happen from time to time. Fun story.

That’s it for Thursday. I’ll see you tomorrow as we head into the weekend…