Author: J.D. Roth

Welcome to another day of Apex Money! Today, I’ve got three stories for you about mastering a productive mindset.

How to tackle a mountain of tasks. [Zen Habits] — “You can’t tackle everything at once. You just have to get started. What I’ve learned is that once you get started, and start having fun with it, you’ll see some progress, and then there’s a snowball effect where you keep getting encouraged by your progress. So you just have to get the ball rolling.”

A simple, pragmatic guide to getting things done. [Erlend Hamberg] — “What GTD gives you—when understood and implemented properly—is a foolproof system for keeping track of what you need to do, should do, or should consider to do. When your system and your trust in your system is in place, your subconsciousness will stop keeping track of all the things you need to do and stop constantly reminding you. This reduces stress and frees up precious brain time to more productive thinking.”

In defense of mindfulness. [Slate] — “Even a very basic engagement with mindfulness can be good for your wellbeing. Researchers have found that a ‘microdose’ of practice (say, 10 minutes a day, or even five) can have beneficial effects, such as decreased stress and anxiety and increased happiness and connection. Other research has revealed that mindfulness correlates highly with the ability to savor the positive, feel gratitude, and experience satisfaction.”

Our final article today isn’t about fiscal fitness. It’s about physical fitness. And it’s a good one. From The New York Times (so, possible paywall), here’s a story that summarizes new research on longevity:

You won’t live longer by diet or exercise alone. [The New York Times] — “Most people know that working out and eating well are critical components of overall health. But a sweeping study published this week in the British Journal of Sports Medicine suggests that hitting the gym won’t counteract the consequences of consuming fat-laden foods, and mainlining kale can’t cancel out sedentary habits.”

One of my big pet peeves is folks who argue “diets don’t work”. Diets do work — but they have to be done right. And once you achieve the results you’re after, you can’t just let go. Lasting physical fitness is a result of ongoing choices.

Okay, that’s it for today. I’ll be back tomorrow for one final installment this week.

Today is Tuesday, friends, and this is Apex Money — your source for interesting stories about money (and more) from all corners of the web. Let’s see what we have for you today.

The reality of caring for aging parents. [The Retirement Manifesto] — “It’s a biological fact: each of us has two parents. If you’re married, you have four. As many in our generation are learning, the odds are pretty good that at least one of them will need some help in their later years. And yet, it’s a reality that most of us overlook…Many I’ve talked to have expressed how difficult it is. Until you go through it yourself, it’s impossible to grasp how consuming the process really is.”

Did you just lose all of your money in the stock market? [Bitches Get Riches] — “As long as you keep your money invested, it is not lost. It is only lost (or increased!) when you remove your money from the stock market. Sell your investments when their value is lower than when you purchased them and you will lose money in the stock market. Do nothing when the value is lower than when you bought them and… nothing happens. You’re pretty much fine.”

Harnessing the power of regret. [No Sidebar] — “A regret audit can help you work through past regrets and choose differently to minimize future regrets, but a regret-free life isn’t the goal. Rather than avoiding regret, we can recognize that regret makes us human and can instruct us on how to live a more intentional life aligned with our values.”

Even socialists misunderstand indexing. [The Big Picture] — “Of all the endless Wall Street things to be legitimately angry about – excess fees, leverage, conflicts of interest, risk-taking, bailouts (and everything else to dislike about finance) – this has to be the single worst hot take by any politician on either side of the aisle…It shows a fundamental misunderstanding of what’s been going on in the world of investments, and how the indexing revolution has altered the basic premise of who wins and loses on Wall Street.” Thank you. I’ve seen this bizarre take a lot lately and it bugs me.

Lastly, here’s a fun video in which a young girl named Emmy interviews comedian Ryan Stiles (from Whose Line Is It Anyway?) about his work. I love this for so many reasons.

That’s it, my friends! Tomorrow you’ll get a an installment from the folks at the Plutus Foundation, then I’ll be back on Thursday to share more great stuff. See you then.

Good morning, Apexians, and welcome to another week of money news. I’m currently away from home and vacationing in beautiful Ouray, Colorado. Unfamiliar with the place? It’s a magical mountain “bowl” in southwest Colorado and one of the most beautiful spots I’ve ever been to.

While I quietly wait for others to rise in the morning, I’ve been reading articles about personal finance. Here are a few recent faves.

Anatomy of a frugal freezer. [Surviving and Thriving] — “Extreme frugality may become a necessity, if it isn’t already. So why not work to get as much out of every food item you buy? (As) the per-plate price of food continues to climb, remember that preventing food waste helps make your groceries more cost-effective. Our freezer is crammed with cost-effective (and sometimes free) items that keep costs down and mealtimes delightful. Have a peek inside.”

Financial simplicity: What is your time worth? [Can I Retire Yet?] — “Money is a stepping stone to more important things. If you’re on track to your financial goals, you may not need to manage your wealth so tightly. But you don’t hear that message from mainstream financial advisors or media. They parade endless schemes, products, and services intended to save you money, make you money, grow your money. Lost in the shuffle is the simple truth that everything has a price. Optimizing your money is a double-edge sword: often, the price is your time, and peace of mind.”

Bartering is alive and well. [Budgets Are Sexy] — “You don’t have to be a professional hairstylist or tattoo artist or anything really to [barter], but do figure out what you’re best at and then start sharing it around and see if you get some hits…You’ll be amazed at what people would pay or trade for, and we usually don’t give ourselves nearly as much credit as we should as we always assume ‘everyone knows this stuff’ which is rarely the case!”

Speaking of Budgets Are Sexy, recently J. money posted a Twitter thread listing his favorite pieces of hate-mail he’s received over the years. This is hilarious. It never occurred to me to do this. If it weren’t so much work, I’d sort through the 100,000+ comments at Get Rich Slowly to do the same.

(I can remember my favorite piece of hate-mail, though. Back in 2008, some reader was angry that I devoted a blog post to urban homesteading, including a bit on raising goats. The reader wrote something to the effect that: “I come here for financial advice. I can’t believe you’re writing about fucking goats.” So funny.)

I’ll see you tomorrow, friends. And I promise I won’t write about fucking goats.

Hello, Apexians, and welcome to Friday. I am swamped over here in J.D.-land, but I’ve managed to collect three interesting stories for you today. Here they are:

What’s the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts? [Read Max] — “The fact that these scammers never include the pitch in their opening texts makes them seem confusing and mysterious. But the scam itself is an old and obvious one. If you respond (with ‘wrong number’, say) the scammer will attempt to draw you into conversation.” Never respond to a wrong-number text. In fact, I generally block the sending number immediately.

Finding balance between internal and external benchmarks. [Morgan Housel at Collaborative Fund] — “I have no idea how to find the perfect balance between internal and external benchmarks. But I know there’s a strong social pull toward external measures – chasing a path someone else set, whether you enjoy it or not. Social media makes it ten times more powerful. But I also know there’s a strong natural desire for internal measures – being independent, following your quirky habits, and doing what you want, when you want, with whom you want. That’s what people actually want.” This is a great article.

Who is to blame for inflation? [The Big Picture] — “People seem to like simple, binary answers to complex questions. Econ-Twitter will tell you ‘It’s the Fed’s fault; Blame Biden, no, it’s Trump’s fault.’ But the world is a much more complicated place, not easily broken into clear black and white answers — at least, if you value accuracy. Over-simplified faultfinding is more suitable for ideological slogans that fit on bumper stickers than actual economic analysis.”

o wrap things up for the week, here’s an eleven-minute video that explains how primitive building videos are staged. If you’re unfamiliar, there’s a popular genre of YouTube videos in which people build stuff using primitive technology. Apparently many of the most popular channels are blatantly lying about their accomplishments. Take a look:

That said, I’m pleased to see that my fave (and the O.G.) primitive technology channel — Primitive Technology — is completely legit. It’s the folks trying to ride his coattails that are making shit up. (As a bonus, here’s Primitive Technology making bricks. So soothing and fascinating at the same time.)

Jim will be back on Monday to share more great money stories. See you then…

Good morning, my friends, and welcome to another day of Apex Money. Let’s get right to the money stories!

Who pays for your rewards? Cross-subsidization in the credit-card market. [academic paper at SSRN] — “Sophisticated consumers profit from reward credit cards at the expense of naive consumers who lose money both in absolute terms and relative to classic cards…Banks lure consumers into the use of reward cards by offering lower interest rates than on comparable classic cards and bank profits are highest for borrowers in the middle of the credit score distribution. We show that credit card rewards transfer wealth from less to more educated, from poorer to richer, from rural to urban, and from high to low minority areas, thereby widening existing spatial disparities.”

In defense of dollar-cost averaging. [Of Dollars and Data] — “I am here to defend dollar cost averaging as the greatest investment approach ever invented for the individual investor. How so? Because I’m going to show you how it held up during one of the worsts period in U.S. stock market history—the mid 1960s to the early 1980s. And if it worked there, it can work anywhere. Let’s dig in.”

Is your imposter syndrome costing you money? [Refinery 29] — “With imposter syndrome comes the belief that we’re not mentally equipped to handle big things, and, in some cases, we tend to bury our heads in the sand, preferring instead to avoid the stress of overwhelming life admin. But in news that will shock no one, your money isn’t just taking care of itself.”

Lastly, from The Dave Ramsey Show here’s a caller asking for advice: “My husband thinks college is a waste of money!”

I know that Dave gets a lot of hate in the PF blogging space, but not from me. Sure, his advice has problems sometimes. And sure, he believes some things I don’t. So what? He’s helped millions of people, and his advice is great here too: “Your husband’s full of crap.” And Ramsey’s right. This woman’s husband is full of crap on this subject. Study after study shows that education is the single most important factor driving income.

Okay, that’s it for today. I’ll be back tomorrow with one last installment of Apex Money before the weekend. See you then!

Yo yo yo yo. It’s J.D. here back for another week of Apex Money, your spot for news from the world of personal finance (and beyond).

I’m late with this morning’s installment because, quite frankly, I procrastinated. I had a whole host of other things to do this weekend, and I chose to do them instead of sitting down to share links with y’all. But I’m here now. Because I put off compiling links for you today, I only have two stories to share.

Let’s lead off with a story about procrastination. 😉

“I didn’t procrastinate on anything in my life for an entire week. Here’s what happened.” [/r/getdisciplined/ on Reddit] — “I dug out the most uncomfortable things that I’ve procrastinated on forever – from cleaning my drains or the sieve of my washing machine over doing my taxes, writing my patient’s will, replying to unread messages, terminating a bank account after 5 years of putting it off, or giving my parents back the keys to their old apartment they’ve already sold (oops, still had it in my drawer). And I challenged myself to face all of them…” [OP also filmed a video version!]

To close things out, here’s a bleak story about global economics. I know, I know. Sounds boring, right? I thought so too until I watched it. This 17-minute video from the PolyMatter channel on YouTube explains why Sri Lanka’s economy is collapsing (and what it means for the rest of the globe).

Not the sort of thing I usually watch or link to, but I’ll make an exception in this case. This is an interesting video.

That’s it for today. We’ll be back tomorrow with our first-ever installment from the folks at Plutus. Yay!

Howdy, money nerds, and welcome to a special anniversary edition of Apex Money. That’s right: Today, this barrel of monkeys turns three years old. On this date in 2019, Jim and J.D. decided to join forces to share the web’s best money stories with you, our loyal readers.

And today we have an exciting announcement! We’re joining forces with the Plutus Foundation to add more voices to the mix around here. Beginning next week, the Plutus folks will be writing every Wednesday edition of Apex Money. Jim and J.D. will still (mostly) alternate weeks, but each Wednesday will feature links from the world of Plutus.

Not familiar with the Plutus Foundation? It’s a relatively new non-profit that supports programs that enhance financial literacy, education, and empowerment. Jim and J.D. are both members of the Plutus board of directors and good friends with all those involved. We’re pumped about this partnership and hope that it’ll give Apexians even more financial education and entertainment.

So, look for the first Apex installment from the Plutus Foundation next Wednesday — then every Wednesday after that.

We’re excited for this partnership and hope you will be too!

Ah, hello. Welcome back to Apex Money. Today I have a handful of personal-finance stories to share with you. And our final story of the day is perhaps the most important story you will ever read. (Okay, perhaps not.)

The survival instinct of money. [More to That] — “Life familiarizes us with its contents, and anything that threatens this familiarity kicks in the survival instinct. And herein lies the conundrum: The more money you have, the more you have to preserve. And the more you have to preserve, the more fear that surrounds its potential loss.”

Your inflation rate depends on where you live. [Accidental FIRE] — “Regular Accidental FIRE readers know that I’m a geography geek and whenever possible try to highlight aspects of personal finance from a geographic perspective. And I’m here at your service to do that again. Geography affects virtually everything, so it’s no surprise that it affects inflation too. Where is inflation worse and where is it better? Let’s take a look.”

How OXO conquered the American kitchen. [Slate] — “OXO is so dominant in the kitchen-gadget space that the consumer-recommendation site Wirecutter features a blog post simply listing the 42 OXO products that top its various category rankings. OXO rules America’s Test Kitchen picks, too, to the point it makes readers suspicious ATK is in cahoots with the brand…But come on: Can any kitchen gadget, or gadget company, really be that much better than the others?”

To close things out for Friday, here’s the most important story I’ve shared all week:

Is a bidet seat right for you and your bathroom? [Consumer Reports] — “For most, using a bidet has been overwhelmingly positive. But people also told us what they wish they’d known before they settled on the model they bought—such as whether the bidet was easy to install, if it was easy to clean, and whether it can warm up your bum.”

Let me answer this question for you: Yes — emphatically yes — a bidet seat is right for you and your bathroom. I’m a huge fan.

I installed a bidet seat attachment at our old house and loved it. After we sold the house a year ago, I was bidet-less for a long, long time. It was like living in the dark ages. A month ago, I finally installed one at our new place. Cue the choir of angels singing. Life is good once more. (My current bidet attachment is the Tushy Classic.)

Okay, now that I’m finished singing the praises of clean butts, let’s turn our attention to the first weekend of summer, shall we? You all go have some fun. We’ll see you on Monday.

Hello again, my friends. As always, I’m here with another batch of juicy personal-finance links. Sink your teeth into these, why don’t you?

Money is emotional, but personal finance advice rarely accounts for that. [Vox] — “As a financial therapist, I’ve seen spending behaviors driven by emotions and not logic time and time again…These people weren’t doing anything ‘bad’. They were doing what most of us do: making money-related decisions based on feelings. In my work, I help people understand how their emotions are driving money decisions, assess if their money is going where they want it to go, practice financial self-compassion, and know when to ask for help. Here is what I tell them.”

Want to succeed? Stop comparing yourself to others. [Darius Foroux] — “Life is about accepting that everyone’s situation is unique. We’re all on our own trajectory. Our careers, families, relationships, mental and emotional health, and so forth are different from others. Other factors like talent, stress-tolerance, financial and social resources, educational background, and so forth also come into play. Too many people forget about those things. So when things don’t work out, they get discouraged and depressed.”

The difference between busy and non-busy people. [Becoming Minimalist] — “Some people are not busy. They appear calm, collected, and in control…but still productive. They are enviable in the life they live. What do they understand about life that others do not?” [I know I already shared another article from Becoming Minimalist this week. Both are excellent, though.]

Lastly, here’s a fun video feature from Wired. It’s a 22-minute look at the English accents of North America. Fascinating stuff.

And that’s all I’ve got. Come back tomorrow for more, muchachos!

Greetings, Apexians! Welcome to another day of smart money management. Here are the stories I’ve collected for your edification and enjoyment…

Why your future is going to be AWESOME. [1500 Days to Freedom] — “Since being a natural-born pessimist isn’t a great way to live, I have to work at optimism. This involved intercepting the negative thoughts my brain tosses my way and then dismissing them or turning them into something positive. Despite what the news wants to scare us into thinking, the world is pretty great now. And, it’s getting better.”

Why work when you can afford to retire? [Physician on FIRE] — “There are some very good reasons and not-so-good reasons to continue working despite having attained financial independence. Let’s look at why people work when they don’t need the money, and I’ll try to do some self-reflection, as painful as that can sometimes be.”

Longevity and the new journey of retirement. [PDF report from Edward Jones] — “Edward Jones and Age Wave initially joined forces in 2019 to explore people’s hopes, dreams, and concerns in retirement. Together with The Harris Poll, we conducted a groundbreaking study of more than 9,000 people across North America to understand more deeply what it means to live well in retirement. Through a series of follow-up tracking studies conducted in 2020 and 2021, we took the pulse of how five generations, and retirees in particular, were faring amid the COVID-19 pandemic.” [via The Retirement Manifesto]

Today’s video feature has nothing to do with anything. Okay, it has a (very) little to do with Apex Money.

In an email exchange the other day, I said to Jim: “Good stuff, Maynard!” That was a common phrase around our house when I was a kid. Why? Because of this old commercial for Malt-O-Meal:

And here’s a “sequel” to that commercial.

To this day, I still say “Good stuff, Maynard!” now and then. More and more, though, I think the reference is lost. I’m just making a joke to myself haha. Growing old is fun.

Okay, that’s all I have for you today. See you tomorrow with more, my friends!