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.]
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:
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!
Today is Tuesday, and this is Apex Money. I have three stories and a video for you today. Enjoy!
How you can take a digital detox this summer. [Becoming Minimalist] — “The key is not to throw out all tech, but it would be wise for all of us to reboot, take a step back, and realign tech into its rightful place in our lives. The leaders of technology are not going to stop warring for our focus, our time, and our money. We must learn to fight back in a responsible way if we’re going to live lives that matter.”
Minimal on purpose. [No Sidebar] — “If minimalism is anything, it’s intentional. When you enter a minimally furnished and decorated room, you’re forced to realize that whatever is there is there deliberately. It’s been chosen.” [Whoa. I had never considered this aspect of minimalism before. It’s curation. Maybe that’s why it appeals so much to me…]
How to make a decision. [Out of the Blue] — “All of us are like guitars who frequently get out of tune. Withdrawing away, disrupting our rhythm, and giving ourselves plenty of free time, can tune our strings to their true notes. Then once we return home, we can play and create the way we were meant to.”
Welcome to Monday, my friends. I hope you had a productive and/or entertaining weekend. I opted for the former. I managed to finish half my fence project, and I spent several hours on my Get Rich Slowly “de-design”. It’s 95% complete!
Today, though, I’ve been reading about money, and I’ve found a few pieces to share with you. To kick things, here’s a piece I really enjoyed from my partner here at Apex, Jim Wang:
Don’t chase more. To win at money, accomplish goals. [Wallet Hacks] — “Today, I want to share an idea that took me a very long time to learn – to win at money, you don’t need more. You simply need to identify and reach your goals. And it’s usually not about getting more money. In fact, many of the most important things in life cannot be bought. They have to be earned.”
The simplest reason renting will save you money. [The Military Finance Coach] — “When you rent, you never pay more than your rent each month. When you buy a house, you never pay less than your mortgage each month.”
Why are there weeks in which decades happen? [Taylor Pearson] — “As with a crumbling sand pile, it would be unintelligent to attribute the collapse of a fragile bridge to the last truck that crossed it and even more foolish to try to predict in advance which truck might bring it down. Yet this is basically the entire business model of ad-based media businesses. Turn on any cable news channel of your choice and you will always find people yelling about their preferred grain of sand.”
That’s all I have to start the week. Now, it’s time for me to get back to my two projects: the website and the fence. I want to work on the website, but I know that it’s much more important ofr me to finish the fence. sigh I guess I’ll go grab my hammer…
Well, my friends, we’ve reached another Friday. To send you into the weekend, today I’ve collected two (and only two) stories about money for you. Why only two? Because they’re both long and they’re both interesting and they’re both entertaining. I believe that two is enough for today.
To kick things off, here’s a recent story that’s right up my alley: It’s all about collecting old computer games. I started playing games in 1979. Back then, we loaded them from cassette tape onto our lo-res Apple II computer. Today, those games are collectible…
Inside the $100k+ forgery scandal that’s roiling PC game collecting. [Ars Technica] — “The world of PC game collecting has yet to attract the kind of eye-popping, seven-figure-dollar sales seen with some rare Nintendo games. Still, a committed collecting community has developed around older PC titles, with some people paying thousands of dollars for intact disks, packaging, and materials of computer games from the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s.” [See also this write-up from the Computer Gaming World Museum.]
And the second half of our double-header looks at how stories shape us. It’s about how we don’t make money decisions based on numbers and rational choice; we make money decisions based on emotions and image and aspiration.
The financial risks of the stories we love. [The Root of All] — “Perhaps no other group of people on the planet knows the effectiveness of stories better than the advertising industry. Having worked in advertising, I know the little secret to a successful ad isn’t to sell a product but an entire world view. After all, buying stuff is often not about the stuff but about identity.”
And that’s it. That’s all I have for you today.
I hope that you enjoy your weekend. Me? I’ll be sitting here at this desk, frantically working to put together the new Get Rich Slowly “de-design”. If all goes well, though, Monday morning will see my site dressed in a new outfit! 😉
It’s a Very Special Day in my world, Apexians. In a couple of hours, Kim flies out to visit her best friend in Wisconsin. This gives me five days with absolutely nothing on my calendar and no obligations at home: no chores, no appointments, no meetings, no nothing. Can you guess what I’m going to do with all of that uninterrupted free time? I’m going to code the Get Rich Slowly “de-design”!
That’s right. Given five whole days with no obligations, I’m going to spend my time in my office, in front of my computer, trying to hand-code my dream website. Last weekend, I told a friend about my plans. “I want to create a modern blog,” I said. She laughed and told me “modern blog” is an oxymoron. Maybe so. I don’t care. I’m eager to get this done. If all goes well, I’ll finish early (so that I can use a couple of days for fun instead of computer work), and I’ll be sharing my site’s new look when I next resume duties here at Apex.
Speaking of Apex…you don’t really care about my foray into nerdery, do you? No. You’re here for money links. And here they are…
Sparked by recent upheaval, millennial women are changing their philanthropic focus. [Investment News] — “New and ongoing research indicates that women have intensified their charitable intent and giving in the wake of the public health and racial and gender justice events in the past two years…Millennial women, who are just entering the generational stage where they have enough to make substantial gifts, approach giving differently than prior generations.”
Eight things to do with financial independence besides retire early. [The White Coat Investor] — “Perhaps the most important thing I’m doing in my life right now is raising kids, which I also enjoy. I’ll be 58 by the time my youngest gets out of the house. Given that I currently have two jobs I enjoy already, both of which pay me well, and given that I can’t go on any more trips than I’m already going on and still take care of things that are more important to me than the trips, what would be the point in dropping work completely? Might as well keep working.”
Three ways to become a better investor. [Miranda Marquit] — “No matter the time of year, now is always a good time to improve your finances. Investing, through calculated risks, is part of a comprehensive and successful financial plan. As you consider your investment plan, here are three things you can do to become a better investor.”
Six questions to ask yourself before making a purchase. [Rich in What Matters] — “Marketing has clearly changed a lot over the past few years, becoming increasingly targeted. But the end goal persists: to make you feel deficient so you buy more than you actually need. Increased awareness of the phenomenon that is marketing begets one question: ‘How do we, the consumers, make mindful purchases without becoming swayed by marketer’s snares?’ The answer comes by asking yourself better questions.”
To wrap things up for today, here’s a pair of old TV commercials that take me back to my youth. In my small town, there were a few stores that gave S&H green stamps with purchases. My grandmother collected these stamps, and she encouraged her grandchildren to do so as well. Then, when we’d collected enough, she’d drive us with her to a redemption center in Portland.
Here’s one S&H green stamp commercial from 1962 and another from 1979. (It was probably around 1979 that I was collecting these stamps with Grandma.)
Okay, that’s plenty for today. I’ll see you again tomorrow, my friends, as we work ourselves into the weekend…
Welcome to Wednesday, money nerds. This is Apex Money, where Jim and I scour the web to find the most interesting stories about money (and more). Here are a few of the pieces I’ve liked lately…
Finally! A stock market crash! [Mr. Money Mustache] — “If you really understand [stock-market crashes] and really feel excited about them, you can drop the fear and stress out of your investing life, which means you will live a life that is both wealthier, and more fun. So let’s cover each point properly, so you can be excited about all this as I am.”
How to sell your inherited coin collection. [Budgets Are Sexy] — “Once you know what you have in the collection, it’s then about finding the best ways to hawk them! Which can be done using any of the methods listed below, or in combination of the good ol’ fashion way of listing them methodically online.” (Confession: I’m sharing this more for myself than for you. I’ve inherited a coin collection from my cousin, and I need to figure out how to sell it.)
Cash and therapy reduce criminal behavior. [Vox] — “A month after the intervention, both the therapy group and the therapy-plus-cash group were showing positive results. A year after the intervention, the positive effects on those who got therapy alone had faded a bit, but those who got therapy plus cash were still showing huge impacts: crime and violence were down about 50 percent. But Blattman didn’t dare to hope that this impact would persist.”
And that’s all I have for you today. Come back tomorrow for more great links, won’t you?
Good morning, friends! Great to see you here once more. Here’s a look at the money stories I’ve collected for you today.
How to ace the most common interview questions. [Fast Company] — “As the Great Resignation, Reshuffle, Rehire, cycle heads into a new phase, here are the top 15 behavioral interview questions you should be prepared to answer in upcoming job interviews.”
The future of you: How to not regret your career in ten years. [Young Money] — “This framework is career-agnostic. Figure out what interests you, find people pursuing that path who appear both satisfied and successful, and see how they did it. No two paths are identical. But you can derive lessons from others and inject your own flair.”
How credit scores run (and ruin) our lives. [The Walrus] — “This score is like your financial first impression. A poor first impression doesn’t just jeopardize your ability to borrow money or make purchases; it can also limit where you can live and what kinds of job you can get: credit checks on prospective tenants and employees are increasingly the norm.”
To wrap things up today, here’s a great story about a social-media platform I hate: TikTok. I feel like I’m just too old to get it. To me, TikTok epitomizes everything that is wrong with the internet and society today. (I’m serious about this.)
I may not like TokTok, but I this investigation is interesting. Very interesting. I watched the whole thing and felt like I wanted to share it with you. So I am.
Howdy howdy, Apexians. Hope you had a great weekend. Me, I’m looking forward to this week. You see, for years I’ve been wanting to re-design my primary site (Get Rich Slowly). This week, I’ve set aside time to actually do the work. If all goes according to plan, I’ll dive in on Thursday morning, then come out next Monday with a slick new “de-design” that I feel proud of. Not sure I can make this happen, but I’m hopeful that it’s possible.
Meanwhile, of course, I have lots of great money news to share with you. Here are a few recent articles I’ve enjoyed.
The young, rich, anti-capitalist capitalists. [Vox Recode] — “Attempts to invest ethically aren’t exactly new. The concept of socially responsible investing dates back centuries, and today there are a variety of approaches that fall under this umbrella. In recent years, they’ve attracted increased skepticism about their efficacy and ethics.”
The different kinds of bullshit. [Collaborative Fund] — “Jeff Bezos once said there are different kinds of smart. Distinguishing the various flavors is important because if you think smarts comes in just one form, you’ll miss dozens of other nuanced varieties. Bullshit is the same. It comes in countless forms, some harder to spot than others. False modesty, projecting, double standards, hypocrisy, tugging at heartstrings – these aren’t lies; they’re subtle forms of bullshit, which is why they’re so prevalent.”
The good life (and how to get it). [Inc. magazine interview from 2001] — “It’s not uncommon for people to want to believe they’re trapped, and often those people will do the ‘must be nice’ thing with us — must be nice to have a company, so you can take the whole summer off; must be nice to have enough money to go to Bolivia. The assumption is that the way we live is a rich-people thing, an arrived-people thing, something few can afford (and by afford, I mean in time as much as in money). We always wish we could show people our younger selves, the Pete and Laura who had no money and were building things from scratch. We were surprisingly the same as we are now.” Great interview, but I especially like the end of the article where there’s a list of things that make freedom and simplicity easier.
That’s it for today. Those three articles are all relatively long, so let’s call that good for a Monday. I’ll be back tomorrow with more great stuff. See you then!
It’s Friday, my friends, and I’m here to take you into the holiday weekend with a handful of articles about personal finance (and related subjects). Take a gander at what I’ve gathered together fror you…
Why are airline ticket prices so high right now? [The Week] — “Domestic air travel won’t be cheap this summer — prices for tickets jumped 18.6 percent in April alone, due to everything from higher fuel costs to demand for seats. On top of that, schedules are being reduced as carriers work to address their staff shortages. Here’s everything you need to know.” Kim and I want to fly to Colorado to see her mother this summer. We keep balking at ticket prices…and prices just keep going higher.
The unstoppable bots behind the videogame console shortage. [The Verge] — “MoreMore than a year on, it’s still hard to buy a new PlayStation or Xbox without some help. Flippers have become notorious for snatching up the fresh restocks offered online with the help of ultra-fast buying bots, forcing everyone else to buy units off the secondary market for egregious, 100-dollar markups. But after delving into the console reselling underworld, I was shocked to learn that resellers aren’t the primary problem.”
The mind-blowing exploits of Australia’s craftiest conwoman. [Truly Adventurous] — “One Melbourne jewelry store owner, who felt a friendly connection with the businesswoman who’d dropped $600 at her shop, agreed to go for coffee at a Moonee Ponds milk bar. It turned out to be an expensive mistake, costing her $76,780 after Jody stole her ID and drained her bank account. ”
As an American, I’m only vaguely aware of Eurovision. I don’t know how it works. I’ve never seen a performance. I don’t know who any of the past winners have been. All the same, I was entertained by this article, and it prompted me to watch several Eurovision videos, videos like these:
Donatan & Cleo (from Poland) — We Are Slavic (so hilarious)
Jamala (from Ukraine) — 1944 (2016 winner — not hilarious)
Anyhow, now I’m wondering how an American like me can watch along with the Eurovision Song Contest. Maybe on one of the UK streaming platforms? I’ll have to find out. Looks entertaining.
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