Author: Jim Wang

I think it’s important to think about these things from time to time.

End of Life Lessons from My Mom [Kindness Financial Planning] – “After writing 9 Lessons I’ve Learned About Death and Money when my dad died, a reader said they would be curious to read an article from my mom’s perspective. They were interested in learning what would overlap and what would be distinct from a different generation. 

I asked my mom if she wanted to write something. I don’t typically allow guest posts, but this is one exception I was happy to make. This is her creation with minor editing and a few notes.  

Like much of my own writing about my dad, my mom told me, “Time for this to move on. I can’t continue to think about it! Finished it up. It was a bit cathartic but then it became a burden!”

I hope you enjoy my mom’s wisdom, reflections, and voice.“

Fun little chart… and don’t miss the takeaways below the pretty picture.

The Best Countries for Life-Work Balance in 2025 [Voronoi by Visual Capitalist]

You Are What You Won’t Do For Money [Ryan Holiday] – “Do you know who Audie Murphy is? He’s the most decorated soldier in American history. Before he turned 21, he fought in nine campaigns, was wounded three times, and received 33 medals for valor—including the Medal of Honor, three Purple Hearts, and every combat decoration the Army offers. Once, against an onslaught of 250 German soldiers and six tanks, Murphy ordered his men to fall back to safety—alone, he climbed into a burning tank destroyer and used its single machine gun to hold off the Nazis for over an hour, single-handedly killing 50 of them, refusing to give an inch of ground, holding the woods until reinforcements came. (Read his memoir, To Hell and Back…it’s incredible.)

After the war, he became an actor and a musician. In 1968, he did another courageous deed: he turned down enormous sums of money to appear in a series of cigarette and alcohol commercials. “How would it look: ‘War Hero Drinks Booze’?” he said. “I couldn’t do that to the kids.””

This is a multi-part series explaining a specific stock scam, how it’s executed, and how it unraveled… I only discovered this after the collapse, but it must have been fun to follow in real time (as long as you don’t get caught up!).

Part 1

Stock Promotion on Steroids [Herb Greenberg] – “This is a stock that should trade for pennies… and very likely will in the not too distant future in what is best described as a golden age of grifting the gullible…

Not long ago, in a report I called “Stock Promotions Gone Wild,” I went on a rant about a rise in commercials on financial TV unabashedly touting stocks. I focused on one company in particular that barely trades, and whose actual CEO is the pitchman. From my perspective, all I could see was one red flag after another.

But there are stock promotions. And then there are STOCK PROMOTIONS.

Have I got a STOCK PROMOTION for you…”

Part 2

Stock Scam Revealed [Herb Greenberg] – “What surprises me most is that the stock I wrote about – Ostin Technology OST -8.25%↓ – wasn’t hammered today. That’s because it sounds eerily like a scam exposed this morning by The Wall Street Journal in a story headlined, “Obscure Chinese Stock Scams Dupe American Investors by the Thousands.”“

Part 3

Don’t Fall For This Stock Scam [Herb Greenberg] – “When I first wrote about it, the stock was trading for around $7, ratcheting higher daily. Yesterday morning I just happened to check, and saw it had spiked above $9. I shook my head and texted a few friends who had been expecting the stock to implode, saying, “OST makes zero sense.”

And then... no more than an hour later one of them texted me back, saying, “This may be the rug-pull here.”

I had no idea what he was talking about, so I checked the stock and there it was – down 10%… in an instant. That led me to post on social media…”

Don’t take investing advice from Whatsapp and social media!!!

Rob Berger plays with AI and shares a few ways you can use it to improve your finances.

We will be taking the day off tomorrow for the 4th of July and we’ll see you on Monday!

Matt Schulz shares a story about how he told his then-girlfriend (now-wife) about his $10,000 of credit card debt.

One Of The Scariest Money Conversations I Ever Had (And How It Changed Everything) [Ask, Save, Earn] – “I don’t remember exactly what either of us said – the emotions around the conversation are more vivid memories for me than the actual dialogue — but the gist of it was this:

• Me, with sweaty palms and trembling voice: “Umm, so I don’t think that’s a great idea. I have about $10,000 in credit card debt right now, and I just don’t think I can afford to go anywhere.”
• Her: “Oh wow. Ok. I had no idea.”
• Me: “No one does, but I felt like you needed to know.”
• Her, calmly: “Thank you for telling me. Now, let’s get to work knocking that down.”

She didn’t hang up and ghost me. She didn’t mock me or laugh at me. She didn’t try to convince me that I should go on the trip anyway. She didn’t interrogate me about how it happened. (Mostly through my own bad choices, to be honest.) She just wanted to help.

That changed everything.”

Father time is undefeated [Abnormal Returns] – “But the fact remains that a growing number of Americans are at-risk of some form of cognitive decline. In addition, more Americans are entering this time of their lives without partners or other family members. This isolation can amp up the risks.”

If you’re nearing retirement, perk up.

Fritz from Retirement Manifesto shares an article by Dana Anspach, CEO of Sensible Money, how her Social Security plans may have changed.

How Social Security Spousal Benefits May Change My Claim Date [Retirement Manifesto] – “After 18 years of writing about Social Security and conducting hundreds of analyses for singles, couples, widows, widowers, and divorcees, I figured I had my own claiming strategy nailed down.

So, when I finally ran my own customized analysis, my eyes popped open in astonishment at the recommendation I saw!

Naturally, I assumed I’d claim at 70—not a day earlier. That’s the go-to advice for healthy, married high earners.

I was 100% certain the software would confirm it.

But it didn’t.

Here’s what happened.“

Here’s a fun article to help you into the weekend…

The wild tale of the man who founded Rainforest Cafe [The Hustle] – “Rainforest Cafe wasn’t just a kitschy tourist trap; it was a money-minting machine. A single location could gross in excess of $15m a year. And for a brief period of time in the mid-’90s, the publicly traded chain was one of the hottest stocks on Wall Street. Three decades later, there are still 23 locations all over the world.

But the man who created the concept had to navigate a jungle of his own.”

“Why are some Iraqis so good at figuring out when a person is lying?”

This game (mheibes) is bonkers.

The World’s Hardest Bluffing Game [The Atlantic] – “When you hear the game described, mheibes doesn’t sound difficult. It sounds impossible. Assembled on the court in front of al-Sheikhli were his opponents: 45 men from the city of Najaf, arranged in three neat rows. One of these players held a silver ring. It was al-Sheikhli’s job to determine which one—and in which fist he held the ring—judging only by his facial cues and other tells.

Al-Sheikhli had already made significant progress toward this goal: He and his fellow captain had narrowed the field of suspects to four. A referee in a red vest hovered nearby with a stopwatch. Each team started with just five minutes to find the ring, per that year’s tournament rules; if that time elapsed, their opponents got the point.”

So… when is Mr. Beast doing a game like this?