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Category: General

The economy’s doomsday clock.

Welcome to Tuesday, Apexians! I’ve got some super interesting stuff for you today. Take a look.

The myth of moral decline. [Experimental History] — “If you think that morality is declining, then you must think that some switch has been flipped in society, causing it to produce worse humans. No doubt you would want to un-flip that switch, whatever you think it is: smash the social media companies! Kill all the politicians! Ban the bad books! None of that is going to reverse the trend, because the trend doesn’t exist. It’s like activating the sprinkler system in a building that’s not on fire.”

The economy’s doomsday clock has been reset. [Business Insider] — “Despite the year-plus in which analysts have been arguing that a recession is imminent, none of the arguments behind the predictions stand up to scrutiny. And there’s only so long one can keep claiming that the recession is just six months away. Given the increasing number of reasons to be upbeat on the US economy, it’s time for the recessionistas to admit defeat. The economic doomsday clock has been reset.”

Don’t forget to swim now and then. [Raptitude] — “This praise for the caveman days might sound like romance or sentimentality. I won’t pretend I want to live naked in the woods. But when you consider how differently those concrete, premodern activities feel from corralling words on a screen, entering spreadsheet formulae, or parsing a dozen news headlines in the space of a minute or two, it’s clear that there’s a categorical difference between doing what humans have been attuning to for a hundreds of thousands of years, and doing what we’ve been doing only a lifetime or two. It’s the difference between a fish swimming, and a fish operating a hover vehicle.”

Today’s video features a Grammy-winning fifty-year-old song that I first truly heard while on my recent Arctic cruise. I was sitting in the lounge sipping whisky one night when “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” by the Temptations came playing over the speakers. Holy cats!

This song is amazing. But no wonder I’d never really listened to it before. Music like this was never my jam when I was younger. But it’s totally my jam now. I’ve come to truly appreciate funk music. And this is about as funky as they come.

Enjoy.

The folks from Plutus will be here tomorrow. I’ll be back on Thursday.

How Mr. Beast became the Willy Wonka of YouTube.

Hello, friends. It’s me, J.D., back for my first live Apex edition in a couple of months. My recent installments were prepared before I took off for my epic month-long journey to Scotland, Norway, and Iceland. That trip was amazing, and it really helped me to get clear on what I want to do with the rest of my life. Mentally and physically, I’m in a great place right now. Yay!

Anyhow, I’m back to curating stories for Apex Money. Today’s installment is a few hours late, yes, but I should be on time for the rest of the week. Let’s see what I’ve gathered for you today…

“My e-bike changed my life.” [Slate] — “Since I bought this fairly inexpensive transportation device in 2021, I’ve ridden hundreds upon hundreds of miles, each of them replacing a mile I would once have driven in a car. I’ve taken uncountable trips to the grocery store, and scores of rides to the office or the Metro or to meet friends for a night out…My e-bike has changed my life. I’m happier, healthier, and more active. My relationship to my community has been completely transformed. I guess I’ve become an e-bike guy. You can, too.”

Electric bikes are the most climate-friendly way to travel. [Triangle Blog Blog] — “After traveling 4,500 miles, I have spent less than $5 on electricity. Five dollars! That’s less than a cost of a mocha latte something at Starbucks. That is astounding. That’s less than the cost of two gallons of gas. It means that on days I bike the 10 miles to and from work, I’m spending less than one cent on electricity to get there.”

“My father’s death in seven gigabytes.” [Wired] — “My father’s last decade was one of relentless downsizing, from apartment to assisted living to nursing home, shedding belongings, throwing away clothes and furniture. And at the end: Two boxes and a tiny green urn. The ultimate zip file. After I parsed and processed and batched his digital legacy, it came to 7,382 files and around 7 gigabytes.”

How Mr. Beast became the Willy Wonka of YouTube. [The New York Times Magazine gift article] — “Donaldson has built a YouTube empire on this kind of quasi philanthropy…The phenomenal popularity of these videos has made him a superstar by any measure and cemented his reputation as a secular saint among the YouTube faithful, but it has also left him open to the criticism that his generosity is more calculated than heartfelt — another audience-development strategy alongside the garish thumbnails and finely tuned video titles.” [I enjoyed this.]

To close things out today, here’s my favorite YouTube video from the past two months. It’s a nine-minute look at how one couple moved into (and remodeled) a vacant house in the Japanese countryside.

As a man who loves Zelda games and Hayao Miyazaki films, there’s something intensely appealing about what this couple has done. It’s like Totoro in real life, you know?

Okay, that’s it for my first day back. I’ll return tomorrow with more interesting stuff for you…

Airline Status

I just discovered this site, called Airline Status, that lets you buy frequent flyer status. They get them from companies who overestimate what they need for their employees and you benefit by getting perks for $99 – $399 every quarter. It’s fascinating and I’ve never used it so I can’t speak to its legitimacy… but it looks legit.

We have no affiliation with them, I was just surprised that after years of being a blogger and traveler, I’d never heard of them.

OK onto the first article – there is such a thing as being too rich and it’s sad.

How To Stay Rich: The Gettys [Digital Party] – “When we think of the Gettys, we generally think of people who made the characters of Succession look like one big, happy family. Perhaps you remember the story: when J. Paul Getty’s 16-year-old grandson was kidnapped by Italian gangsters in 1973, Getty refused to pay the ransom even after they cut off the boy’s ear (he claimed this was to discourage criminals from kidnapping other members of his family). Eventually he negotiated the demands down from $17 million to $3 million. Finally, under threat of further mutilations, Getty begrudgingly paid just $2.2 million (apparently the amount he was told was tax deductible), and loaned his son (the boy’s father) the remaining $800,000 at four percent interest.”

Fun story about a two handed bowler who may also be the best to have ever done it!

The Man Who Broke Bowling [GQ Sports] – “When he first alighted on the scene, Belmo, as he’s known to his fans, resembled an alien species: one that bowled with two hands. And not some granny shot, to be clear, but a kickass power move in which he uses two fingers (and no thumb) on his right hand, palms the front of the ball with his left, and then, on his approach, which is marked by a distinctive shuffle step, rocks the ball back before launching it with a liquid, athletic whip, his delivery producing an eye-popping hook, his ball striking the pins like a mini mortar explosion. Not everyone welcomed his arrival. He’s been called a cheat, told to go back to his native Australia; a PBA Hall of Famer once called the two-hander a “cancer to an already diseased sport.””

Enjoy your weekend!

8 Life Lessons I Wish I’d Known Sooner

8 Life Lessons I Wish I’d Known Sooner [Entrepreneur] – “Now that I’m in my 40s, I look back at my younger self and recognize how much unnecessary suffering I created for myself by not knowing these eight simple truths. I learned these life lessons the hard way. Discovering them transformed my entire existence. Today, I share them with you.”

Did We Predict the S&P 500 Bottom?! [Money With Katie] – ““The market is a forecasting mechanism. It’s forward-looking; it tries to predict what the economy will be 6–12 months from now. The market bottoms first, earnings bottom second, and the economy last.””

How To Maintain a Sense of Purpose as a Retiree [Physician on FIRE] – “After spending decades in the workforce and working forty or more hours a week, retirees may find it difficult to find purpose in daily life. This transition can be challenging, as individuals often define themselves by their careers, and suddenly they are faced with an abundance of free time and no clear direction.”

This last one is a ten year old video on wealth inequality that is probably fairly accurate even today – I guarantee it will amaze you:

Numbers on a Screen.

Happy Wednesday Plutus Family! Enjoy!!!

Check out what we have for you this week.

Numbers on a Screen. [The Belle Curve] — “Dealing with money is less tangible today than at any time in the history of money. Paychecks are directly deposited into bank accounts. Bills are paid automatically online. Debit and credit cards can be used everywhere (even in NYC cabs), and we are quickly adopting the use of Apple Pay, Venmo, and Zelle for a variety of transactions…. It sometimes feels like money is nothing more than numbers on a screen.” (Submitted by J. Money.)

#92. “I Hate Work! I Just Want to Retire!” [The Sytch] — “It’s completely understandable why this is the case. Working 8+ hour days in work you do not value can leave you mentally and physically exhausted.” (Submitted by Tarsha.)

Ranked: Things vs. Experiences vs. Things That Keep Creating Good Experiences. [My Money Blog] — “The benefit of material goods is that they don’t go away after the experience ends (food is eaten, cruise ends, etc). The best material goods are those that keep generating new positive experiences and memories.” (Submitted by J. Money.)

What the rich want

Happy Monday!

The Man Who Knows What the World’s Richest People Want (and How To Get It) [Vice] – “Rey Flemings has become one of the premiere fixers for the global elite. More than that, though, he gives the rich a place to admit what they can’t say publicly: that they need help finding happiness.”

Why You Believe The Things You Do [Collab Fund by Morgan Housel] – “When you have no money, and your son is sick, you’ll believe anything. That is such a powerful statement, and some version of it applies to everyone. Here’s a universal reality: What you believe to be true is influenced by how much you want it to be true. The more something helps you deal with uncertainty, the lower the bar is for you to believe it’s true.” A sad reality but it’s an important idea to remember, especially when times are tough.

The case of the Lego Bandit [Business Insider] – “On October 4, 2018, a young Frenchman named Louis came home from work to find the window in his front door smashed. A practical-minded 20-year-old with short dark hair, he figured it was just another petty crime in the rural outskirts of Paris, where he lived with his parents. But when he saw the familiar gleam of a tiny red plastic brick on the driveway, his stomach plunged. It was his Lego.” Yes, Legos. And yes, this story is wild.

What Netflix’s Beef Taught Me About Financial Independence.

Hey Plutus Fam! Can you really learn about financial independence from Netflix? Well, check out this article and let us know. Enjoy!

Check out what we have for you this week.

The Real Cost of What We Buy. [Becoming Minimalist] — “If you want to become more intentional with your spending, here’s a truth that is helpful to keep in mind: Whenever we buy something, we’re deciding that it’s worth more than anything else we could have used that money for. You see, we only get to spend our money once.” (Submitted by J. Money.)

Make A Choice And Then Let Go. [Dinks on a Bus] — “When I was considering leaving my last job, I agonized over the decision. First, I told myself I’d only leave if the right job came along. And although it took me a little while, I did end up finding another job I’d consider leaving for. But even then, once I found it, I felt paralyzed. I worried I’d make a mistake by leaving. In my typical fashion, I made a pros and cons list. Even though I felt really good about the pros and cons list, that I’d thought of everything, it still didn’t seem to help me actually make a decision. So, I agonized some more.” (Submitted by Tarsha.)

What Netflix’s Beef Taught Me About Financial Independence. [Millennial Revolution] — “Have you ever been so angry you wanted to burn someone’s house down? If so, you’ll relate to the Netflix series “Beef”… I thought this was going to be mindless entertainment like the Tiger King feud between Carole Baskin and Joe Exotic, but it ended up being a deep, social commentary about life and unexpectedly made me think of how it relates to FIRE.” (Submitted by J. Money.)

Zen and the art of managing money.

Today is Tuesday, my friends, and this is yet another installment of your favorite digest of financial news. I’m back from my month-long arctic vacation (in theory, anyhow) and adjusting to a regular daily routine. This is the last pre-written installment I have for you. I’ll have “live” news for you on Thursday.

Zen and the art of managing money. [Money and Meaning] — “We spend the first half of our lives seeking self-efficacy and agency…But when I look back at my life, the most important things that happened to me were events I had no control over…When my life is over, I’ll look back and see that the things life had planned for me were more important than the plans I had for myself. If you take a look back, I suspect you’ll see the same thing.” [True story! The beater red truck pictured in this article? I bought it from Douglas and used it for several years before selling it to my nephew last fall.]

The tension between art and money. [More to That] — “So if art is an avenue to know yourself, what happens when its artifacts become products that are sold to others? Well, the immediate thing is that the purpose of your art isn’t merely to know yourself, but to also provide value to others. What may have started as a vehicle for self-expression must also prove useful as a commodity. This tension between inner exploration and outer acceptance lies at the root of any artist’s struggle.”

Following my heart instead of money. [One Frugal Girl] — “In college, I remember reading about choice overload and the struggle to make decisions when presented with too many options. Financial independence offers a world of opportunities. So which one do I take?”

Come back tomorrow for great stories shared by our friends at the Plutus Foundation! And I’ll see you again the day after…

How wealthy people dress.

Good Monday morning, Apexians, and welcome to another week of money news. As you read this, I am on my flight home from Reykjavík, Iceland to Corvallis, Oregon. After a month exploring the arctic regions (and soaking in the cruise ship’s thermal spa), I’m eager to be home to Kim and my dog. I’m also eager to see what money news I’ve missed in my absence.

Before I left, though, I collected these fine stories about how we spend. Enjoy!

There’s no secret to how wealthy people dress. [The Atlantic via MSN] — “Stealth wealth looks like it has all the makings of a fashion sea change, in the same way that streetwear altered fashion’s trajectory a decade ago, when sneakers and logo hoodies took over the wardrobes of the young and style-conscious. But what if that’s not what’s going on at all?”

The case for quiet thriving. [Budget Life List] — “Quiet quitting includes doing the bare minimum to prevent getting fired, quiet thriving is at the other end of the quiet spectrum. Instead, it’s more like ‘taking specific actions and making mental shifts that help you to feel more engaged on the job’ states the psychotherapist, Lesley Alderman.”

Ten ways minimalism can help you be less busy. [Becoming Minimalist] — “We often complain about how busy life has become… but we are always sure to complain loud enough that everyone can hear us. As if, being busy has become a badge of honor we love to wear. But does this endless chase ever bring true fulfillment? Doubtful. As Socrates said, beware the barrenness of a busy life.”

We’re all shopping addicts now. [The Cut] — “On social media, we constantly complain about having too much stuff, not enough money, and unfulfilled desires. We expect what we buy to add value to our lives, even if only in the form of a tiny thrill, but those purchases soon come to represent an embarrassing waste of our money.”

That’s it for today. Tomorrow’s installment will be one last Apex Money that I prepared before leaving. On Thursday, I’ll be back with new stuff…