Category: General

The title of this post will only make sense if you read the entirety of the first post we’re sharing today:

How to Live With Dying [The American Scholar] – “In hindsight, I ought to have listened to Aristotle: all virtues, intellectual or physical, are realized by aiming for a particular goal or mark, like taking aim at the center of a distant target. The bull’s-eye is obviously in the perfect midpoint, equidistant from all of the target’s edges. To hit this specific mark, to become virtuous, one must find a compromise between radical opposites. Aristotle argues that this is the essence of all virtuous behavior—determining the golden mean or midpoint between two degenerate extremes.”

64-year-old retiree who left the U.S. for Mexico: 7 downsides of living in a beach town for $1,200 per month [CNBC Make It] – “It all started during a vacation there in 2005; I’d felt a deep happiness I couldn’t ignore. This radical decision changed my somewhat ordinary life a million degrees for the better and I have absolutely no regrets. I wanted an adventure, and boy, am I having one!”

As restaurants reopen and life returns to normal…

Six Rules for Dining Out [Tyler Cowen in The Atlantic] – “A BAD OR MEDIOCRE meal is more than just an unpleasant taste, it is an unnecessary negation of one of life’s pleasures—a wasted chance to refine our palates, learn about the world, and share a rewarding experience. Virtually every locale offers some good meals at a good price. But too often, amidst the clutter of our days, we don’t find them—at least not consistently.” I have a food rule that I don’t order a dish at a new restaurant if it’s already a favorite at my local spot. Chances are it won’t live up to my favorite place and if it is better, then I’ve ruined my favorite place for it. It’s a lose-lose.

Howdy, friends, and welcome to Friday.

Yesterday, I got to see my mother for the first time in over a year. Mom is only 72 but suffers from dementia and is unable to care for herself. She’s been in an assisted living facility for the past decade. We haven’t been able to visit her for more than a year because of COVID. Yesterday, we got to spend some time with her.

Mom’s dementia has turned her into…well, I don’t know how to explain it without sounding rude. (Which isn’t what I mean to be.) She’s not fully human anymore. This saddened me at one time, but I’ve had 10+ years to adjust to it. But visiting her makes me think about aging and how that relates to personal finance.

My pal Cameron Huddleston is doing the best work today on how to help aging parents with their money. But here are some recent articles that cover similar topics…

The four pillars of retirement. [My Money Blog] — “Imagine each pillar as one of the legs of a square table. We have to maintain and shore up any cracks before it gets serious. If you are lacking in any one of these pillars, your retirement gets wobbly. If any two are crumbling, that’s enough to make the entire thing tip over.”

How to build wealth in your fifties. [Banker on Fire] — “For some reason, wealth-building strategies for middle-aged folks don’t seem to get a lot of airtime in the personal finance space. What gives? If anything, building wealth becomes more important as we move into our 40s and 50s, not less.”

Do we become better investors as we age? [The Evidence-Based Investor] — “There’s an old adage that with age comes wisdom. But do we tend to become better investors as we age? Unfortunately, research has found that, in general, the answer is no, older investors are no better than younger investors, although it’s not all one-sided.”

To close things out for the week, I’ve saved the best for last. Here are a collection of 98 videos documenting the rules of sports in clear, easy-to-understand visuals.

The rules of formula one racing — explained! The rules of roller derby — explained! The rules of bull riding — explained! The rules of cricket — explained! The rules of quidditch — explained!

More common U.S. sports are explained too, obviously. But these are the five videos that most interested me.

Anyhow, that’s it for this Friday. It’s been a pleasure serving you here at Apex Money this week. I hope you’ll join us again on Monday for another round of great money stories from across the web. See you then!

Ahoy, mateys! Welcome to Pirate Money!

Wait. That’s a different site. This site is Apex Money, where we bring you the best from the world of personal finance — and beyond. Here are some recent money articles I’ve enjoyed…

Top tips for those seeking an early retirement. [Making Sense of Cents] — “The people I’ve asked to share their early retirement tips are bloggers, authors, and business owners who have been working towards financial independence and/or early retirement. These people are experts on finding ways to make more money and save money…One of the biggest things you’ll learn from these experts is that reaching FIRE is about changing your mindset.”

The omnipresence of work. [More to That] — ” The home is no longer an environmental cue to put work aside. It is a place that constantly reminds you that there is always more work to be done. We are now living amidst the omnipresence of work. Even if we aren’t sitting down working, we are prone to continue thinking about it since the physical environment no longer reminds us to shift our mind state.”

Beware of the bubble. [Mr. Money Mustache] — “There are currently a series of giant, stupid bubbles forming in the financial world that nobody except the elders seems to be brave enough to question. And it leads to the following cycle of natural human behaviors, which everybody falls into – except, if we are lucky, those of us who have seen it all before.”

Today’s video feature cracks me up. It’s a Soviet-era adaptation of the first third of The Lord of the Rings. It’s split into two hour-long episodes: episode one and episode two.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZh7nwEUOeg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS6RZg_AqaY

I couldn’t sit through the whole thing — not even close! — but I had a lot of fun after I tured on the closed captions and switched them to English translation. I jumped around from scene to scene, laughing at…well, everything about this.

(If you don’t want to sit through any of the video, The Verge has text/photo recap of this madness.)

Buckle up, my friends. Today’s Apex features some deep and excellent reading. These articles are long and/or thoughtful, so they’re going to take more time than normal to browse. (They did for me, anyhow.) In the end, though, I think you’ll find them worth it.

Why housing prices continue to skyrocket. [/r/toronto on Reddit] — This is a long comment in a thread about the rising cost of housing. The commenter has been following and documenting the issue for years, and they’ve collected all sorts of links that explain why home prices are soaring even as supply has increased and demand diminished. Short version: Institutional investment in housing is completely changing the housing market. I had never considered any of this before. I find it fascinating…and a little scary.

Rent prices versus income in major U.S. and Canadian cities. [The Measure of a Plan] — This is an interactive widget (no real text to speak of) that plots average rent in major cities against average household income. It’s all averages and it’s all stats, but it’s still fascinating. Kim and I are about to rent for the first time in decades, and we don’t know where we want to live, so this is a useful tool for us.

Are index funds hurting the economy? [The Atlantic, so possible paywall] — “Economists, policy makers, and investors are worried that American markets have become inert—the product of a decades-long trend, not a months-long one. For millions of Americans, getting into the market no longer means picking stocks or hiring a portfolio manager to pick them for you. It means pushing money into an index fund.” This is an interesting (if alarmist) article.

How insurance works. [/r/povertyfinance on Reddit] — “This week, I will help you understand how insurance policies really work without you falling asleep. This will enable you to make better informed decisions as to what insurance coverages you should get, and what are simply a waste of money…The key concept underlying all insurance is the principle of pooling risks. In a nutshell, it is the practice of spreading out risk amongst a group of participants.” This is an excellent intro to insurance.

Okay, after all that heady, serious stuff today, let’s have a little fun. Here’s a fun video from the Twitter feed of Missy Elliott in which the insanely-talented W.A.F.F.L.E. Crew dances to one of her songs on the NYC subway.

“Lose Control” This video so much energy I was hyping them up through my phone😂🤣 but they SNAPPED Hard!🔥 I Love seeing so many of yall dance to my songs! I loved me some yall🤗💜 pic.twitter.com/RxDBf1OAmC

— Missy Elliott (@MissyElliott) April 4, 2021

True story: I desperately wish I could dance…but I can’t. I’m like the world’s worst dancer. But I love watching others who know how!

That’s a wrap on Wednesday. I’ll see you tomorrow with more of the best from the world of personal finance (and beyond).

It’s Tuesday, money bosses, and this is Apex Money. To start things off today, here’s a l-o-n-g but excellent article on how to become better at whatever it is you do (or want to do).

The ultimate guide to deliberate practice. [Farnam Street] — “Deliberate practice is the best technique for achieving expert performance in every field—including writing, teaching, sports, programming, music, medicine, therapy, chess, and business. But there’s much more to deliberate practice than 10,000 hours. Read this to learn how to accelerate your learning, overcome the ‘okay’ plateau, turn experience into expertise, and enhance your focus.”

How did Frasier afford his apartment? [GQ] — “How could Frasier possibly pull off that design, let alone his mortgage, on a local radio personality’s salary? Sure, the ‘90s were an economic boom time—but not even that can make up for his out-of-control sherry and opera habit. There was only one way to find out: a demented one-woman investigation about a fictional apartment on a TV show that went off the air over 15 years ago.”

Lessons from the World Happiness Report. [Physician on Fire] — “The Gallup World Poll measures happiness with a global survey of people in most nations by asking about both emotional wellbeing as well as life satisfaction…All of this data is compiled and analyzed, and cities and countries are ranked on various metrics for the current year and for a composite of the most recent three years’ worth of polling. What have we learned from all of this polling and number-crunching?”

People love the idea of 20-minute neighborhoods. Why aren’t there more of them? [The Conversation] — “Walkable neighbourhoods are an important part of 20-minute neighbourhoods, but only one part. Increased neighbourhood densities and more mixed-use development across local active transport and public transport catchments, together with better walking, cycling and local public transport opportunities, need far greater attention if 20-minute neighbourhoods are to be created in outer and middle suburbs.” [This article is Australia-centric but applicable to the U.S. and elsewhere.]

To close things out today, here’s an episode of a 1958 NBC television series (The Subject is Jazz). This 30-minute episode is all about the future of jazz. Be warned, though, that while interesting, this is very low-key academic stuff. But I’ll bet a few of you will like it just as much as I do!

And that’s it for Tuesday. I’ll see you tomorrow with more great stuff. Come back, won’t you?

Greetings, y’all! Are you ready for another week of great money stories?

Today, let’s lead with our video…because our video is damn good. From the Veritasium channel on YouTube, here’s a look at why we can’t have nice things.

This 17-minute video isn’t what it first appears. It starts as a look at the history of light bulbs, but soon turns to the curse of planned obsolescence (and, by extension, the growing “right to repair” movement).

Interesting stuff. It takes a lot to get me to watch a 17-minute video, but I watched this one!

Now, on to our stories for today…

After being poor, your financial anxiety remains. [We Want Guac] — “It’s hard to think about how much this still affects me years later. Logically, I’m very obviously ahead of the financial curve. But logic alone doesn’t conquer the deeply ingrained money psyche I’ve developed throughout my first two decades of life. Even today I still struggle with just buying things I want for myself. I’ve repressed the desire for things for so long and so thoroughly that now it’s a struggle to even identify the things I want.”

New Money [Essaying on Substack] — “Imagine my shock to learn, as I did recently, that I had too much money to fold neatly into a purse. Not enough to keep from being called a thief in a store, but officially too much to keep track of at any given time. Even more utterly terrifying for me is that everyone knows about my money.” [See also: The logic of stupid poor people.]

The financial order of operations. [Bitches Get Riches] — “Money decisions are always intimidating. Every financial decision you make compounds over time! That can be good, like when investments grow. But it’s also terrible, because financial mistakes can haunt you for years after you’ve made them…Today I’m going to take you through my financial order of operations. It’s a basic blueprint of ten steps most people could follow to transform their finances for the better.”

Okay, that’s it for today. I’ll be back tomorrow with more great stuff. See you then!

The secret to saving money? Stop wanting it!

Not Wanting Something is as Good as Having It [The Escape Artist] – “What if you could be a Zen Warrior and be happy with minimal possessions? I’m talking about unlearning what we have learned from the advertisers and marketeers. I’m talking about no longer putting consumer knick-knacks on a pedestal that they doesn’t deserve to be on.”

The 5-Hour Workday [Four Pillar Freedom] – “I’m able to make significant progress on my businesses with a shorter workday simply because I spend my time only doing things that move the needle. I spend no time commuting, no time in meetings, no time providing project updates to my superiors, and no time emailing back and forth with people.”

So You’re a Celebrity Who Wants to Buy a House [Vice] – “ello, my famous and exorbitantly wealthy friend! I understand you’re interested in purchasing a home. You’ve come to the right place. Here at Realty Solutions for Stars Like You Incorporated, helping you find the mansion, multiacre estate, villa, château, chalet, or otherwise fancily-named residence of your dreams isn’t just what we do—it’s our passion. We know that your time is precious, and that you can’t be bothered to browse through Zillow or attend various open houses like a normal human being. That said, buying property will, unfortunately, take a modicum of time and effort on your part. But worry not! To make the process as painless and undemanding as everything else in your life, we’ve put together a step-by-step guide to acquiring real estate for high-profile, high-net-worth individuals like yourself.”

The Vampire Ship [The New Republic] – “How the seizure of Europe’s largest heroin shipment created bloody fallout throughout the world—and sparked still-raging political corruption scandals in Turkey, Greece, and the Middle East.”

But I did want to share this post for a few reasons:
1. You learn about Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs)
2. You learn about how “Ethereum” handled a massive hack.

The Dao of DAOs [Not Boring by Packy McCormick] – “Unlike a traditional fund, in which institutions and high net worth individuals (Limited Partners or LPs) invest money into a fund that other people (General Partners or GPs) invest into companies, investors in The DAO would be able to vote on proposals based on pre-set rules, established in smart contracts. Each person’s vote was weighted by the number of tokens they held, which was based on how much they had invested. If a proposed project received enough votes, the smart contract automatically triggered the investment of The DAO’s funds into the project’s ETH wallet.”

1. What really caught my eye about this was when the DAO was hacked and thieves stole ~$50 million (now worth $6.6 billion), the Ethereum core team decided to hard fork the ETH blockchain. A fork is basically like a cloning of the blockchain and now there are two of them. It’s a little like another dimension and in the new Ethereum dimension (which is the one now known as Ethereum), the theft never happened!

Of course, this all relies on everyone accepting the new version and using it over the old version. I think that’s pretty cool but also kind of goes against the idea of decentralized money because the core team was able to do this.

2. The part about DAOs is a little more complex (a DAO is a decentralized organization!) but worth digging into if you’re interested in this type of thing. I find it fascinating to think about.

If you’ve had NFTs on the brain, here’s a story for you:

My Mother Risked It All on the Beanie Baby Boom [Gen] – “In just one month in 1997, $500,000-worth of Beanie Babies were sold on eBay, “totaling 6.6% of overall sales.” Between 1994 and 1999 the annual rate of return on Beanie Baby investment was 170%. We laughed when we asked my mom what her shelves of Beanie Babies were worth, but she’d made an investment with proven returns.”

Invest in Index Funds and Gamble a Little [Even Steven Money] – “I have allowed myself to invest up to 10% of my portfolio in individual stocks of my choosing. If I have a 1 million dollar portfolio I allow myself to accumulate up to $100,000 of individual stocks. If I want to buy shares of Nike stock (NKE) that’s totally fine, but the value cannot exceed $100,000 if that’s the case one of two things need to happen.”

I think this is healthy and something I also do, except for the individual stocks I pick high growth dividend stocks because even though I like to gamble, I like cash flow too. 🙂

What can investors do in the face of low returns? [Monevator] – “However when academics like the number-crunchers behind the Credit Suisse Global Investment Yearbook warn us to prepare for low returns in the future, you have pay some attention. The respected trio of Dimson, Staunton, and Marsh are not a 1960s folk outfit who sang about sandals, but rather three London-based academics. And they dropped their prophecy of doom in the latest edition of their Yearbook.” Eek.

Why an Animated Flying Cat With a Pop-Tart Body Sold for Almost $600,000 [New York Times] – “A fast-growing market for digital art, ephemera and media is marrying the world’s taste for collectibles with cutting-edge technology.”

I’ve always wondered, but never researched, why the marriage penalty existed.

Its history is very interesting and worth reading:

How the U.S. Tax Code Privileges White Families [The Atlantic] – “The U.S. tax code can seem like a neutral, or at least equally punishing, system. But that misses how it has privileged white people—particularly white married couples—and preserved the racial inequality that has long defined America. Take the joint return, for instance, a policy that was designed to give a tax break to married (heterosexual) couples in which only the husband worked in the paid labor market. That setup favored white couples, whose familial structure was most likely to fit its mold. And it came at the expense of Black married couples, including my parents.”

The tax code can be discriminatory even if there was never any intent ahead of time. The solution is to fix that system or you are complicit in its discrimination. And, as it turns out, the fix is quite simple.

Letting Go of Childhood Toys and Memorabilia [One Frugal Girl] – “When I see those old toys, I picture my boys’ chubby little hands playing with the pieces. I imagine their smiling faces looking up at me with utter delight. I remember the moments of their first few years and relish in the memories of that time in my life. While I consider myself a minimalist, I struggle to let go of them.” I struggle with this one too.

A Lot of the Woo-Woo Probably Works [Raptitude] – “There’s something I miss about the days when most people I knew thought meditation was nonsense. In the early 2000s, I was a hardline skeptical type, but I did this one woo-woo-ish thing, because its benefits were obvious enough to me.”

My dad once told me that if there is something that people have been doing for thousands of years, it probably works. It might not be provable beyond a reasonable doubt with science but it can’t be all wrong.

Amazing video on how cats walk [via @RexChapman on Twitter] – “Cats have a precise method of walking called ‘direct registering’. Their hind paws fall inside the place of their forepaws — minimizing noise and visible tracks — while ensuring more stable footing. Amazing…”