Category: General

Today is Tuesday, money nerds, and this is Apex Money — your source for all of the best in personal-finance news. Today, we have four great features for you. Enjoy!

You don’t have to monetize your joy. [Man Repeller] — “It’s no surprise we feel pressure to monetize our spare time. The cult of busyness is one of the most toxic aspects of our culture, but…we don’t have to monetize or optimize or organize our joy. Hobbies don’t have to be imbued with a purpose beyond our own enjoyment of them. They, alone, can be enough.”

Doordash and pizza arbitrage. [The Margins] — “If someone could pay Doordash $16 a pizza, and Doordash would pay his restaurant $24 a pizza, then he should clearly just order pizzas himself via Doordash, all day long. You’d net a clean $8 profit per pizza.” I love this story. It’s amazing. I’m very wary of these food delivery services; I think they’re a long-term net negative to the economy. So, it’s interesting to see a business owner getting some sort of petty revenge.

“Will spending an extra $500 per month improve my life?” [My Money Wizard] — “Will spending an extra $500 a month actually improve my life? We’ll see. Maybe it will be some of the best money I’ve ever spent. Or maybe I’ll decide a lot of the splurges aren’t worth it, or I’ll otherwise come way under budget. So far, I’ve experienced both.”

Life-changing economic theories applied to personal finance. [The Woke Salaryman] — “Here are six theories that made me wish I [learned economics] earlier. We’ve reframed these so that it applies to individuals instead of entire countries or geopolitical regions. Here’s to hoping it helps tweak your perspectives. They certainly changed mine.”

To close things out for today, here’s a short video featuring all sorts of cute woodland critters captured on spy cams. Aren’t they cute?

I keep telling my girlfriend that we need to own a couple of foxes. They’re cats that look like dogs! She’s not convinced…

Okay, that’s plenty for this Tuesday. I’ll be back tomorrow with even more fun and games on the road to financial freedom.

GOOD MORNING, friends! I’m a happy boy out here in Oregon. While our quarantine isn’t officially over, the state did loosen a lot of things on Friday. People are taking their first tentative steps out and about.

For my part, that means I’m ready to return to my rented office space instead of working from home. It’s been great to have so much time with the family, but I’m ready to get some work done in a dedicated space you know?

To kick things off, let’s look at some great recent stories about money, shall we?

“I got better with money once I started caring about money.” [Freddy Smidlap] — “Nobody twisted my arm and made me get better. The will to do better had to come from within. Had I continued down the crappy money path the world would not have shed a tear. I basically would have been like so many other ‘normal’ Americans spending every dime I made and it would not have been remarkable. You gotta do it for yourself for your own reasons.” [This is a sequel to an earlier article: “I used to be terrible with money!”]

Some thoughts on making do with what you have. [The Three-Year Experiment] — “I will make it do with the things I don’t care about (here’s looking at you, old sneakers that I didn’t replace for years until my mom gifted me a new pair). And I will spend glorious, carefully managed dollars on the things I care about (I’m eyeing you, beautiful cream rug for the music room)…I’m also a grown-ass woman, and I’m buying that new rug.”

Ticker Time Machine — This is a simple web-based tool that does one thing — and one thing only. It allows you to see what the investments you didn’t make in the past would be worth today. While I’ll use this in the future for writing real articles about money, it’s also useful to wallow in regret…or joy!

Billionaire divorce uncovers secretive world of trusts in South Dakota. [CNBC] — “More than just another billionaire divorce spat, the Bosarge case offers a rare window into the highly secretive world of asset trusts in South Dakota, a state whose protective trust laws have made it a haven for billionaires and wealthy families around the world. South Dakota is fast becoming a mini-Switzerland for the world’s rich.”

And, as always, here’s a little something that has nothing to do with money to finish our day.

Every night before bed, my girlfriend and I sit side by side while browsing Reddit. We share our favorite posts with each other. Last week, Kim leaned over and said, “You have to see this.” It’s a vocal quartet called Flyte performing an a capella performance of the song “Archie, Marry Me”. It’s beautiful.

I was unaware of this song before hearing this version. Because I’m always curious about this sort of thing, I looked up the original. It’s good too. It’s by a Canadian group called Alvvays (pronounced “always”). Not quite as beautiful, but fun nonetheless.

Okay, that’s it. I’ll be back tomorrow with lots more good stuff!

As I read things on the internet, I file them into a folder to share with you guys on Apex.

Sometimes I reach into the bag and see a nice little grouping that fit into a theme. Then I usually throw a “fun” article that involves some heist or gambling or hack or whatever because those are like a piece of candy to me (I hope you like those too!).

Today, there is no theme other than I found all of these articles fascinating in their own little way.

The Million-Dollar Price Tag Of Being A Stay-At-Home Parent [Costa Rica FIRE] – “Being in Human Resources and having grown up in New York City, a progressive and PC place, I instinctually wrote this entire post to be gender-neutral (i.e., working parent in lieu of working mom). But generally, in dual-career households, the question/ burden/ dilemma of “should I stay at home or continue to work?” mostly falls on the mom. With two adult daughters, do I try to influence my daughters to make the same choice I did?”

The Man Who Thought Too Fast [The New Yorker] – “Frank Ramsey—a philosopher, economist, and mathematician—was one of the greatest minds of the last century. Have we caught up with him yet?” One of the hallmarks of smart people is how quickly they recognize people who are smarter than them.

How Airlines Use Rewards Cards to Drive Growth [Privacy] – “For decades, airlines have leaned on rewards cards for their steady revenue stream—particularly during industry contractions. In fact, the billions in revenue generated by U.S. airline rewards cards and loyalty programs can, at times, outpace overall sales growth. And that cash definitely comes in handy as airlines plan for a ‘dire scenario.'”

OK here is your gambling article!

The Fascinating Origins of Greyhound Racing [The Paris Review] – “Coursing was a brutal forerunner of the modern greyhound race. A live hare would be given a head start, and two greyhounds would be set loose to chase it. Whoever tracked down the rabbit won the race. The sport was not for everyone. When the dog caught the hare, one spectator said, “It really sounds quite a bit like a child’s scream” Some say Smith, at the Hot Springs meet, was shocked by the sound. Others say that he was unbothered, but shrewdly identified the shrieks as hindering the sport’s popularity.”

Even without the shrieking of rabbits, this isn’t for me.

Have a good weekend. 🙂

While we enter in Week (I have no idea anymore) of the pandemic, I wanted to share a few articles I’ve saved up and thought were a little excessive before the pandemic.

Now that unemployment has hit Great Depression levels, these stories are even more absurd.

But here they are:

Is the World’s Best Butter Worth 50 Dollars a Pound? [Saveur] – “In a tiny creamery just off the barn, St. Clair reached into a refrigerator and took out a pound of her product—four dandelion-yellow balls in a large Ziploc bag. A former New Yorker with no experience in food production, she began making butter almost by accident, after buying a pair of Jersey cows. Wanting an expert opinion, she mailed unsolicited samples to Thomas Keller; he called back to say he wanted to buy all of it, and eventually asked her to acquire more Jerseys.”

Silicon Valley Is Quietly Building Its Own Wall Street [Medium] – “[Eric Ries] conceived of an exchange that would allow companies to benefit from the sale of common stock, while insulating them from short-term stock-market pressures, which he saw as destructive to corporate innovation.”

This one is poignant as it’s dated April 1st, I should’ve sent it out in April when I first saw it (sorry!):

This Looks Like a Depression, Not a Recession [Medium] – “JJust weeks after the stock market crashed in 1929, President Herbert Hoover assured the country that things were already “back to normal,” Liaquat Ahamed writes in Lords of Finance, his Pulitzer Prize-winning history of the financial catastrophe. Five months later, in March 1930, Hoover said the worst would be over “during the next 60 days.” When that period ended, he said, “We have passed the worst.” Eventually, Ahamed writes, “when the facts refused to obey Hoover’s forecasts, he started to make them up.” Government agencies were pressed to issue false data. Officials resigned rather than do so, including the chief of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.”

World’s first Animal Crossing interior design service launches, offering consultants £40 an hour to perfect in-game homes [Pocket Gamer] – “Homeware brand Olivia’s has launched a consultancy service that’s now taking applicants for interior designers to help Animal Crossing: New Horizons players perfect the look and feel of their in-game homes. Budding and professional interior designers are being offered upwards of £40 an hour to provide this much-needed service, and it’ll be available to players worldwide.”

It just shows that pandemics hit people differently.

For some, it’s a huge struggle.

For others, they’re hiring interior designers for a virtual house. Wild.

Have a great day!

When You Have No Idea What Happens Next [Collaborative Fund] – “Do we know more about what’s going to happen in the next 12 months today than we did in January? You’d think so. We now know there’s a pandemic that shut the economy down. We didn’t know that in January. But remember what Daniel Kahneman says. “The correct lesson to learn from surprises is that the world is surprising.”

The things we thought about the world in January now look oblivious. But what does that tell us about our view of the world today? Couldn’t the world change in as surprising a way between April and June as it did from January to March? Of course it could. That should be the main takeaway of 2020.”

Hmmmm… it’s a great point. More important than the lead are the two ideas he offers up next as to what to do instead of trying to predict.

Also, this video is really funny – Julie travels through time to explain the pandemic to herself:

The real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months [Guardian] – “When a group of schoolboys were marooned on an island in 1965, it turned out very differently from William Golding’s bestseller, writes Rutger Bregman.” I read a lot of books as a kid and there are few that I remember as much as Lord of the Flies.

The article has a bit of build-up but the payoff is worth it. Six boys, ages 13 to 16, survived on an island for 15 months. It’s wild.

Time to read some history Apexian!

Remember a few weeks ago when Robinhood was unavailable? Amidst some of the most violent stock market volatility, one of the darlings of the fintech world wouldn’t let customers in to trade.

Remember when the price of oil briefly went negative? Turns out it had a similar effect on Interactive Brokers:

Oil Crash Busted Broker’s Computers and Inflicted Big Losses [Bloomberg] – “At midnight, Shah got the devastating news: he owed Interactive Brokers $9 million. He’d started the day with $77,000 in his account.”

Fortunately, IB is going to make it right out of their own pocket but that can’t be a good feeling.

The world is on lockdown. So where are all the carbon emissions coming from? [Grist] – “Pedestrians have taken over city streets, people have almost entirely stopped flying, skies are blue (even in Los Angeles!) for the first time in decades, and global CO2 emissions are on-track to drop by … about 5.5 percent. Wait, what? Even with the global economy at a near-standstill, the best analysis suggests that the world is still on track to release 95 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted in a typical year, continuing to heat up the planet and driving climate change even as we’re stuck at home.” 5.5% drop is the largest yearly drop on record but just wait until you see where the emissions are really coming from (only 20% of global carbon dioxide emissions is from transportation) and why it’s so hard to reduce it.

Finnish basic income pilot improved wellbeing, study finds [The Guardian] – “Europe’s first national, government-backed basic income experiment did not do much to encourage recipients into work but did improve their mental wellbeing, confidence and life satisfaction, according to the first big study of a Finnish scheme that has attracted fresh interest in the coronavirus outbreak.”

The amount provided wasn’t a lot – €560 a month, or $600 a month.

I was born in the United States but both of my older two generations were immigrants to where they would spend most of their lives. My parents grew up in Taiwan and most of my grandparents were escapees from mainland China. I always felt very fortunate and thankful that my life story started in the United States.

This next story hit home for me:
Sizzler and the Search for the American Dream [Eater] – “My dad dreamed of steak dinners every night. My mom dreamed of lace doilies and matching china. We children dreamed of nothing. We had no idea what to expect.”

Enjoy the week Apexian.

It surprises some people that I don’t set goals.

I don’t set them each year, I don’t set them each quarter… I don’t even set them within a day.

I don’t set business goals, I don’t set personal goals, I don’t set them in a house, I do not set them with a mouse, I do not set them here or there, I do not set them anywhere.

I don’t set them for two reasons and they are perfectly encapsulated in two posts, one published very recently and one from 2013:

This is a post in which Alex West explains how goals interfered with his life. I don’t know Alex at all but I read this and his epiphany encapsulates a lot of why I don’t set goals – they’re arbitrary and when you reach them, you just set higher goals. The most I do in setting goals is to say “it’d be nice if I…” and that’s the goal.

This post by Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert but of so much more, covers something I read in greater detail in his book:

Goals vs. Systems [Scott Adams Says] – “In my new book, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life, I talk about using systems instead of goals. For example, losing ten pounds is a goal (that most people can’t maintain), whereas learning to eat right is a system that substitutes knowledge for willpower.”

Ok now get to the section where you read this – “Compare the goal of exercising 3-4 times a week with a system of being active every day at a level that feels good, while continuously learning about the best methods of exercise.”

Many times in life we yo-yo because willpower is the tool we use rather than building a good system. We exercise hard, then stop, then exercise hard, and convince ourselves interval training is the best. (it is for some things)

To improve something, you need a simple process and you aren’t trying to kill yourself. Pavel Tsatsouline studied some of the best powerlifters and came away with a very simple weight training protocol you can read on the Tim Ferriss blog. It’s short, it’s doable, and it doesn’t call on you to kill yourself every time you go to the gym.

Oh and stretch because it increases your strength by 10%. (if you listen to a lot of Tsatsouline, mobility is a word he uses a lot…)

Welcome to Friday, money nerds. It’s the end of yet another week.

For today’s set of money stories, we’ve gathered a handful of quarantine-related stories. I know that in some places, quarantine is winding down. In others, though, it’s still going strong. Plus, many folks are choosing to continue self-isolation even when official distancing measures are lifted.

Anyhow, here are some stories about money during the time of coronavirus.

The novel frugality: A return to thrift? [Vox] — “Since quarantine started, following the spread of Covid-19, there has been a move away from this culture of waste. This new strain of frugality — call it the novel frugality — is defined by its attachment to this moment and its participants’ motivations. While it might mirror long-held practices (like not throwing away aluminum foil or consciously saving scraps of leftovers to make new meals), its impetus is slightly different.”

How to maintain the car you’re barely driving. [Bitches Get Riches] — “Right now, during the COVID-19 pandemic, that basically includes everyone. But it’s not exactly a niche topic, either. Many frugal people, minimalists, and environmentalists own a car out of necessity, but are interested in driving as little as possible. So today we’re going to discuss how to take care of your car when you barely drive it at all.”

“I used to make fun of Silicon Valley preppers. Then I became one.” [The New York Times] — “For years, one of the most smirked-at subspecies in the technology ecosystem was that of the Silicon Valley Prepper…Now, with Covid-19, they feel vindicated. Because they are. The coders and founders long snickered at for stockpiling flour and toilet paper were absolutely right.”

Lastly, here’s a video that could come in handy during quarantine. It’s Jim Henson in 1969 explaining how to make a muppet. I love it! (It’s crazy how much he sounds like Kermit. Not surprising, I guess, but I wasn’t expecting that.)

That’s it for this week. Jim will be back on Monday with more excellent money stories from around the web. See you then!

Good morning, money bosses! It’s Thursday, and that means we have more excellent money stories from around the web. Let’s start with a podcast.

How to determine your family money values. [Smart Money Mamas podcast] — “The practice of defining your family money values is an incredible way to start or improve money conversations with your loved ones…When your family has a shared value system and money narrative, everyone knows what’s important and how financial decisions are made, and that gives you all focus as your work toward your family’s financial goals.”

What is your money story? (And how can it affect your finances?) [Women Who Money] — “Your money story might be buried deep in your past, but it can affect your finances today and in the future. It’s worthwhile to explore the experiences and feelings of your personal history and see how they affect your finances today.”

Women ask for raises as often as men, but are less likely to get them. [Harvard Business Review] — “Even we were surprised by the results. We had expected to find less asking by the females. Instead, we found that, holding background factors constant, women ask for a raise just as often as men, but men are more likely to be successful. Women who asked obtained a raise 15% of the time, while men obtained a pay increase 20% of the time. While that may sound like a modest difference, over a lifetime it really adds up.”

Lastly, here’s a 48-minute video that I loved more than I ought to have. It’s 48 minutes of Muzak used for United Airlines flights during the 1960s.

I hated Muzak when I was younger. I thought it was awful. Now that it no longer exists, though, it’s a memory trigger. I hear this stuff and am transported to the department stores or airports or musty museums that I experienced when I was a child.

Okay, that’s all for Thursday. I’ll be back tomorrow to see you into the weekend. Until then, take care!

Good morning! Good morning!

It’s Wednesday, which means it’s once again time for a batch of great stories about mastering your money — and your life. Here’s what we have for you today.

The end of your investing worries. [Mindfully Investing] — “The longer you invest, the less reason you have to worry about your investments, assuming you can stay focused on your long-term results. So, I thought it might help some worried investors out there if I provided more information on how several example portfolios have performed over various timeframes.”

“We lost to lifestyle inflation. Here’s how we fought back.” [EducatorFI] — “After 15 years, we had a barely positive net worth. We’d gone from spending just over $3k a month to spending 3x that. A mountain of debt balanced out our assets – two car loans, a house that was too big, and a vacation home. We’d lost to lifestyle inflation. Badly. Here’s how we woke up and fought back. You can too.”

Why you don’t want nice things. [Financial Mechanic] — “We have to make a trade for the nicer things in life. Whether it’s white furniture, pieces of fine art, or a shiny new car, it takes more effort, time, and worry to keep things spic and span. Personally, I’d rather own things I don’t have to worry about. I would rather have peace of mind than really nice things.” And this, my friends, is why I drive a 1993 Toyota pickup. (True story: Last week in the grocery-store parking lot, a woman stopped me to explain why I needed to wash the truck. No thanks!)

Speaking of nice things, today’s bonus video is about super-expensive scissors that are handmade in Sheffield, England. Why are they so expensive? Because they’re made by master craftspeople. This video is fascinating!

That’s it for Wednesday, Apexians. See you again tomorrow.