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“But I don’t WANT to be frugal!”

Personal finance is a delicate balance, isn’t it? You want to save in order to reward your future self. But damn, your present self wants to share in the loot! What’s a money nerd to do?

How to feel rich without money. [A Wealth of Common Sense] — “If we’re using millionaire-status as a way to gauge wealth in this country, a lot of people are never going to get to the point where they’re considered ‘rich’. But there are plenty of other ways to live a wealthy life that extend beyond how much money you have in the bank or your portfolio.”

My girlfriend is annoyed that I don’t want to move into a luxury apartment…even though she’d pay for most of it. [/r/relationships] — “My girlfriend is normally a frugal person, but she wants to move into a $4800 per month luxury-style one-bedroom apartment that her heart is set on. The apartment is very nice, yes, but it’s also a LOT of money for rent and I don’t feel comfortable spending that much money for rent…Her argument is that she’s worked very hard to get to where she’s earning what she currently makes, and she wants to live in a really nice place.

“But I don’t want to be frugal!” [Clipping Chains] — “There’s a point of diminishing returns on frugality, especially for those of us who are naturally frugal. Spending an extra $40-100 a month on items or experiences that we truly value and enjoy will not make or break the budget. In fact, finding an appropriate spending baseline now makes for a more promising future.”

Increasing your income in corporate America. [Fervent Finance] — “Unfortunately, 95% of the related discussions, blog posts, articles, and books on the topic concentrate on budgeting, investing, and debt repayment, yet the one thing that will most likely move the needle the most in someone’s financial journey the most is increasing income…Below I will walk through a list of strategies which I’ve found to be beneficial to my career, as well as my peers, colleagues, family, and friends.”

Finally, here’s a scatterplot showing the individual daily stock market returns for the past decade. Each dot represents one day’s actual return. (The Y axis means nothing, so ignore it.)

Individual stock market returns by day

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