Good morning, money nerds. Let’s dive right into today’s batch of links.
Our first story today is spectacular. It’s a strong antidote to the deterministic ideas that have begun to cloud a lot of modern personal-finance writing (and videos). I liked this enough that, at last, I’ve added Money with Katie to my regular reads. Should have done that before.
The importance of seeking evidence to the contrary. [Money with Katie] — “Doomerism works online because it can be fun. There’s a miserable solidarity cultivated in that humorous, hopeless soil. The problem is, many of the people digging their hands in the dirt have had their backs turned to untended greener pastures for so long that they don’t even notice they’re there anymore.”
How much cash should you have in your investment portfolio? [Oblivious Investor] — “There’s nothing magical about cash. Whatever we can achieve by shifting a chunk of the portfolio from bonds into cash, we can probably achieve by just slightly bumping up the overall fixed-income allocation instead.” [Thoughtful answer to a question I had myself recently.]
A simple habit for smarter book reading. [Scott H. Young] — “Reading rebuttals can often bolster your appreciation of the original idea because you come to know which parts are conceded by even its most strident critics. When even your opponents admit that you’re right about something, it’s a strong sign that at least that part of your idea is correct. More importantly, reading thoughtful rebuttals outsources the expertise and extensive thinking required to find the flaws in big ideas to someone qualified to find them.” This is a great idea and something I already do with film. Never thought about doing it with books though.
Lastly, here’s a little something fun that has zero to do with personal finance. It’s Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” performed by…Klingons.
Ah, that’s some funny stuffy, isn’t it?
Okay, that’s it for today. I’ll see you all tomorrow.