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How losing money can help you earn money.

It’s Friday! Let the celebrating begin!

It’s rare that I feature two articles from the same blog in any given week, but Fritz from the Retirement Manifesto happened to publish a new piece this morning that I liked very much. So, I’m doing it. Take a look.

The 90/10 rule of retirement. [The Retirement Manifesto] — “In preparation for retirement, most people spend 90% of their planning time on the financial issues and 10% on the non-financial issues. After retirement, the ratio reverses, and most retirees spend the vast majority of their time focusing on the non-financial issues of life.” [From my experience, this is truth, and it’s probably the biggest blind spot in the financial independence movement. Too many people spend too much time focused on money.]

A brief guide to financial advisor licenses and designations. [Oblivious Investor] — “The first thing that confuses (and surprises) many people is that the term financial advisor doesn’t have any legal meaning at all. Basically anybody can refer to themselves as a financial advisor. A person who refers to himself or herself as a financial advisor might, from a regulatory perspective, actually be any of a few different things: an investment adviser representative, an insurance agent, a registered representative, or none of the above.”

How losing money can help you earn money. [Darius Foroux] — “Never make huge financial decisions while you’re going through a stressful time. This makes you vulnerable to bad investments or costly mistakes. Your mental bandwidth is limited; you can only take a few things at a time. So park that money somewhere safe. And then decide what to do with it when you’re emotionally and practically ready.”

Much of what you’ll do and say to day is non-essential. [Farnam Street] — “The paradox is that in an effort to do more, we end up doing less. When you find yourself in a hole, the best thing to do is stop digging. By failing to think about how we’re working, we only end up burning ourselves out. There is another way to improve performance but it’s a bit unconventional: Eliminate the bullshit.”

To wrap things up this week, here’s a 20-minute YouTube video from Patrick Willems that dives deep into what he considers the most difficult shot in movie history (and why it matters).

This is one of those videos that I didn’t expect to watch completely — but I did. I found it fascinating. Perhaps you will too.

And that’s all she wrote! Jim will be back next week with some of his favorite stories from the world of personal finance. And I’ll see you soon with more of my own faves. Take care, my friends.