Skip to content

How to build influence at work (no matter your job title).

Hello, friends, and welcome to Apex Money.

It’s one of those days where I’m going to lead with our video because I like it so much. Today is the 75th anniversary of the first mobile phone call. From the Periscope Film channel on YouTube, here’s a ten-minute short demonstrating mobile phone technology from the late 1940s.

So fun! When I was in grade school (in the late 1970s), my father had a similar contraption for one job. It was a big clunky telephone that sat on the dash and cost a fortune to use.

Okay, enough fun. Let’s get down to business. Here are some recent money stories I’ve liked.

Four ways to build influence at work, no matter your job title. [Fast Company] — “Influence starts with the areas within your control, says Melissa Drake, founder of Collaborative AF, a consultancy that helps companies unlock potential through collaboration. First off, focus simply on being good at your job.”

How to practice stealth frugality. [Early Retirement Now] — “Stealth frugality does not preclude stealth wealth. Quite the opposite, we are still stealth-wealthy. We merely just picked our battles: cut the most frivolous and inefficient spending but we left some token luxury items for people to notice so they didn’t think we were weirdos.”

I’ve saved the best for last. Our final link today is a long, detailed report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University: The State of the Nation’s Housing 2021. This 36-page PDF dives into all aspects of housing and homeownership. I haven’t read the entire thing yet, but what I have read is intersting. [TL;DR: Fast Company‘s summary of the report highlights.]

And that’s it for Thursday! I’ll be back tomorrow with one last installment of Apex Money before we head into the weekend. See you then.