Hello, money nerds. It’s time to celebrate. Today is — can you believe it? — the one-year anniversary of Apex Money. On 01 July 2019, Jim messaged me to ask if I wanted to start a link curation site with him. “Sure,” I said. Within an hour, we had the site set up and the first post was live.
Now, a year later, here we are. We’ve had a lot of fun and hope that you have have too.
I suppose I ought to commemorate the occasion by making a list of our top ten stories from the past year, but that sounds like too much work. Let’s just stick to business as usual. Here are a few of our favorite money stories from the past few days.
How the pandemic has changed the way we buy. [Protocol] — “In just a few months, the pandemic has upended the way that many people are paying for things. People who rarely bought things online are now ordering all their groceries via Instacart, and the few times they’ve gone outside they’ve likely also turned to digital and contactless payment methods.”
Confessions of a former early-retirement skeptic. [Morningstar] — “I’ve concluded that the ‘retire early’ part of FIRE is a bit of a distraction from the really important part of the movement: the value of mindfully allocating our precious time and money in a way that aligns with our values, life goals, and joys. From that standpoint, even those of us who don’t plan to retire early can learn something from FIRE…”
Three keys to building an emergency fund. [Vanguard] — “I’ve seen tough financial situations that were eased by using cash savings and others that were aggravated by a lack of funds. The current uncertainty in the economy points to the importance of having this type of savings buffer. When I work with clients, I encourage them to create an emergency fund. Here are three key strategies I share to get them on their way.”
How to find your financial comfort zone. [The Simple Dollar] — “Rather than seeking higher levels of comfort with higher levels of expense, instead, just seek to avoid discomfort and only seek additional comfort if it’s free or very small in cost.”
To close things out for today, here’s a video that explores the truth about redlining and how it has widened the wealth gap from His and Her Money.
That’s it for Day One of Year Two of Apex Money. We’re glad you’re here with us, and hope you’ll stick around to see what else is in store. Thanks!