Good morning, you sexy money nerds. Welcome to another installment of Apex Money. Here are the articles I’ve rounded up for you today…
Daily happiness > future happiness. [Budgets Are Sexy] — “THIS is the stuff that makes living life so joyful… The big goals are important and you get a bigger boost for hitting them, but they’re sooooo far and few between and if you’re not paying attention enough you’ll speed through life and miss out on everything else. And believe me – you do not want to Rip Van Winkle it and wish you could go back in time!”
The neuroscience behind bad descisons. [Quanta Magazine] — “For many of us, the main concern over decision-making is practical — how can we make better decisions? Glimcher said that his research has helped him develop specific strategies. ‘Rather than pick what I hope is the best, instead I now always start by eliminating the worst element from a choice set,’ he said, reducing the number of options to something manageable, like three.” I love the idea of allowing yourself to pick the worst option of the three best choices.
Reciprocity: Getting what you give. [Farnam Street] — “Reciprocity teaches us why win-win relationships are the way to go, why waiters leave candies with the bill, why it’s a good idea to use the least force possible to secure an outcome, and why a lot of companies don’t permit their employees to accept gifts. This model demonstrates why we should view giving as being as valuable as having.”
Learning to choose quality over quantity. [One Frugal Girl] — “Striving for a quantity-based life can lead us to feel ungrateful. When we choose quantity over quality, we can’t stop counting. This quest for more can make our lives feel empty…Our consumer-driven culture motivates us to upgrade possessions and increase the number of things we own. But the quantity of our belongings doesn’t improve the quality of our lives. Instead, it impairs it.”
I’ll be back tomorrow to take you into the weekend. Join me, won’t you?