Apex Money Posts

Money Nerds!

Today’s grab bag of articles will have something for everyone.

Let’s see what they are:

Everything is temporary; nearly everything is reversible [Cityfrugal] — “Each of these decisions terrified me before I made them. I stressed about them, asked friends and coworkers for advice, and fretted about every possible thing that could go wrong. However, none of these were permanent decisions. The decisions to change my behavior, though slightly off the beaten path, could all be undone.” I arrived at this epiphany when I quit my job to become a full-time blogger. I stressed about quitting but in the end, you can always find a job. This is a great reminder of that idea.

Should You Invest In Gold? [Money For the Rest of Us] — “With gold at a six-year high, is now the time to invest? What determines the price of gold and what are ways one can invest in this precious metal? We also explore whether gold is an effective inflation hedge and store of value.” With all the talk of recession and the economy slowing down, you’re bound to see calls to own more gold. Read this to get a primer on what it means.

What I Learned from Losing $200 Million [Nautilus] — “I’d lost almost $200 million in October. November wasn’t looking any better. It was 2008, after the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. Markets were in turmoil. Banks were failing left and right. I worked at a major investment bank, and while I didn’t think the disastrous deal I’d done would cause its collapse, my losses were quickly decimating its commodities profits for the year, along with the potential pay of my more profitable colleagues. I thought my career could be over. I’d already started to feel those other traders and salespeople keeping their distance, as if I’d contracted a disease.” The article is quite long and goes into detail about the financial aspects of the derivative (how the security was structured, who bought it and why, etc.) and how we overestimate our ability/skill/intelligence. Then halfway through, he discusses the illusion of control followed by the “loss,” his reaction, and the aftermath.

And our last article comes from the Department of Money Doesn’t Solve All Problems:

I spent 2 years cleaning houses. What I saw makes me never want to be rich. [Vox] — “The money my clients spent startled me. One house had a receipt for a throw blanket more expensive than my car. I vacuumed children’s bedrooms bigger than my apartment. Rob’s House — my picky Friday client who adored me — had $3,000 worth of television and stereo equipment just in the living room. The TV was always on. My Christmas card from him and his wife contained a $100 bonus, the highest the company had ever seen. That was around when the prescription bottles multiplied by the bathroom sink and Rob’s skin took on a yellow tone.” Wow. Just wow.

If you know someone who would enjoy one of these, please send it to them!

Free will is a funny thing.

We all think we have free will. That our choices are our own and we have the option to do anything we want.

In reality, there are constraints. There are legal and social constraints on what you can and cannot do. What you should and should not do.

And then there are the invisible constraints that shape your decisions without you even being aware of it.

Those are the most pernicious constraints because they affect your free will in profound ways.

Today’s headline article challenges one of those invisible constraints:

There’s no speed limit [Derek Sivers] — “Whether you’re a student, a teacher, or a parent, I think you’ll appreciate this story of how one teacher can completely and permanently change someone’s life in only a few lessons.” If you were to ask me to list the blog posts that have had the biggest impact on my life, two of the top five can be found on Derek Sivers’ blog. (I’ll share the other one with you another day) This story takes just two minutes to read and I want you to email me after you read it to tell me what you think.

You’re thinking about “financial security” the wrong way [RadReads] — “Having spent 15 years on Wall Street, I’ve grown accustomed to these successful folks who are “bracing” for their worlds to come crashing down. They’re smart, humble, and often from modest roots. They believe in “The Number,” a mythical amount in their bank account where they can stop worrying. But The Number never arrives.” As someone who grew up financially secure but by no means “rich,” this one hit home.

Smashing 6 Figures of Debt & Learning From What Doesn’t Apply to Me [She Picks Up Pennies] — “Our mortgage finally dipped below six figures. Specifically, we now owe $99,884. And I can’t stop smiling. Mathematically, very little has changed. Technologically, it was just a few clicks and a single payment. Mentally? Psychologically? Emotionally? That is another story, friends. We all know that money is never just about math. And I’ve been living and breathing that truth all weekend.” Personal finance is more personal than finance.

How the *$#! do you pick wine? (with Dave Falchek) [Stacking Benjamins Podcast] — “Ever walk into a wine store and wonder what all the labels mean? Today, wine expert Dave Falchek from the American Wine Society joins us to talk all things vino. How do you pick a wine? What are some clues that a wine is good for your party? What do those ratings mean in a wine shop? What wines go best with burgers and dogs?” Both J.D. and I happened to take summer vacations that spent some time in Italy (they didn’t overlap though) and Italy has some amazing food and wine. Mmmm… wine.

And to round it all out, some fun. This video is one of my favorites… it’s about how so many pop songs use the same four chords.

Think of someone who would love one of the articles we shared today — then share this with them! Forward it along and be their new best friend!

The last guest curated Apex was so well received, we decided to do it again! (and we will probably do many more in the future!)

Today, Financial Mechanic has pulled together a few of her favorite money stories on leaving the workforce early. (Mechanic also curates cool stuff on Sundays so you should definitely take a look)

Alright FM, take it away!

Start your morning with a podcast episode from the fabulous Fire Drill Podcast. We’re going back in the archives to hear from Ashley at Kiwi and Keewenaw about Taking a Mini-Retirement after 4 Years of Saving!

Saving My Own Life with Sabbatical [Lean FI ATL] — “In slow traveling in Guatemala, I’ve definitely become much more badass in a Mustachian Way. I feel invincible and strong and tiny and inconsequential, all at once, due to the sheer grandness of it all.”

Would you sell everything to travel the world? [Millennial Revolution] — “Focus on the journey and not the destination. For me, I didn’t know what [Financial Independence] was until the past couple of years and all of my decisions were for my own interest. For example, moving overseas from France to the US to explore a new country and changing jobs to learn new skills. I might not have taken these risks if I was laser focused on a FI goal but it ended up resulting in great experiences that I would never trade.”

10 Lessons From A Mini-Retirement [Montana Money Adventures] — “By leaving the 9-5, I have 100% control of my time/life, I hope to tackle 20 BIG dreams before I check out of this life. (Or 50 things! I see myself as the 85-year-old gray haired lady still creating, building, producing in BIG ways! I won’t go out quietly.)”

Should You Take a Sabbatical? 3 Women Weigh In [The Muse] — “Imagine exploring the Pacific Northwest and finding your way to Kurt Cobain’s house. Or taking a Trans Siberian train trip from Moscow to Bangkok. Or how about six months in nature hiking the Appalachian Trail? Sound like something you’ve always dreamed of? Maybe it’s time for a sabbatical.”

Before taking off on a grand adventure, I want to introduce you to Diderot. If you can learn from his pitfalls, you will be better equipped to save up for a sabbatical or mini-retirement. The Diderot Effect describes the phenomenon of spending begetting more spending. Here’s Diderot writing to us from 1769: Regrets for my Old Dressing Gown, or A warning to those who have more taste than fortune

Today is the first day of FinCon, which is the annual conference of money nerds. This year, we’ll be in lovely Washington D.C.

Many of the bloggers that we’ve had the pleasure of highlighting each weekday will also be there. If you are attending, make sure to say hi!

Here are today’s best:

I Inherited Money And Now I Can’t Blog About Financial Independence Anymore [The Military Guide] — This isn’t a post about financial independence, it’s about the stress of caregiving and settling an estate. “I’m finally ready to write about distributing my father’s estate. We don’t talk enough about financial literacy in polite society gatherings– let alone aging and estate planning– yet almost everyone in the room is dealing with the caregiver burdens and the concerns of losing a loved one.” I can’t imagine how difficult it was to write but you must read it.

The Safe Withdrawal Rate Series – A Guide for First-Time Readers [Early Retirement Now] — Karsten, AKA Big Ern, has a very comprehensive series of articles discussing safe withdrawal rates. It is quite intimidating to jump into but he has recently published a guide to this multi-part series (by multi-part I mean it’s in the 30s right now) that should make it easier to digest!

You’re Average, So Am I [Waffles on Wednesday] — “Average is an interesting term. The truest definition is ‘a level (as of intelligence) typical of a group, class, or series.’ That’s it, it means typical. But oddly that term has come to imply bad, or not good enough. Why would you just want to be Average?? Average is awful.” Or is it? The article gives you a peek at the Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder’s Meeting and the Oracle of Omaha’s best investing advice and just how average it is.

The Gambler Who Cracked the Horse-Racing Code [Bloomberg] — “Bill Benter did the impossible: He wrote an algorithm that couldn’t lose at the track. Close to a billion dollars later, he tells his story for the first time.” I challenge you to not click on that link and get sucked into this fascinating story!

Did you know there’s a grammatically correct order to how you list adjectives? “Brick red big house” sounds super weird because the adjectives are out of order.

See an article in here that your friend needs to see? Send it to them!

Who doesn’t want to be just a little more productive each and every day?

There’s a reason why David Allen’s 2001 book titled “Getting Things Done” remains one of the most popular books on productivity. People like getting things done. 🙂

Today’s Apex will feature one article that offers up an action based refresher on being more productive followed by two pieces that should whet your appetite for hustling in areas you probably hadn’t considered.

Let’s get into it!

How to Get More Done [The Happy Housewife] — “Just last month I was feeling pretty overwhelmed by all the to-do’s spinning around in my head. After talking to a few friends I realized I needed to sit down, make a list, and start getting things done.” This post is great if you’re struggling to get things done (or feeling like you’ve gotten anything done) – it’s a good approach that includes ideas like achieving quick wins, starting fresh, and more.

Here are two posts on fun little side hustles you can do that I haven’t heard too many people talking about:

How You Can Make Money From Hosting an Airbnb Experience [Studenomics] — I’ve been following Martin’s experiencing starting a coffee tour since Day 1 and him sharing it all in one post is great for anyone looking to host an Airbnb experience. “I finally applied to have my own experience on Airbnb. I was denied. I revised my application and got accepted on the second try. After 6 weeks of on-the-job-training, I’m convinced that this is the best side hustle out there right now. You can host any experience and try to make money from the Airbnb app.”

70+ Ways to Make Money on The Side [Budgets Are Sexy] — J at Budgets Are Sexy has long been a proponent of side hustles and this page lists all the obscure ways (75 at last count) people have been side hustling, from selling crickets online to flipping collectible sneakers. Turning coins into rings is one of my favorites.

And lastly but not leastly, for something that has nothing to do with money, here’s a fun oral history about the invention of the Super Soaker.

There’s a short video about it too.

Know someone who might want to start an Airbnb experience or recharge scooters? Or perhaps they’re a huge fan of Super Soakers? Send them this article!

Today’s episode of Apex Money isn’t as somber as the title might imply, but it does tie two really good articles together in a way that really drives their key points home.

Chew on these and let me know what you think:

The flaws a Nobel Prize-winning economist wants you to know about yourself [Quartz] — It’s a brief primer on cognitive biases. “Sorry to say it, but you’re not perfect. We like to believe that we are smart, rational creatures, always acting in our best interests. In fact, dominant economic theory these days often makes that assumption.”

Now, for one of the most powerful arguments for early retirement I’ve ever read:

Why Retire Early? Because Death Is Coming. [A Purple Life] — “Unfortunately I’m no stranger to death. My introduction to the Reaper happened at my father’s funeral – he took his own life when I was 7. During the next 13 years I attended the funerals of 5 close family members…

… I’ve made my current life as awesome as possible, but knowing that my time is finite also makes me strive for more. Time is all we have and having it wasted by doing things that don’t matter or that I don’t enjoy grates on me. Thinking about death helps me understand what I want out of life.”

100% yes.

Now to round it out with something a little lighter:

The Artist, the Conman and the $15 Million Fraud [Narratively] — “From imitation Gauguins to a piece of the true cross, how two small-town crooks fooled art collectors around the world and built an epic empire of fakes.” I’ve done three Apex curations now and all three have had some kind of heist/fraud/con involved… do you like them? 🙂

Speaking of frauds, if you want to dissuade your kids from playing those ripoff carnival games (or asking you to play), show them this video by Mark Rober. He explains how the games try to trick you and how you can, as best you can, beat the ones that can be beat:

Did you enjoy an article in this curation that you think a friend might enjoy? Send it to them or share it on social media!

Happy Friday – I bet you’re ready to start the weekend and if you wanted something fun you could chat with your friends about, we hope some of the articles in today’s curation can help spark some interesting conversations.

Let’s just get right into it:

Just the tip of the iceberg [Your Money Blueprint] — “All I could see was the fact that we were well fed and well housed. I didn’t really consider the fact they had to work for it. I only saw the end results, not the process. It’s a bit like an iceberg, where we only see the tip (results), but not all of the foundation layed under the water.”

Inside the Twisted, Worldwide Hunt for a $7 Million Stolen Car [Esquire] — “Joe Ford, car detective, searches the world for stolen rare automobiles on the black market. The case he’s on now could set him up for life—if he’s not outsmarted by a skilled network of criminals and cheats.” This article is so much fun.

The New Servant Class [The Atlantic] — “Low-skill, low-pay, and disproportionately done by women, these jobs congregate near dense urban labor markets, multiplying in neighborhoods with soaring disposable income. Between 2010 and 2017, the number of manicurists and pedicurists doubled, while the number of fitness trainers and skincare specialists grew at least twice as fast as the overall labor force.” The data highlights the rise of the “wealth work,” or jobs that support those with significant disposable income, and how the trend isn’t necessarily a good one.

Road-Tripping with the Amazon Nomads [The Verge] — “Chris Anderson moves through the Target clearance racks with cool efficiency, surveying the towers of Star Wars Lego sets and Incredibles action figures, sensing, as if by intuition, what would be profitable to sell on Amazon. Discontinued nail polish can be astonishingly lucrative, but not these colors. A dinosaur riding some sort of motorcycle? No way. But these Jurassic Park Jeeps look promising, and an Amazon app on his phone confirms that each could net a $6 profit after fees and shipping. He piles all 20 into his cart.”

This time-lapsed video of our planet rotating underneath the Milky Way is mesmerizing:

Did you enjoy an article in this curation that you think a friend might enjoy? Send it to them or share it on social media!

Happy Thursday peoples! Since the beginning of Apex, J.D. has been the primary curator with me (Jim) helping a little here and there with articles to toss into the gristmill of Apex.

But he’s traveling and so I get to take over!

So put on your favorite pair of money pants and behold the wonders that await you today:

“A Stunning Coup”: The Almost Unsolvable Harry Winston Diamond Heists [Vanity Fair] — “The $37 million Harry Winston jewelry heist was a perfect crime. The thieves’ mistake was returning for an even bigger score. But did police really convict the right men, or are the brains of the operation still at large?”

Dun dun DUUUUUUUN!

How the 0.001% invest [The Economist] — “THINK OF THE upper echelons of the money-management business, and the image that springs to mind is of fusty private banks in Geneva or London’s Mayfair, with marble lobbies and fake country-house meeting-rooms designed to make their super-rich clients feel at home. But that picture is out of date. A more accurate one would feature hundreds of glassy private offices in California and Singapore that invest in Canadian bonds, European property and Chinese startups—and whose gilded patrons are sleepwalking into a political storm.”

Barack Obama’s summer reading list [via Facebook] — Unrelated to politics, I’ve found both Obama’s reading lists and Bill Gates’ reading lists to be interesting ways to discover fascinating books.

Lastly, here’s a fun video of a chimpanzee absolutely destroying one of those Ninja Warrior type rope/climbing courses:

Do you have a friend who would love new books to read? Or interested in how the wealthy manage their money? Send or forward to them this curation!

Today is Tuesday, money nerds, and it’s the last day that I (J.D.) will have primary curation duties here at Apex until mid-September.

I’m leaving for my Mediterranean cruise! (In reality, I’m nearly to Croatia at this moment in real life, but I’ve prepped some of these posts in advance.) Starting tomorrow, Jim takes over the task of finding top money stories for a couple of weeks.

We start today with a powerful piece:

Dear disgruntled white plantation visitors, sit down. [Afroculinaria] — “The Old South may be your American Downton Abbey but it is our American Horror Story, even under the best circumstances it represents the extraction of labor, talent and life we can never get back. When I do this work, it drains me, but I do it because I want my Ancestors to know not only are they not forgotten but I am here to testify that I am their wildest dreams manifest.”

An interactive exploration of dead-end careers. [Zippia] — “Not every career arc is equal…We graphed each industry to visualize the average worker income by age. The data showed there were distinct gaps among sets of industries, with one group sticking out as the obvious worst to work in.”

American doctor and patient travel to Mexico for surgical procedure. She paid less. He made more. [New York Times, so possible paywall] — “The hospital costs of the American medical system are so high that it made financial sense for both a highly trained orthopedist from Milwaukee and a patient from Mississippi to leave the country and meet at an upscale private Mexican hospital for the surgery.” Fact: The U.S. health-care system is fucked up. It’s insane.

Visualizing how much Americans spend on commutes. [HowMuch] — “We know commuting is costly, but just how much are Americans spending on their commutes? Depending on the state, Americans spend as much as $5,000 per year on their daily commutes — including gas, maintenance costs, public transportation, and other expenses.”

Lastly, here’s a quick video I made five years ago that describes how I pack for travel. Little has changed since then — except that I’m no longer this fit haha.

Found something you think your fellow nerds might like? You should send it in! Help spread the top money stories on the web here at Apex Money.

Another week, another batch of top money stories for you, my fellow nerds. Here are a few interesting tidbits to get your Monday started right.

The invention of money. [The New Yorker] — “The problem with many new forms of money is that people are reluctant to adopt them. Genghis Khan’s grandson didn’t have that difficulty. He took measures to insure the authenticity of his currency, and if you didn’t use it — if you wouldn’t accept it in payment, or preferred to use gold or silver or copper or iron bars or pearls or salt or coins or any of the older forms of payment prevalent in China — he would have you killed.”

Why you need to make a “when I die” file — before it’s too late. [Time] — “It may sound morbid, but creating a findable file, binder, cloud-based drive, or even shoebox where you store estate documents and meaningful personal effects will save your loved ones incalculable time, money, and suffering. Plus, there’s a lot of imagination you can bring to bear that will give your When I Die file a deeper purpose than a list of account numbers.”

What your workout says about your social class. [Pacific Standard] — “Upper middle class Americans avoid ‘excessive displays of strength’, viewing the bodybuilder look as vulgar overcompensation for wounded manhood. The so-called dominant classes…tend to express dominance through strenuous aerobic sports that display moral character, self-control, and self-development, rather than physical dominance.”

Lastly, here’s a short (six-minute) video about “the nova effect” and the tragedy of good luck. With every cloud comes a silver lining, right? But sometimes you get burned by the sun. All this is to say: Everything that happens to is both good and bad.

Found something you think your fellow nerds might like? You should send it in! Help spread the top money stories on the web here at Apex Money.