Apex Money Posts

Happy Monday, my friends. Welcome to another week of Apex Money. My name is J.D. Roth, and I’ll be your host for the next few days.

Actually, I’ll be your host in abstentia. I’m prepping this week’s installments on Memorial Day — before I fly out for my arctic cruise. Today, if all has gone according to plan, I should be Tromsø, Norway, where I’m scheduled to switch from the first cruise to the second. (I’m doing back to back cruises on the same boat — 23 days on the Norwegian Star.)

In a way, travel is a gamble. Things go wrong. Part of being a good traveler is learning to go with the flow when things happen. Speaking of which, all three of today’s stories are about gambling…

The last gamble of Tokyo Joe. [Chicago magazine] — “From his perch on Solano’s North Side, running Rush Street nightclubs like Faces and Bourbon Street, Ken Eto served as the Chicago Outfit’s most adept minority relations specialist — a gambling czar of the highest caliber, able to extract millions of dollars over the years from Chicago’s Puerto Rican, Black, and Chinese American communities.”

“I placed my first wager when I was ten. I’ve gambled more than $1 million since.” [Maclean’s] — “I loved the waiting that came with gambling: those final, dramatic moments of uncertainty, when a last-minute field goal or three-point shot could alter the result of the game. The feeling of anticipation— that’s where I got the high. And when I had several bets going on at once, it felt like my brain was on fire, the ultimate stimulation.”

The housing market lottery. [A Wealth of Common Sense] — “Financial success comes from some combination of hard work, discipline, patience and luck. That last piece is usually the biggest wild card…The 2010s and 2020s for the housing markets will lead to similar good or bad luck depending on your timing.”

Okay. That’s it for today. I’ll be back tomorrow with more great stuff. See you then!

Our first post is from my friend Chris Browning, host of the great podcast Popcorn Finance and This is Awkward. He tackles the utter B.S. personal finance advice, for Men’s Health no less, that you should cut out your daily coffee or avocado toast…

The ‘Avocado Toast’ Effect of Spending Is Totally Overblown [Men’s Health] – “It’s an old personal-finance cliché that if you want to save for anything, the first things you should cut out are coffee, restaurant meals, and subscriptions. In short: small joys. This comes from the idea that money is basically math—if I make X, I will save Y, and then I will be all set. So let’s do the math and unpack all this nonsense.” Love this.

The sinister side of Work Ethic [Rad Reads] – “The owners were not prioritizing productivity. Instead, they were prioritizing leisure. To my younger self, that was blasphemous. But today – deeply ensconced in midlife – I find myself wondering: is there a sinister side of work ethic?” Not going to lie, this one got me. It’s taken me years to unlearn those lessons instilled in me throughout my school-age years… but it’s a lesson well worth learning.

This last one for the weekend is a fun little read about Tangier Island in Virginia. Nothing about money, just a fun little story.

Tangier Island, Virginia – a Forgotten Community Founded by Cornish Fishermen [The Cornish Bird] – “It is a remote, isolated community, cut off from the mainland for centuries. The islanders have developed their own culture and way of living, yet bizarrely this unlikely place is also deeply connected to Cornwall. The inhabitants of Tangier Island are said to talk with a strange American-Cornish accent and the St Piran’s cross even graces their island’s flag. So, how did this unusual connection come about?”

Have a great weekend!

When I got into investing, it was during the dot com boom. I would pick stocks and some would be winners and others would be losers.

I didn’t know much about stocks but you couldn’t have convinced 20-year-old me of that fact!

Even today, I still don’t know much about stocks but I’ve come to grips with it. I don’t know a lot about a lot of things and that’s alright by me.

Fortunately, with stocks, you don’t have to know much. Just buy an index fund.

So when NVIDIA’s stock popped the other day, I felt zero FOMO because it’s in the S&P 500. I may not have owned shares directly… but I had shares.

If you're reading finance news and lamenting how you didn't own shares of Nvidia (which shot up today) … don't!

Because if you owned shares of any S&P 5500 index fund, you joined in.$NVDA is the 4th largest component in the S&P 500.

— Jim Wang (@WalletHacks) May 25, 2023

I don’t pick stocks (with the exception of some dividend companies because it scratches that itch), the S&P is enough for me!

The Stock Market Will Pick the Winners For You [A Wealth of Common Sense] – “So what’s my strategy? I prefer to let the indexes pick the winners for me. Sure, that’s boring and it’s not going to get me rich overnight but I have time.”

Dying with Millions [The Best Interest] – “You should spend money. You should enjoy the fruit of your labors. Trust the math, trust the portfolio, and enjoy your life.”

The 11 Best Finance Films to Watch This Weekend [ETF Trends] – “Summer is about to begin. Why not take a break from working in the world of finance by immersing yourself in the eleven best finance films of all time? That’s right; there’s no need to ever stop thinking about work, even when you are relaxing. While we’re still in an era where people are writing movies instead of AI, these 11 classic films capture the drama, humor, and emotional resonance of finance and investing.”

Wednesday could not come fast enough. The Plutus Team searched high and low and found these great articles for you. ENJOY!!!

Check out what we have for you this week.

The Best Low-Cost Vacation Hack Available. [Financial Success M.D] — “I have owned, traded, and vacationed using my timeshare for more than 30 years and love it. I own a single week of timeshare in New Orleans and have yet to stay in the unit I own. My happy experience is contrary to what is found on social media. There is a reason for that. Most complainers never learned how to buy and use a timeshare correctly, so they don’t actually know how great and inexpensive owning and using one can be. For the right people, timeshare hacking will save a fortune in travel expense.” (Submitted by Tarsha.)

Money Where Art Thou? [Happily Disengaged] — “Each morning when I wake up to go to work to earn money, I tell myself how lucky I am to have a job. To have a nice warm bed to get up from. A family I get the privilege to support. Even if I’m tired of going to work to make money, doesn’t mean I’m tired of receiving money and putting it to work for me. Because in the end, if I’m doing it right, my money will someday end up working for me, instead of me working for it.” (Submitted by J. Money.)

Career Advice for Kids. [Bluetree Savings] — “I’m not a careers expert but I heard a great little story which I shared with my daughters and it led to an interesting discussion about mindset when thinking about careers. I hope you share this with your kids and see what reaction you get.” (Submitted by Tarsha.)

Sam Zell was a billionaire businessman who passed away last month. As of earlier this year, Forbes estimated his net worth to be $5.3 billion.

He made most of his money in real estate, getting a start in college managing apartments and selling that business to go bigger. It’s an impressive story if you have to time to dig in.

Today’s first article shares a few wise words from the man himself:

Wise Words from Sam Zell [Novel Investor] – “By the time [Sam] Zell graduated from law school, he managed about 4,000 apartments and owned over 100 more. After graduation, he sold the management business to Bob Lurie and headed to Chicago to play in a bigger market. Three years later, Lurie partnered with Zell in Chicago. They would go on to build one of the largest real estate portfolios in the country.”

How To Be Resilient: 5 Steps To Success When Life Gets Hard [Barking Up The Wrong Tree] – “But if you’re willing to make an effort, there are scientific insights that can help. In fact, for people rated at the lowest levels of resilience, studies show a 125% increase in three months by just doing five things. What are those things? Well, that’s why we’re here…”

Top 50 productivity hacks chosen by internet and you [50 Hacks] – This one is great, people suggest the best hacks and then everyone else upvotes … so only the best of the best rise to the top.

Well well well, if it isn’t Monday yet again!

Right now, J.D. is on a cruise ship floating along the high seas and I’m (Jim) resting comfortably, without any need for seasickness medication, in my house. 😂

I hope J.D.’s “do nothing” trip is going well but the Apex train rolls on with a few gems (I hope!) for you today:

I love index funds! So does Paul Merriman!

30 reasons to fall in love with index funds [Paul Merriman] – “Despite all the money and effort Wall Street spends trying to promote actively-managed funds, very few of them outshine one of the simplest investment vehicles: The index fund. Once you get past the hype, hope and hoopla of hot stocks and superstar managers, you find that the “lowly” index fund is the true king of the performance hill. I’ll give you a whole bunch of reasons you should make index funds your go-to investment vehicle. In no particular order, here are 10 to start with…”

Art always fell into the murky “stuff uber-wealthy people do” and I always marvel when there’s a scandal involving art (or wine!) because the folks who perpetrate them are often so very good at it. It’s the old idea that thieves work so hard that they’d probably make a killing if they were legit… but we know part of the fun is in the illicit nature.

How 25 Dubious Basquiats Created a Massive Museum Scandal—And Exposed Some Dark Art Truths [Vanity Fair] – “A blockbuster show of “lost” works by the late, and much-marketed, Jean-Michel Basquiat at the Orlando Museum of Art was meant to compete with Disney and SeaWorld. Then the feds came knocking and a small-time auctioneer confessed to knocking them off, leaving their owners in a continuing scramble to prove their authenticity. As the investigation continues, the whole affair has shone an uncomfortable light on the art world’s unceasing need for spectacle.”

With this last post, we stick with the investing theme and learn – Become a Passive Investing Ninja – the Definitive Guide to Slashing ETF Costs and Taxes [Banker on Wheels] – This is a three part guide that is really “chunky” but good, it goes into a lot of detail on how to look at ETFs.

See you tomorrow!

Happy Friday, folks. While you’re reading these stories about money, my cruise ship is in port at Edinburgh, Scotland — one of my favorite cities! Here’s what I’ve gathered for you today.

The reason luxury goods are booming. [Vox] — “The explosion of luxury resale and rental platforms might not have directly fed the sales of luxury brands, but they engaged a new generation of consumers — it’s an easy entry point into the world of its aesthetics and sensibilities.” [I’ll admit: I too have been buying more premium brands. But I have a very clear reason for doing so: I’m tired of paying for crap. I want quality. I’m in a position to afford it, so I buy it. Truthfully? This decision has made my life better.]

Once a fringe theory, “greedflation” gets its due. [Axios] — “The idea that profits drove our current bout of inflation surfaced in the last few years among progressive economists and lawmakers but was waved away by more mainstream types as a ‘conspiracy theory’. That changed earlier this year.”

The ugly truth behind “we buy ugly houses”. [ProPublica] — “A ProPublica investigation — based on court documents, property records, company training materials and interviews with 48 former franchise owners and dozens of homeowners who have sold to its franchises — found HomeVestors franchisees that used deception and targeted the elderly, infirm and those so close to poverty that they feared homelessness would be a consequence of selling.”

To close things out today, here’s something completely unrelated to money. Here’s Titus Burgess belting out “Poor Unfortunate Souls” from The Little Mermaid. It’s fantastic!

Man, that is so much fun!

You know what else is fun? The weekend! And you’re heading into it. Enjoy. We’ll see you next week.

Good morning, Apexians. As you read this, my arctic cruise has set sail. I’m somewhere off the eastern coast of the U.K.

I’ve had a lot of people ask me why I’m doing this. Why am I taking a solo 23-day cruise? Largely, it’s an exercise in self-discovery. I’ve designated 2023 as “the year of me”, and I’m implementing that in a variety of ways. Over the past couple of months, I’ve come to realize that I’m tired of doing. I want to simply by for a while. This cruise is an opportunity for me to just be.

Today’s stories touch upon the relationship between doing and being…

The wisest person you know. [Money and Meaning] — “I swear to you, you’ll do more do more good in the world if you did nothing that if you did something. The only way this world could be better is if you operated with a clear definition of enough and stopped trying to achieve, accumulate, or acquire more than you actually need4: the second homes, the extra clothes, the nicer vacation. There is not outer solution for the interior problem. The disaster comes from inside.” [I &heart; this article.]

“Misconceptions I had about rural life.” [Frugalwoods] — “For [my husband] and me, the whole point of this lifestyle change was to let go of the city rat race, the external pressures and the societal expectations. We wanted to no longer work for other people and no longer constantly rush around. Rural life, for us, means joy, time, freedom and space.”

The parents saying “no” to smartphones. [The Free Press] — “For years, the risks have been clear as day among Silicon Valley’s brightest minds, including Bill Gates and Google’s Sundar Pichai, who famously kept smartphones away from their own kids, and Steve Jobs, who limited his children’s screen time altogether. But it has taken the Covid-19 pandemic for ordinary Americans to come to the same conclusion: that their kids had become dependent on their phones, and their school work suffered as a result.”

Today’s final story is a 13-minute video from the Einzelgänger YouTube channel. It’s about the Taoist art of “not trying”. The video takes a few minutes to get going, but at about the 3:30 mark it got interesting to me. (I found this video via the Money and Meaning article I linked above.)

Okay, that’s it for today. I’ll be back tomorrow with one final installment for this week. See you then.

Hey Plutus Family, if you love mastering games, check out this great article from The Sytch.

Check out what we have for you this week.

#54. Master the Game: 5 Habits from Highly Successful Investors. [The Sytch] — “The number one habit that successful investors have is consistency. They have a plan put into place and consistently make decisions that align with their strategy.” (Submitted by Tarsha.)

The Liabilities of Success. [Of Dollars and Data] — “It’s easy to idolize the accomplishments of those who are more successful than you, but it’s hard to understand the price they paid for that success. This is why you have to think deeply about what liabilities you are willing to take on prior to embarking on a new project.” (Submitted by J. Money.)

We Paid Off $17k Of Debt In 2022! [Goodbye Whine to 5] — “We wanted to pay off all our non-consumer debt, and we didn’t quite make it but we came VERY close. We had to dream big for that goal and I am so glad we set our sights high. I want to go into the nitty gritty of the debt numbers, how we did it and what’s next for us!” (Submitted by Tarsha.)

Today is Tuesday and this is Apex Money! Today I’ve gathered a collection of stories related to our modern urban lives. I thought each of these was interesting. I hope you’ll like them too.

How much does it cost to live in New York City? [Curbed] — “The purpose of presenting these receipts isn’t to shock or horrify. But if they do shock or horrify, we hope facing them is at least better than wallowing in the ambient dread of not knowing. We hope it’s genuinely useful to younger New Yorkers wrestling with questions like, What would my family income have to be to support my vision of tomorrow?”

Imagine a renters’ Utopia. It might look like Vienna. [The New York Times Magazine gift article] — “The key difference is that Vienna prioritizes subsidizing construction, while the United States prioritizes subsidizing people, with things like housing vouchers. One model focuses on supply, the other on demand. Vienna’s choice illustrates a fundamental economic reality, which is that a large-enough supply of social housing offers a market alternative that improves housing for all.” [This is a long, interesting article about a complicated topic.]

How Tokyo became an anti-car paradise. [Heatmap] — “Since the advent of the automobile, architects and urban planners worldwide have found it almost impossible to resist building cities around roads and an assumption that most people will drive. Tokyo somehow managed not to. It rebuilt in a much more human-centric way.”

Lastly, here’s a video that explores a question that’s been bugging me for 10+ years: Why did kids stop walking to school?

I don’t have kids. The parents I know (which is nearly every person I know) have made it clear that this disqualifies me from speaking my mind about issues of child rearing. But I have opinions! I’m not a fan of today’s brand of hyper-involved parenting. I think it hurts more than it helps.

Anyhow, now that I’ve made a bunch of you cranky, I’ll bow out. The folks from Plutus will be here tomorrow with their batch of links. I’ll see you again on Thursday.