Apex Money Posts

Happy Wednesday Plutus Family!!  Grab your coffee and enjoy these great articles from the Plutus team!

Check out what we have for you this week.

Investing for 100-year-olds. [Monevator] — “If young people realize they might live past 100 and be in good shape to 90 or 95, it might make more sense to mix education, work and child-rearing across more years of life instead of devoting the first two decades exclusively to education, the next three or four decades to career and parenting, and the last four solely to leisure.” (Submitted by J. Money.)

Capitalism and the Environment: Are They Good or Bad for Each Other? [The Impact Investor] — “The impact of capitalism on the environment is not a new concern. It can be changed back to the foundation of capitalism in various ways. The fundamental function of capitalism is the competitive exchange of products or services to create a profit.” (Submitted by Tarsha.)

The Changing Landscape Of High-Yield Savings Accounts. [Financial Panther] — “If you have money in a savings account that’s still paying nothing, you absolutely need to move it. With rates where they are now, it’s an insult that some big banks are still paying nothing for their savings accounts.” (Submitted by J. Money.)

We (Jim here) have four kids and as I’ve watched them go through school, I’ve long had a nagging feeling that much of what they learn in school is “good” but not necessarily “useful.” I’m not of the camp that school is useless or bad or anything like that, I just think it’s a foundation you have to build on.

I’ve long been pushing our kids to have hobbies. We’re not doing traveling sports or anything that involved, but I’d like them to cultivate hobbies so they are creating as much as they’re consuming. We’ll see how that goes but this first article about cultivating agency is a powerful one.

School Is Not Enough [Palladium Magazine] – “In my examples, the individuals were all doing from a young age as opposed to merely attending school. And while they may not have wanted to work, the work was nonetheless something that they, their families, and society felt was useful, purposeful, and appreciated. In a sense, they had useful childhoods. Do children today have useful childhoods?”

Three ways I’m teaching my son about money [Rich & Regular] – “The combination of questioning and Dad voice was overwhelming and after repeated failed attempts to utter a coherent word, he resolved to hang his head in shame, cry for thirty minutes straight and hide in his room. He knew he did something really bad and he genuinely feared I would be upset with him. And if we’re being honest…I was upset. But there was no point in piling onto the weight he was already carrying on his tiny shoulders. Recognizing this was a teachable moment, Kiersten stepped in to console him and we all had a long talk about the word expensive.”

How to Invest if You’re Sitting on a Pile of Cash Right Now [A Wealth of Common Sense] – “I would love to be able to tell you how to invest this money — be it index funds or blue chip stocks or real estate but I can’t. You can’t just wing it by putting your money into something and hoping for the best. You need an overarching investment philosophy to follow.”

In our first post, Jonathan Clements makes the argument that personal finance is personal and that what works for someone else isn’t necessarily what will work for you (and several other ideas of a similar vein).

I think most of what someone needs to do is universal – ideas like spending less than you earn. But the approach to it can be different. Some people love tracking their spending and budgeting because it gives them control and freedom. Others hate it because it’s a chore and they loathe it (so pay yoursel first!). The core idea, of saving money, is the same – the way you get there can shift.

His post delves into a few reasons why you shouldn’t just take an expert’s advice as gospel and apply it to your life, exactly as they prescribe:

(good general life lessons too, not just about money)

Begging to Differ [Humble Dollar] – “But make no mistake: When it comes to handling money, nobody has a monopoly on truth. Yes, logic and evidence favor certain courses of action, such as buying stocks if you have a long time horizon, holding down investment costs, diversifying, indexing, saving diligently, insuring against big financial risks and so on. But in the end, each of us has to tailor such advice to our individual financial life.”

Buy well. Buy once. [fellow.ventures] – “In 1999 a soap salesman called Tyler Durden told me ‘The things you own end up owning you’. Since then I’ve been extremely intentional about what I own and why. I do my best to ‘Buy well. Buy once.'” Great story about “upcycling.”

The $400 Million Investment Fund That Gives Athletes Cash In Exchange For Future Earnings [Huddle Up] – “Big League Advantage is an investment firm that provides athletes with cash payments in exchange for a percentage of future earnings. The company has raised over $400 million and signed deals with several big-name athletes, so today’s [post] breaks down everything you need to know about how their business works.” Fascinating model that they’ve tried elsewhere, like with Ivy League college students, but it really goes to show how valuable modeling is. It’s like an evolution of sabermetrics.

Howdy, folks, and welcome back to Apex Money. It’s almost time to head into the weekend! Before you do, here are some money stories I’ve gathered for you.

Why frugality is the root of riches. [Darius Foroux] — “The truth is you don’t have to live on these extremes. You can live a balanced, frugal, and still rich life. Cicero believed that to live a fulfilling life, we must cultivate virtues such as honesty, compassion, and courage. He saw philosophy as a means to attaining wisdom and leading a good life.”

“31 lessons I’ve learned about money.” [Ryan Holiday] — “To the Stoics, the solution to these timeless problems—the way to be better with money, to improve your relationship with money, to not fall for every smooth talker, Marcus Aurelius said—is the same: get smarter. Become better educated on the topic of money.”

How some people get away with doing nothing at work. [Emily Stewart] — “Reporting for this story, I spoke with multiple people who are essentially funemployed, or at least one meaning of it, who sit around at work all day with very little to do. What was most surprising was that many did not exactly love the situation and felt somewhat conflicted.”

The problem with the 4% rule (and why you can retire even sooner). [Mad Fientist] — “I’ve always had a problem with the 4% rule for early retirement. It’s not because it’s bad or wrong. It’s because it’s not for early retirement. My biggest issue is that it doesn’t account for the flexibility of most early-retirees.”

This weekend is the climax of my arctic cruise. On Sunday, the ship will reach Longyearbyen, Norway, the world’s northernmost settlement with a population greater than 1000 people. How far north? 78°13′N 15°38′E — 817 miles from the North Pole. After that, we begin wending our way south to Iceland.

Jim will be back with you next week. I’ll return in ten days with more of my own money magic. See you then.

Happy Thursday, my money nerds, and welcome back to Apex Money. Today’s stories aren’t directly related to money, but applying their lessons could help you become a better, more successful person. And that, in turn, could lead to financial success. Take a look.

How to say “no”. [Robert Glazer] — “I regularly get 10+ requests for my time every week and often reach a breaking point. There are many times when I can’t and don’t want to take on anything new, so I decided to try saying no using a format inspired by Ferriss. Here’s an example of the kind of response letter I sent.”

“I learned to talk less and listen more.” [Shondaland] — “‘You might be passionate about a topic and therefore interrupt the other person because you just can’t hold it in,’ says Ximena Vengoechea, a user researcher and author of Listen Like You Mean It. But she tells me that when we interrupt someone, we miss the chance to understand the other person. While they may appreciate your enthusiasm, they could be gearing up to ask you for help.” [I’ve been actively working to improve my listening skills. It’s difficult.]

How to slow down time. [Rich in What Matters] — “Time moves as fast as you let it. And, by succumbing to society-promoted hyper living, I was letting it run on warp speed. To live intentionally, I had to slow down and let go. Decelerating the speed of your life has a slowing effect on time. But to optimize the deceleration, you also have to let go.”

That’s all I have for you today. I’ll be back tomorrow with one final installment of Apex Money before we head into the weekend…

We hope we did not keep you waiting too long. Enjoy these great articles Plutus family!

Check out what we have for you this week.

From Dawn till Dusk: A Lifetime Condensed Into 24 Hours. [Mantaro Money] — “What would your life look like if it was condensed down to 24 hours? Would you be happy with how you’d spent your day so far? Do the plans you have for the rest of your day fill you with excitement or dread? Do you have any plans at all?” (Submitted by J. Money.)

ABLE Age Adjustment Act. [Saving for College] — “ABLE accounts have been around since 2014, but in late 2022 they got a facelift via the ABLE Age Adjustment Act, which passed as a part of SECURE 2.0. This new law ups the maximum age of onset of disability from 26 to 46, nearly doubling the eligible user base.” (Submitted by Tarsha.)

Plowman’s Lunch. [Humble Dollar] — “The conditions that made gardens practical and thrifty have faded. Nevertheless, each spring in my backyard, I drag the plow of the past habits of long-dead loved ones back and forth.” (Submitted by J. Money.)

Hello, money nerds, and greetings from Harstad, Norway. My arctic journey continues as my ship creeps farther north. While I’m “enjoying” winter-like weather, I’ve gathered this batch of money stories for you.

“Three ways I’m teaching my son about money. [Rich & Regular] — “Our son obviously doesn’t understand everything about money, but he’s already made the connection between saving money and delayed gratification. He knows that in our family, we value experiences over things. And he knows investing money makes his balance grow as sure as he understands healthy food choices makes his body grow.”

What do grown children owe their parents? [Fatherly] — “With more independence and fewer expectations, what we owe our parents or our children’s grandparents is now calculated in man-hours and long-term investments. Do we owe them a call? Do we owe them Thanksgiving? Do we owe them weekends? Do we owe them end of life care? Do we owe them financial support? Do we owe them grandchildren? Or do we owe them nothing?”

The high price of procrastination. [Financial Success, M.D.] — “Sometimes it is the fear of making a wrong decision, or a less than perfect decision, that stops us in our tracks. But what we don’t see at the moment is how much money or time it will cost by not acting now. Everything has a price and procrastination can often be very expensive as I am learning first hand almost daily.”

Get rich holistically. [The Escape Artist] — “Why is it so hard to build wealth and get life we want? Because mastering each of the pillars can be hard and because balancing them all is hard. The journey involves not just hard work and learning…but also self-awareness. We need self-awareness to avoid falling into common traps such as procrastination, burnout, workaholism and career blow up.”

Tomorrow, you’ll get some stories from our friends at the Plutus Foundation. I’ll be back on Thursday with more stuff for you.

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.”