Apex Money Posts

A lot of raise negotiation posts share a lot of the things you should do but few go into what you might be thinking and feeling while you do them.

“As long you accept less than you deserve, we’ll give you less than you deserve.”

Raises, Negotiations, and $67,000 [The Best Interest] – “Human Resources aren’t your buddy. Nor mine. Their job is to work on behalf of the corporation. Not on behalf of individual employees. It doesn’t make them bad or evil. It’s just a fact. They aren’t there to help individual employees, especially when it comes to salary negotiations. With this new fact in hand, I rethought all my prior interactions with HR. That’s when I realized that HR was playing a different game.”

Who scams the scammers? Meet the scambaiters [The Guardian] – “hree to four days a week, for one or two hours at a time, Rosie Okumura, 35, telephones thieves and messes with their minds. For the past two years, the LA-based voice actor has run a sort of reverse call centre, deliberately ringing the people most of us hang up on – scammers who pose as tax agencies or tech-support companies or inform you that you’ve recently been in a car accident you somehow don’t recall. When Okumura gets a scammer on the line, she will pretend to be an old lady, or a six-year-old girl, or do an uncanny impression of Apple’s virtual assistant Siri. Once, she successfully fooled a fake customer service representative into believing that she was Britney Spears. “I waste their time,” she explains, “and now they’re not stealing from someone’s grandma.”” Love love love this. Reminds me of the 419Eater folks!

Are you a fan of FIRE?

MarketWatch did a whole series of short videos a couple years ago (fewer than 10 minutes long) profiling a lot of wonderful folks, several of which are our friends. The whole playlist list is linked above but here’s the video of Julien and Kiersten Saunders from rich & Regular:

I enjoy a little light gambling – fantasy sports, occasional Pai Gow or craps game, poker with friends, things like that. I’m not even sure that would even register as gambling on some radars!

It’s a little bit of a thrill but has zero chance of changing anything in our lives. You can’t go broke losing $20 in your annual fantasy football league. (and since I work from home, I skip out on the annual March Madness pools so when you think about it, I’m practically making money now!)

I find it fascinating that there are people out there who are willing to risk it all, multiple times, and go through the boom and bust cycle like that. it’s also a little heartbreaking because I believe it’s a hint of something darker going on. I don’t mean all gambling, I mean a specific type, which is discussed in the first post today:

The Psychology of Betting Big and Losing it All [A Wealth of Common Sense] – “Livermore earned more than a million dollars in a matter of days by shorting stocks during the Panic of 1907. He would lose it all and declare bankruptcy before the first World War ended. His greatest trade came when he shorted the market in the fall of 1929 just as stocks were peaking before one of the greatest crashes in history. At one point following the Great Depression, Livermore was worth upwards of $100 million. That would be multiple billions in today’s dollars. It made Livermore one of the 10 richest people on the planet. It would take just five years for him to lose it all yet again by making bad trades on margin.”

Mr. CC walks through his thought process on health insurance and ends up getting paid for being insured due to incentives. It’s a very hands on, detailed discussion that will be valuable if you intend to look at health insurance options:
How to Have Negative Health Insurance Costs [Clipping Chains] – “After years of worrying about health insurance costs in a post-W2 job world, I’m pleased to report that we are now getting paid to have coverage. Is the plan completely awesome? I mean, for us it is. We’ve chosen to insure minimally, but we don’t believe in no insurance at all. There are too many unforeseen risks of choosing to forego insurance.”

As someone who isn’t a particularly strong swimmer, I cannot even fathom freediving:

The Secrets of The World’s Greatest Freediver [GQ] – “With only a single breath, Alexey Molchanov, history’s most daring freediver, is reaching improbable depths—and discovering a new kind of enlightenment as he conquers one of the world’s wildest sports.”

The only NFTs I own are a few NBA Top Shot, the digital version of a sports collectible card. Basketball is my favorite sport to play, one of my favorite to watch, and I’ve been a long suffering New York Knicks fan… so I “get” why someone would get into NBA Top Shot and sports related NFTs.

I don’t fully “get” the other NFT projects just like I don’t get collectors of Hummel dolls, Beanie Babies, paraphernalia from your favorite band (Beatles!), etc. But I “get” why people do it and that’s good enough for me.

Here’s an alternate explanation that also makes sense to me:

I Collect Cashflows [The Reformed Broker] – “I collect shares of businesses. Been doing it since my late teens. Not always successfully. I use a certain type of non fungible token called a stock certificate for this. I never lay hands on the certificate, it’s in digital form, living somewhere in the multiverse. A company called DTC makes sure the shares I’ve bought are the shares I get. And then I hold them. Sometimes I will trade them for digital dollars that I also don’t ever see or touch, but then soon after I am trading those dollars for another pile of virtual stock certificates. People will say “You’re crazy, why would you want to buy a fraction of a company you will never touch and hold in your hands?” And I’m like “You just don’t understand.””

This next post is good advice on security:

How to keep your money, investments, and cryptocurrency secure; preventing hacking, phishing and other nefarious scams [Accidentally Retired] – “I want to preface all this by saying that even if you are doing everything correctly, there is still going to be some level of risk that you take simply by using the internet. This is similar to the type of risk that you take every time you get into a car. But nevertheless, the risk is still there.”

Alicia Keys – Songs I Wish I Wrote (LIVE at the 61st GRAMMYs) is a really fun video and shows just how some artists, especially Alicia Keys, are truly next level:

The dash refers to the dash on your tombstone. Happy Monday. 🙂

Live Your Dash with No Regrets [Simple by Emmy] – “In their research on regret, Thomas Gilovich and Victoria Husted Medvec found that “people’s biggest regrets tend to involve things they have failed to do in their lives…Actions cause more pain in the short-term, but inactions are regretted more in the long run.””

Worth vs. Worth It: Homeownership [The Golden Albatross] – “Guest post time! This article is another from friend of the blog, Chris Pascale. Never one to shy away from the controversial money topics, Chris takes on the homeownership versus renting debate. He does this by comparing the running costs of homeownership to renting over decades. In doing so, Chris concludes that while owning the property in which you live is usually a money-losing proposition, it’s a vastly smaller money-losing proposition than renting. Therefore, since we all have to live somewhere, owning is the most efficient use of one’s housing money.” Emphasis is mine but this is a sensible look at the buy vs. rent discussion. We sold our first home at a loss (we bought it during the mid-2000s housing boom) and I made this same calculation to realize we paid $600 a month to live in a townhouse that would’ve cost us more than $2,000 a month.

​​What’s the Point of 15-Minute Grocery Delivery? [Vice] – “Experts wonder if any innovation could allow a company to turn a healthy profit by delivering food in minutes for no additional cost without making life miserable for workers. But the question of what success would mean is almost as profound. What will a city filled with rapid-delivery grocery startups look like? And, for all the costs, what will we really have gained? These companies operate only in dense urban neighborhoods where a grocery store is rarely more than a 10-minute walk away.” This sounds more like a company trying to steal market share through differentiation than creating a benefit someone truly needs. Also, didn’t Domino’s try this decades ago and have to quite because it’s dangerous? That was pizza and 30 minutes! This quote lower down in the post is especially grim – “One of the great paradoxes of modern global capitalism is that we make enormous amounts of food, ship it all over the world, keep it fresh and edible throughout the entire process, and sell it for remarkably little; and yet, a shocking amount of it gets thrown out while people go hungry just a few miles away.”

I think a postal banking system would be amazing, if it can be executed properly, because it can save people a ton of money over check cashing places and generates some more revenue for the USPS. Wal-Mart was already an OK solution but there are far more post offices.

USPS Begins Postal Banking Pilot Program [The American Prospect] – “The United States Postal Service (USPS) has taken the most dramatic step in a half-century to re-establish a postal banking system in America. In four pilot cities, customers can now cash payroll or business checks of up to $500 at post office locations, and have the money put onto a single-use gift card. It’s the most far-reaching executive action that the Biden administration has taken since Inauguration Day.”

It’s Friday! Let the celebrating begin!

It’s rare that I feature two articles from the same blog in any given week, but Fritz from the Retirement Manifesto happened to publish a new piece this morning that I liked very much. So, I’m doing it. Take a look.

The 90/10 rule of retirement. [The Retirement Manifesto] — “In preparation for retirement, most people spend 90% of their planning time on the financial issues and 10% on the non-financial issues. After retirement, the ratio reverses, and most retirees spend the vast majority of their time focusing on the non-financial issues of life.” [From my experience, this is truth, and it’s probably the biggest blind spot in the financial independence movement. Too many people spend too much time focused on money.]

A brief guide to financial advisor licenses and designations. [Oblivious Investor] — “The first thing that confuses (and surprises) many people is that the term financial advisor doesn’t have any legal meaning at all. Basically anybody can refer to themselves as a financial advisor. A person who refers to himself or herself as a financial advisor might, from a regulatory perspective, actually be any of a few different things: an investment adviser representative, an insurance agent, a registered representative, or none of the above.”

How losing money can help you earn money. [Darius Foroux] — “Never make huge financial decisions while you’re going through a stressful time. This makes you vulnerable to bad investments or costly mistakes. Your mental bandwidth is limited; you can only take a few things at a time. So park that money somewhere safe. And then decide what to do with it when you’re emotionally and practically ready.”

Much of what you’ll do and say to day is non-essential. [Farnam Street] — “The paradox is that in an effort to do more, we end up doing less. When you find yourself in a hole, the best thing to do is stop digging. By failing to think about how we’re working, we only end up burning ourselves out. There is another way to improve performance but it’s a bit unconventional: Eliminate the bullshit.”

To wrap things up this week, here’s a 20-minute YouTube video from Patrick Willems that dives deep into what he considers the most difficult shot in movie history (and why it matters).

This is one of those videos that I didn’t expect to watch completely — but I did. I found it fascinating. Perhaps you will too.

And that’s all she wrote! Jim will be back next week with some of his favorite stories from the world of personal finance. And I’ll see you soon with more of my own faves. Take care, my friends.

Good morning, Apexians. It is I, your charming host, J.D. Roth, and I’m back with another round-up of interesting money stories from around the interwebs. Let’s dive right in.

Who scams the scammers? Meet the scambaiters. [The Guardian] — “In this environment, scambaiters seem like superheroes – but is the story that simple? What motivates people like Okumura? How helpful is their vigilantism? And has a scambaiter ever made a scammer have a change of heart? Batman became Batman to avenge the death of his parents; Okumura became a scambaiter after her mum was scammed out of $500.”

The truth about those dollar stores. [Consumer Reports] — “What critics and fans can agree on: Dollar stores are changing the way we shop. And given that they appear to be here to stay, it pays to know how to shop there, whether they are your only option, or one of many. Our six-month investigation provides insights that can help you navigate their aisles.” [See also CR‘s companion stories: How to be a smart dollar store shopper and Are dollar stores worth the trip?]

How to stop comparing yourself to others and love who you are. [Making Sense of Cents] — “Whether you are trying to reach your financial goals, working towards your dream career, wanting to travel more, start a family, or something else, here are ways to stop comparing yourself to others and be happier with your life.”

The pursuit of childhood joy. [The Retirement Manifesto] — “What if we were intentional in the pursuit of childhood joy? Could it be one of the tricks to living a more enjoyable life? I believe so, and I encourage you to give it a try.”

And…say what? I haven’t posted a fun non-financial video all week? Has the world gone mad? Quite possibly. And as proof, here is a mind-blowing mash-up of Hall and Oates with Nine Inch Nails: “I Can’t Get Closer for That”. Wow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxRpZGQnXcI

Trust me. This works far better than it should. It’s insane. (And because it includes NIN’s “Closer”, it’s raunchy. You have been warned.)

Come back tomorrow for more great stories about personal finance — and a video that’s a lot less strange than that one…

Good morning, sunshine, and welcome to another day of Apex Money, your home for hand-selected articles about personal finance and self improvement. Every weekday, Jim and I collect a few of our recent faves to share with a couple thousand faithful readers.

Here’s what I have for you today…

Why hard work alone isn’t enough to get ahead. [BBC Worklife] — “Hard work is still very important, says Carol Frohlinger, president of US-based consulting firm Negotiating Women, Inc. But simply waiting for someone to pick up on it is detrimental…This flies in the face of societal training that begins as early as primary school, when students are taught that the quiet, hard workers are those most likely to prosper.”

Do you have a shopping addiction? (And how to recover.) [Women Who Money] — “Shopping is very much a part of everyday life, especially in today’s world of one-click purchases and Apple Pay. But when shopping becomes a compulsion, you buy things you don’t need, or you’re deeply in debt because of your purchases, there may be a bigger problem at hand.”

Nobody knows how the economy actually works, and a Fed paper is the latest sign. [The New York Times, so possible paywall] — “Macroeconomics, despite the thousands of highly intelligent people over centuries who have tried to figure it out, remains, to an uncomfortable degree, a black box. The ways that millions of people bounce off one another — buying and selling, lending and borrowing, intersecting with governments and central banks and businesses and everything else around us — amount to a system so complex that no human fully comprehends it.”

Lastly today, here’s a lucid explanation of a logic problem that has puzzled me for decades. It’s the first walk-through of the Monty Hall problem that has made sense to me.

Why you should always switch: The Monty Hall problem explained. [Behavioral Scientist] — “One of the most famous television game shows from the heyday of the genre from the 1950s to the 1980s was Let’s Make a Deal. Its host, Monty Hall, achieved a second kind of fame when a dilemma in probability theory, loosely based on the show, was named after him. A contestant is faced with three doors. Behind one of them is a sleek new car. Behind the other two are goats.”

That’s all she wrote! I’ll be back tomorrow with more interesting stuff. See you then…

Good morning, Apexians! I hope you enjoy today’s articles as much as I did. This is one of those fun days where each of the pieces is meaty and thoughtful — and they’re all varied. Get ready to learn some stuff!

A short history of Visa — and the credit-card industry. [E-Investing for Beginners, via All-Star Money] — “The final evolution to today’s credit card was the creation of revolving credit by Bank of America with their BankAmericard. It was the first revolving credit, meaning when you use the card and pay the bill, you get the credit back to use again in the future. BankAmericard, created in 1966, was the precursor to Visa.”

What to do in the case of sustained inflation. [GMO Investments] — “Our best recommendation is to buy true, real assets as a store of value. Foremost amongst these assets is obviously equities. They may make a terrible inflation hedge (as they did during the early 1970s), but over the long term they represent the businesses that charge prices and pay wages, so their cash flows should be real if these two elements are roughly matched. As such, they act as a store of value in the longer term.” Also interesting is the postscript on cryptocurrency. [See also: Tall tales and true causes of inflation.]

Fine dining after COVID. [Grub Street] — “Bloviating critics like me have been predicting the demise of what used to be called ‘haute cuisine’ for decades now, but as the great COVID hurricane eases slowly off the coast, leaving all sorts of wreckage and chaos in its wake, the old gourmet model of fine dining has never seemed so disconnected, irrelevant, and out of touch.”

Kim and I went out for a nice dinner the other night to celebrate (a) her birthday and (b) our recent move. We dine out a lot, but in recent years that’s mostly meant pubs and taco stands. We rarely eat at a nice place.

I have to tell you: We were underwhelmed. We spent $150 on two entrees and four glasses of wine. It’s not that the food was bad; it’s just that we didn’t feel like we received value for our money. We would have been much, much happier spending $40 or $50 to get French dips and beer at the local BBQ joint. Or even $20 for pizza and water.

And when I was in Austin recently, I got to eat at a handful of fancy spots. I used to really enjoy dining in nice places, but I found the experience miserable: long waits, extremely high prices, huge portions of greasy food.

All this is to say, I really felt that last article. It articulated something that’s been percolating in the back of my mind, but about which I hadn’t yet given voice. Fine dining does seem increasingly irrelevant. And that’s not just me being a cranky old man. (Or is it?)

Good morning, my friends, and welcome to another week of Apex Money. I’m late with this Monday installment because I spent my entire weekend unpacking instead of reading about money.

That’s right. Five weeks after our move, Kim and I are still unpacking stuff here at our new house. That’s the bad news. The good news is that we’re almost finished! In fact, I’m hopeful that we’ll unpack the final boxes later this week.

Before I dive back into house stuff, though, I took some time this morning to browse the interwebs for recent money stories. Here are some of the best that I read…

Why are American homes so big? [The Atlantic] — “Over the course of the 20th century, government policy, the invention of cheaper, mass-produced building materials, marketing by home builders, and a shift in how people regarded their houses—not just as homes, but as financial assets—encouraged ever larger houses.” [This is an interesting article that suggests this is a complicated question to answer…says the man writing from his 3400-square-foot home.]

“How a $500 monthly allowance saved our marriage.” [Slate] — “As time has gone on, our system’s secondary benefits have become clear. The allowances tend to contain our discretionary spending, and make us feel comfortable about the rest of our money going into a common pot and common savings.”

On Solitude. [Ideas & Musings on Substack] — “Hence another paradox of solitude : the problems that solitude can help you overcome often make it hard to take the time to do the solitude in the first place. But the time I take gives me back double. I’m so much more effective, so much more precise. So much more in tune, in sync.”

RV dealerships think new campers are pieces of junk. [Jalopnik] — “If you’ve purchased an RV recently and felt that your new rig is more of a pile of crap than you expected, you’re probably not imagining things. According to a report from RV Travel, longtime RV dealers are tired of manufacturers building RVs with terrible quality, too and they’re complaining about it.”

I feel like that last article deserves a bit more comment from me. I realize that not many of you are in the market for an RV, but because I haver personal experience purchasing a motorhome, I feel like I can offer some good advice.

You see, seven years ago my girlfriend and I were in the market for a new motorhome. We were visiting dealerships and attending RV shows. It was clear from the start that — as the above article notes — most RVs are crap. They’re expensive and poorly made.

Our solution? Tons and tons of research. Online, we browsed RV forums to read real-world experiences from actual owners. We subscribed to a an RV review service (the name of which escapes me). When we met folks who owned RVs, we asked about their experience.

In the end, we narrowed our search to a handful of brands: two brands in the top tier (yes, that’s right — there are only two top-tier RV brands…and neither is producing new RVs) and maybe four or five brands in the second tier. And we focused our search on low-milage used RVs. In January 2015, we purchased a 2005 Bigfoot Class C motorhome. It was a solid choice.

The bottom line is this: If you’re looking to buy an RV, take your time. Buy quality. And save yourself big bucks by buying used.

I believe in myself but I also agree that it’s overrated. 🙂

Believing In Yourself is Overrated. This is Better. [Ryan Holiday] – “On a regular basis, I get emails from people who are trying to do big things. They are convinced they have some multi-billion dollar idea, a genius pitch, some brilliant artistic concept. They also have complete certainty that it will be a success (“I just need you for the marketing”). It’s always fascinating to see what this certainty is based on, because it almost always turns out to be, well, nothing. Mostly just wishful thinking, that idea that they can manifest this into being.”

A museum says they gave an artist $84,000 in cash to use in artwork. He delivered blank canvases and titled them “Take the Money and Run.” [CBS News] – “A Danish artist was given $84,000 by a museum to use in a work of art. When he delivered the piece he was supposed to make, it was not as promised. Instead, the artist, Jens Haaning, gave the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg, Denmark two blank canvases and said they were titled ‘Take the Money and Run.'” hahahahahahahahah

How 4 companies control the beef industry – fascinating video by Vox! Goes into great detail about how the beef industry works.

As a fun comparison, and this is less about the overall business and more about one step, here’s a video about the day in the life of a Japanese Wagyu Beef Farmer. There aren’t as many people in the process but it’s still fun to watch.