Apex Money Posts

Hello, Apexians, and welcome to another Monday! It feels like it’s going to be a great week, doesn’t it? Maybe that’s because Kim and I recently made an offer on a home and had it accepted — all without a crazy bidding war!

Our home inspection last Friday went well. Tomorrow, we’ll have an additional structural inspection to look at some cracks around doors and windows. It’s probably just standard settling stuff, but we want to be sure before we actually purchase the place, you know?

The place we’re buying reminds me some of the Brady Bunch house. It’s a 1964 two-level ranch with some mid-century modern vibes. Because of that, let’s lead off today with our bonus video. Here’s a 20-minute CGI recreation of the Brady house. So fun!

Next, let’s dive right into the personal-finance links.

The end of peak consumerism? [The Art of Manliness] — “When you shop online, you’re more likely to only buy things you really need; when you shop in a store, you’re more likely to pick up extra stuff. Statistically and specifically speaking, consumers spend an average of $50 more when they shop in a store versus online.”

What self-care really means. [Thought Catalog] — “Self-care is often a very unbeautiful thing. It is making a spreadsheet of your debt and enforcing a morning routine and cooking yourself healthy meals and no longer just running from your problems and calling the distraction a solution. It is often doing the ugliest thing that you have to do.”

Why you should spend money on your friends. [Incognito Money Scribe] — “What are friends for? A lot. While it is important to identify what expenses you can cut from your budget, it is equally important to identify what you like to joyfully spend money on. We should never get too hung up on spending time and money on friends. It sounds trite, but it seems necessary to write because fewer and fewer people have them.”

That last article really hits home for me. This past year specifically (and the past five years, in general), I’ve allowed too many friendships to lapse. This summer, I’m actively working to rekindle those relationships, and it feels like this is some of the best spending I can possible do.

Anyhow, that’s it for Monday. I’ll be back tomorrow with more of the best from the world of personal finance. See you then!

In 2020, 6,707 Americans renounced their citizenship in favor of a foreign country. And many of them are ultra-wealthy and appear to be doing this to reduce their tax burden.

Wealthy people are renouncing American citizenship [Axios] – “The IRS publishes a quarterly list of the names of people who have renounced their citizenship or given up their green cards, but it only includes people with global assets over $2 million.”

The interesting thing is that we don’t know why they repatriated. I do know that my friends who have dealt with the tax system while working abroad… it’s a nightmare. They had contracts in which the company paid for an accounting firm to do it but even then sometimes they mess things up. I can’t imagine a regular person trying to do it themselves.

My Biggest Financial Regret (And How to Avoid Making the Same Mistake) [Bravely Go] – “It took me three and a half years total to pay off my debt and that is three and a half years of time in the stock market (during the longest bull market in US history I might add!!!!) that I will never, ever get back. Time is the one thing that we can’t make more of. […] Adding a missed three and a half years on top of that lifetime of low income, plus a lack of generational wealth and no inheritance, and time becomes a hell of a lot MORE important to me and people like me.”

This next one is a kind of fun to read this meandering discussion about retirement from a guy who has had his hands in a bunch of different things from education to entrepreneurship. I enjoyed this article on his blog, which he wrote in 2006 but recently appeared on HN:

Early Retirement [Philip Greenspun] – “Retirement forces you to stop thinking that it is your job that holds you back. For most people the depressing truth is that they aren’t that organized, disciplined, or motivated.” This is just one small sliver of a massive and delicious apple pie – read the whole thing!

How cool is this domino robot?????

Have a great weekend!

As I read articles on the internet, I throw the most interesting ones into a list that I hope to share with you.

From time to time, I’m able to weave a narrative around a collection of stories. Sometimes I can’t.

Today is one of those days where you get some interesting stories with no connection to one another other than I think they are interesting. Enjoy!

First – my good friend Ramit Sethi of I Will Teach You To Be Rich has a new podcast! He talks with regular people about money and really dives deep. The first episode features a couple who started a baklava business together and it’s spicy!

Check out Ramit’s new podcast

Cities That Will Pay You To Move There [Accidental FIRE] – “The website MakeMyMove.com is a central hub to find places in the United States currently offering incentives to relocate. As of this post some of the cities that will pay you to relocate are as diverse as Honolulu Hawaii, Augusta Maine, and uh, Baltimore Maryland.”

The Billionaire Playbook: How Sports Owners Use Their Teams to Avoid Millions in Taxes [ProPublica] – “Owners like Steve Ballmer can take the kinds of deductions on team assets — everything from media deals to player contracts — that industrialists take on factory equipment. That helps them pay lower tax rates than players and even stadium workers.”

Wild Superyacht Secrets I Learned When I Became a Deckhand [Bloomberg] – “The to-do list I shared with the eight other crew members included tweezing fried chicken crumbs off the teak flooring, acting as a human clothes rack on seven-figure shopping sprees, and ferrying to the middle of nowhere to pick up caviar. If you thought life was always glam aboard a superyacht, here’s proof that it’s super-not.”

Hachiko: The True Story of a Loyal Dog That Waited at Train Station for Deceased Owner [Cesar’s Way] – “Ueno never came home from work, as he suffered a brain hemorrhage and died. Of course, Hachi had no idea about this, so the loyal dog continued to wait for his owner’s return. Every day like clockwork, when the train would appear, so would Hachi, searching for Ueno. Hachi’s fidelity earned him the nickname “the faithful dog.” Hachi never gave up hope and continued to wait for more than nine years for his owner to return” That’s loyalty.

When we bought our current home several years ago, I was lucky to be on a company’s payroll (it was just after I sold my blog and was working for the company as part of the transaction). If I hadn’t been receiving a paycheck, it would’ve been much harder to buy a home despite my credit score or bank balances.

A little silly but that’s how it works, right?

Well fast forward to today, I wanted to check out refinancing our mortgage to lower rates and it turns out things are slightly better. I just need to have a tax return but since my accountant always waits until October (the extension deadline) because of how slowly K-1s come in, we haven’t finalized that yet.

All this to say that it pales in comparison to when J.D. offered $777,777 (fun number!) on a house listed at $649,000 and lost. Oh he also signed a $50,000 appraisal gap waiver and required no repairs. How wild is that???

We offered to buy a home for $128,000 over list — but it wasn’t enough! [Get Rich Slowly] – “That’s right: Two months after selling our home — and three months after beginning to search for the next place — Kim and I have waded back into this crazy housing market. We’re not sure how long this process will last (or what the outcome will be) but we’re prepared to be searching for many weeks, if not months.”

This reminds me so much of the frothy housing market back in the mid-2000s. Our townhouse back then was listed at something like $260,000 and sold for $295,000 – “only” 14% over list. My parents didn’t understand how a house was selling over list (different times Mom and Dad!).

May we live in exciting times.

The ballad of the Chowchilla bus kidnapping [Vox] – “In 1976, a school bus carrying 26 children and their driver disappeared from a small California town, capturing the world’s attention. Forty-five years later, we revisit the story. […] What happened to Chowchilla is the story of a generation-defining crime that briefly shook the world, and the ripple effects it had on the state’s heartland. It’s about the huge differences between urban and rural California, the rich and the poor, how a town overcame being dragged to hell and back, and what we have to learn from the fading ghost stories of the 20th century.”

Stay Skeptical of Personal Finance Gurus [The Sensible Merchant] – “No two situations are the same so no two outcomes will be the same when you start tweaking the dials. This is why it’s unhelpful to share your numbers and comes off as a platform for you to humble brag more than help.”

I sold my first personal finance blog when I was 30 and could, if I wanted to, effectively “retire.”

Except I didn’t. I decided to start other businesses, including the blog that I work on full-time now, WalletHacks.com, and it’s because I didn’t really know what to do. I felt I still had more in the tank, I wasn’t ready to stop earning because I felt like I didn’t need to, so I kept on at it.

So even though it’s been ten years, and I still don’t feel ready to stop the income engine, this first article about the two halves of one’s life was important for me to find. I still think it’s enough to find meaning in success but I can now see a world in which it won’t be.

Life’s Two Halves [Humble Dollar] – “I was around age 50 when I came across the writings of psychiatrist Carl Jung and his discussion of the two halves of life. For me, the timing couldn’t have been better. Jung saw that, in the second half of life, it’s no longer enough to find meaning in success. He knew, as we age, we find purpose in different ways than in life’s first half.”

Attention Is The Cash Value Of Time [A Teachable Moment] – “Despite what you think, time isn’t your most valuable asset. Attention supersedes all. You’re as free as your attention span permits.” A quick read that will make you think. The author suggests living paycheck to paycheck isn’t a bad idea.

Sega sued for ‘rigged’ arcade machine [Polygon] – “Key Master has been the target of multiple court cases in the past, dating back to at least 2013. This 2021 lawsuit, as well as the others, claims these machines are rigged only to allow players to win prizes at certain times — specifically, at intervals determined by player losses.” I thought everyone knew this about the Key Master game? It’s in all the tutorials of how to “beat” it.

Do you remember Farmville? It was a Facebook app that let you run a farm and reached 80 million players.

I never played it myself but played some of their mobile phone clones and remembered that it was a entertaining and mindless way to spend some time. It’s really not that different from games like Animal Crossing on the Switch, which we played quite a bit last year during the pandemic.

So when I read this headline about a Ponzi scheme with a Farmville clone, I had to read it. I never spent money on Farmville or any of the other clones, so I didn’t understand how fraud could be involved. As it turns out, this clone involved real money (well, in the sense that you could pay into it!):

Fraud on the Farm: How a baby-faced CEO turned a Farmville clone into a massive Ponzi scheme [Rest of World] – “Farm Bank let players make money, while supporting real farms. Then the CEO vanished with $80 million.”

What it Means to be Rich [A Wealth of Common Sense] – “Having millions of dollars wouldn’t come close to providing the same feeling I got this past week watching my 7-year old scale a rock wall like a champ or confidently walk up to do a high ropes course with zero signs of trepidation or fear.”

How to Live Like You’re Already Retired [Incognito Money Scribe] – “Most of us are guilty of waiting to do something until an ideal future arrives, which is never guaranteed to arrive. […] There is a lot of research that shows what things unequivocally help retirees live a healthier, happier and more meaningful life (one of which is volunteering). Those same studies and surveys actually tell all of us how to live better lives right now. Because the benefits of those activities encompass all age groups. Essentially, if you want to lead a more fulfilling life, then do the things retirees are told to do to make the most of their remaining years.”

It’s Friday! The weekend is coming! Before we take some time off, though, let’s look at some recent personal-finance stories from around the web.

Americans with a higher net worth at midlife tend to live longer. [Science Daily] — “In the first wealth and longevity study to incorporate siblings and twin pair data, researchers from Northwestern University analyzed the midlife net worth of adults (mean age 46.7 years) and their mortality rates 24 years later. They discovered those with greater wealth at midlife tended to live longer.”

Happiness dividends: Making your experiences pay you back. [Managing FI] — “If going to the state fair and riding the Ferris wheel was a fond memory from your childhood then consider repeating that experience with your children and grand children. Repeating that experience will make you recall and tell stories about when you used to ride the Ferris wheel with your parents and how much you loved it.”

Mistakes to avoid in estate planning.” [Women Who Money] — “An estate plan that’s full of mistakes might cause more harm than good. Make sure you read all legal documents thoroughly and correct any errors you find before signing them. Misspelled names or incorrect addresses, accidentally omitting an heir, or gifting the wrong asset to a beneficiary can happen. While you can easily fix those types of mistakes when caught, they may cause lots of grief when they’re not.”

The science of sleep (and how it affects your health and brain). [Science Focus] — “Sleep is the single most effective thing we do each day to reset the health of our brain and body. It’s an extraordinary elixir that can help you age well and live longer. Here’s what we know about Mother Nature’s cure-all.”

And to wrap things up, here’s a thirteen-minute video from The Wall Street Journal that explains their deep-dive into how TikTok’s algorithm figures you out.

I’ve tried TikTok twice now. I hate it. I don’t get it. It makes me feel like an old man. After watching this video, I have a hypothesis as to why I don’t like it. (Well, aside from the fact that’s made for short attention spans and is yet one more piece in the “no nuance” puzzle that dominates social media.)

When I use TikTok, I just watch the default recommended videos. This leads TikTok to believe I like them. I don’t. But I don’t know how to find stuff I like. As a result, it just gives me the same stupid dance and song stuff over and over.

Ah, well. Not every platform is for every person, right?

Okay, that’s it for this week. Jim will be back in August with more great stuff from around the web. Come back and hang out with us, okay?

Good morning, everybody, and welcome to another day of Apex Money. Let’s dive right into the personal-finance stories.

Why you should stay skeptical of personal-finance gurus. [The Sensible Merchant] — “There is no budget in the world that is going to get you or anyone else a quarter of a million dollars in cash in 3 years unless you are already a high earner or very wealthy, so let’s knock off the charade. This is an echo chamber at its finest.”

How to insulate yourself from advertisements. [Bitches Get Riches] — “Cable may be the single most wicked invention of our wicked age. Everything about it sucks. It encourages you to want things you don’t need. When you use it, you just sit passively absorbing sponsored content, wasting your time on unproductive nothingness. And doing so makes you pale, doughy, and out-of-shape. Like me.”

How does a raise early in your career affect your finances? [Of Dollars and Data] — “Imagine you just got a new job offer or you’ve been working in a job for a few years without a raise. Should you ask for more? Or should you wait it out? How much does a raise early in your career actually affect your long-term finances?The answer is…it depends.”

Lastly, here’s a video that my girlfriend sent to me. Kim has long been interested in death and dying (and would like one day to do some sort of volunteer work in palliative care), so naturally she liked this seven-minute clip about a coffin-building club that helps New Zealand old folks approach death positively.

This is a great video. You should watch it.

True story: Before my father died, he sincerely requested that we bury him in a corrugated cardboard box. You see, he had started a box-making company a decade earlier, and he wanted the family to build him a box to bury him in. We didn’t do it. I don’t regret not doing it, but in some way I feel like we betrayed him a bit. (Because he wasn’t joking.)

Okay, that’s all for today. I’ll be back tomorrow with one last installment before we head into the weekend. See you then.

Good morning, my friends, and welcome to the Wednesday edition of Apex Money. Let’s kick things off today with some stories about minimalism.

A life of meaning without buying. [Zen Habits] — “Lately I’ve been buying a lot of things: a nice watch, some cool folding knives, some tools and outdoor gear. It’s fun! But as I give in to these impulse purchases, I notice that the thrill doesn’t last that long, and it leaves me wanting more. And of course it dawns on me that this is a lesson I’ve learned a thousand times: Buying things rarely gives me any kind of fulfillment.”

Is it hoarding, collecting, or archiving? [Psychology Today] — “Do we want to be the gatekeepers and key-holders of the past, especially when the past is shared with others who are no longer with us? Those keys, and the rings that hold them, can turn into heavy chains, however, and no longer represent merely healthy ties that bind.”

Developing a “good enough” mindset to increase financial contentment. [Nerd’s Eye View] — “Because they can never have it all, Maximizers will generally suffer a lot of regrets. Hindsight is always 20/20 and this can be very disconcerting for Maximizers – How did they (or their advisor!?) not know to sell!? How did they (or their advisor!) not know to buy? Or not see the bubble? They are never (or very rarely) going to be fully satisfied with any result, no matter how hard the advisor (or even the client themselves) tries.”

Lastly, here’s yet another article about the current real-estate market. I tried to make it through an entire installment without mentioning housing…but I can’t. Sorry!

The biggest differences between today’s market and the housing bubble of the mid-2000s. [A Wealth of Common Sense] – “Don’t avoid buying a house because you think prices are too high. Avoid buying a house if you think your financial circumstances don’t warrant buying a house right now…Your personal decision to buy a home or not should be based on your own personal finances, not some macro forecast about housing prices.”

And that’s all she wrote for Wednesday. Take care, my friends, and come back tomorrow for more Apex Money.

Hello, Apexians, and welcome to Tuesday.

Although I didn’t mention it yesterday, Kim and I made an offer on a house over the weekend. We found a nice home listed for $649,000 and decided we loved it enough to throw our hat in the ring. After hours of crunching numbers in spreadsheets, we offered $777,777 (not joking) with no repairs required and a $50,000 appraisal gap waiver.

Crazy, right? Yes, it is.

But the even crazier thing is that there are likely ten or twenty other offers on the place — and most of those are probably for more than we’re willing to pay. I’d be shocked if our offer is even in the top five.

The housing market is batshit crazy right now. And because I’m still deep in this process, my first two stories are about various aspects of that craziness.

“My experience selling my house FSBO — for sale by owner.” [/r/RealEstate on Reddit] — “One risk I didn’t realize is Real Estate agents hate FSBO. Hate it. Some will not show your property to their client (they told me this). Others will try and trick you into making a mistake so they can get you delisted and you will have to go with an agent. Be leery of agents asking for anything special.”

We’d rather have the iceberg than the ship. [Granola Shotgun] — “Thirty years from now all the new homes she’s selling will slip into the ‘old’ category and will gradually fester as taxes rise and the middle class migrates to new greenfield developments. These older places (the homes being built today) will then be populated by lower class people with fewer resources and less status thereby reinforcing the perception that it’s best to move on if at all possible. These are fungible, forgettable, disposable places that rapidly age and are then left to quietly decay.”

“I’ve saved too much. What should I splurge on? [Bogleheads forum] — “I am 72 and have saved far more than our needs. I thank the powers-that-be for my good fortune. I need less than 1% of my investments annually to maintain our lifestyle, and most of that 1% is spent in give-aways to grown-up kids (and grandkids) and charity…After decades of being sensible, what are your splurges in your 70s and 80s?”

Why one man has gone two decades without money. [Capital Daily] — “Motivated by reasons more pure than stress relief, Johnston ditched money almost two decades ago, and he says there’s no going back. His last purchases—beer, cigarettes, pot—occurred 18 years ago, he says, on his 31st birthday. He claims he hasn’t spent any money since. It’s true, his friends have told me. No money at all.”

While the above story is interesting, it’s important to point out that the subject in question has gone without money the same way Henry David Thoreau lived a life of simplicity by Walden Pond: by relying on the money of others. Neither person truly gave up cash. They just let others use cash for them.

Okay, that’s it for Tuesday. Come back tomorrow. Maybe I won’t have any stories about real estate? (But honestly? I probably will.)