Apex Money Posts

TIL that there are people who don’t eat leftovers.

If You Don’t Eat Leftovers I Don’t Even Want to Know You [Bitches Get Richest] – “Here it is! Our most controversial article of all time! It has inspired more offended, angry comments than any other. […] Did you guys know there are people out there who just… don’t eat leftovers? Yes! These wasteful, absentminded heathens exist! And they’re coming for your delicious yet frugal lifestyle decisions.”

SEC charges S&P employee with index insider trading [Alphaville on Financial Times] – “While we’ve heard about investors trying to arbitrage index inclusion and, conversely, accusations of companies gaming their accounts to meet the index’s arbitrary rules for years, this is the first time we’ve heard of insiders allegedly trading on index inclusion.”

This next story is from The Economist and it’s a bit on the dry side but does highlight how “tutoring” works for the uber-rich, it’s as incredible as it is laughably predictable:

Education First-class flights, chauffeurs and bribery: the secret life of a private tutor [The Economist] – “Wanting your child to succeed is almost the definition of parenthood (though interpretations of success vary). If a good school begets a good university, a great job, a suitable spouse, house and all the rest, then it’s never too early to start training. Ever more parents, particularly those with money to spare, consider their children to be engaged in an academic arms race. Tutoring is a secret weapon.”

Did you get the part about the very good doctors’ suggestion of drawing out Frank’s DNA and injecting it into their son to “make him more talented?” INSANE.

Recycling meets reality [Knowable Magazine] – “Modern industry has made great strides in turning trash into tomorrow’s new products, but the process is still a long way from perfect. New technologies can help. Plus, updates on chemical recycling, design for recycling and dirty recycling.”

Time to reheat some leftovers!

Adam from Minafi makes the most fun interactive calculators. Here’s his latest:

Retirement Simulator [Minafi] – “The Minafi Retirement Simulator is a Monte Carlo Simulation runner for retirees to understand potential futures based on historical returns. You put in your numbers and click run. Behind the scenes we’ll run a bunch of different simulations on potential futures. For each, we’ll pick a one years returns of stocks, bonds and cash and assume your investments grow by that amount. We repeat that once for each year, then repeat the entire process once for each simulation.”

Five Questions For Your Next Net Worth Update [Banker on Fire] – “Nothing quite like getting a dopamine rush as you watch the numbers tick up, bringing financial independence firmly into focus. However, if you want to get the most out of your next net worth update, focusing on the bottom line is just one part of the exercise. There are other, equally important observations you should be making that can help you optimize your investing journey. To that end, here are five questions I ask myself every time I calculate our family’s net worth.”

The Mask Barons of Etsy [The Verge] – “To make a fortune selling masks on Etsy, you needed three things. First, you needed to be familiar with the garment industry — ideally, already working in it. Second, you needed to be in or around Los Angeles. (Sorry, New Yorkers.) And third, you needed energy, because shipping tens of thousands of masks a month with a tiny crew meant working late into the night, then getting up early the next morning to do it all again, sometimes, while caring for kids in between.”

Here’s a video from Vox explaining the economic benefits of being beautiful:

It reminds me of the SNL skit featuring Tom Brady. 🙂

I think having an underground house would be wonderful.

Just the thought of living that close to nature – and all the benefits it might confer – brings a smile to my face.

But like many ideas, it’s often the practice that proves most challenging. Reality often smacks you in the face. 🙂

Why We Don’t Like Our Underground House [Den Garden] – “MizBejabbers is a writer who has lived in this underground house since 1994. She writes from experience, not advertising hype.”

Speaking of reality, I haven’t seen Tenet yet but apparently, it’s cheaper to crash a real 747!

Tenet: Christopher Nolan explains why they crashed a real 747 instead of using CG [Games Radar] – “Tenet promises to be a truly cinematic spectacle. That’s pretty much all we know about Christopher Nolan’s upcoming spy-thriller, which remains on track to become the first major movie release of the Summer. However, Total Film can reveal a little more about one of Tenet’s biggest set-pieces – one that required the production team to purchase and then crash a real 747 into a hangar. You read that correctly. That’s not a partial fibreglass replica of a jet. Not CGI. This is a real aeroplane, bought by the production.”

What!?!??!

Addicted to losing: How casino-like apps have drained people of millions [ABC News] – “Shellz, 37, a nurse from Houston, spends at least two hours a day with her husband playing a casino-style smartphone game called Jackpot Magic. The app offers a variety of typical casino games to play, including […] a game in which players accrue points by playing a virtual slot machine. As in a real casino, players exchange money for coins to bet. Unlike in a real casino, there is no way to win money back or earn a payout on coins. But that has not stopped Shellz and her husband from spending about $150,000 in the game in just two years. She asked to use her in-game username so her family does not find out how much money they have spent on the game.”

Scary stuff.

Be careful out there!

Far out, friends! It’s Friday! We’ve made it through another week. To celebrate, let’s look at some recent stories about personal finance, shall we?

How much it costs to live in every state for 30 years, ranked. [My Money Wizard] — “Fed up with the lack of good information out there, I decided I’d have to create it myself. Here’s the system I came up with. Admittedly, it balances a line between simplicity and sophistication, so it’s not perfect. But it is better than any similar ranking I’ve ever seen.”

Median household income in the U.S. hit an all-time high in 2019. [Accidental Fire] — “The Census Bureau released the official income statistics for 2019 a few weeks ago. In 2019 the median household income in America was $68,703, marking a substantial 6.8% increase from the 2018 median of $64,324.” [Here’s a related article.]

How to become a digital nomad. [Heath & Alyssa] — “These past six years of travel have been the best years of my life and we’re lucky to live in a world where working remotely from the mountains of Colorado or the beaches of South Carolina isn’t just a dream. It’s a fairly easily achieved lifestyle. In this guide, I’ll cover how to make the transition to become a digital nomad.”

True story: When Kim and I did our 15-month RV trip in 2015-16, we connected with Heath and Alyssa. I think they guest-posted at our travel blog (or we guest-posted at theirs?). In any event, I now get loads and loads of email meant for Heath and Alyssa. I’m not joking. It’s all spam, though, so I just delete it.

Ready to head into the weekend? First, let’s watch a video. It’s the best video I’ve seen all week.

I love my dog. I especially love how happy she gets when Kim comes home from work. She spazzes out, as dogs will do. Well, here’s a blind and deaf dog who nevertheless recognizes its owner when he comes home. This is so frickin’ cute! It warms my heart. (How can fifteen people have given this video a thumbs down? Those folks are going to burn in hell.)

Speaking of dogs, mine is begging for her walk. So, I’m off to do my daddy duties. Take care, everyone! We’ll see you again on Monday.

Good morning, good morning, good morning! Welcome to Apex Money, your source for all of the latest money news. Today, we have five cool stories for you.

What is your retirement number? [Women Who Money] — “How do you know how much you’ll need to have saved for your future retirement?…Figuring out how much you’ll need to have in retirement savings is a multi-step process. But once you have an idea of your savings need, it’s easier to see if you’re on track.”

How much money should you have saved for retirement? [The Irrelevant Investor] — “By age 30 you should have saved 1x your annual income. If this makes you feel bad about yourself, you’re not alone… We’re all in different situations, but the one thing we all have in common is we’re human. It’s hard to be disciplined about saving money.”

William Bengen revisits safe-withdrawal rates. [Financial Advisor magazine] — In 1994, William Bengen introduced what has come to be known as “the 4% rule”, which said that a person could generally plan to safely withdraw 4% of their retirement portfolio each year based on its balance at the start of retirement. (One of my biggest pet peeves is when people attribute this concept to the Trinity Study. Bengen is the source, not the Trinity Study.) In this article, Bengen takes another look at the numbers.

Positive cash flow is the “open secret” of the early-retirement community. [The Finance Buff] — “Having a positive cash flow outside the portfolio is an open secret in the Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) circles…The smart FIRE leaders don’t rely on their investment portfolio for their day-to-day spending. In theory, they can cover their expenses by withdrawing from their investment portfolio, but in reality, they don’t. They cover their expenses by their current income while leaving their portfolio untouched.” [As a FIRE insider, I can say that this is generally 100% true. Except for me and Doug Nordman, most FIRE folks support themselves with actual income.]

Lastly, Consumer Reports thinks that the new Apple Watch SE may be the perfect smartwatch at the perfect price. “The SE’s combination of practical features, modern look, top performance, and friendly price make it the Goldilocks of smartwatches. It’s just right.”

Take care, my friends! I’ll see you tomorrow.

Good morning, money nerds! Are you ready for some cool links?

To kick things off, here’s an image from /r/coolguides on Reddit that I thought was hilarious. It compares U.S. units of measure to units of measure in the rest of the world:

Honestly, my own system is even goofier. I use celsius (yes, really) and DMY for dates. And sometimes I use metric for mass. But otherwise I stick with the system I learned growing up haha.

Okay, let’s get to the money articles.

Women in the workplace. [McKinsey & Company] — “This is the sixth year of the Women in the Workplace study — in a year unlike any other. This effort, conducted in partnership with LeanIn.Org, tracks the progress of women in corporate America.” [This is a formal study with actual stats and data! Here’s the PDF of the actual report.]

How to remember what you learn. [Vasili Shynkarenka] — “In the past six months, I’ve devoured dozens of books, research papers, and studies on how people learn. As a result, I’ve designed a learning process that works for me. It’s not perfect, but an order of magnitude better than what I had before.”

They pirates of the highways. [Narratively] — “Some of the highest value and thus most targeted loads in recent years have been snack nuts. When a drought greatly diminished the supply of nuts, thereby raising the demand for them, seasoned truck thieves became more interested in going after nuts than they were big-ticket electronics or medicine.” [This is a l-o-n-g read but it’s fascinating.]

As usual, here’s a video to close things out. As you might have noticed, I’m fascinated by tiny homes. I love the idea of living in a small space. I’ve done it myself in the past (living in a motorhome for fifteen months), and I’d like to do it in the future.

Well, here’s a four-minute tour of a 193-square-foot house in the heart of Tokyo. The video is in Japanese, but don’t let that stop you from watching. It’s still neat to see.

Somehow I feel like I’ve shared this before. I’m okay with that. It’s worth sharing again.

Okay, folks. That’s all for today. I’ll see you tomorrow with more fun stuff…

Look, ma! No politics! That’s right, folks. Today, we’re back to good old-fashioned personal-finance stories. Enjoy!

The most important questions to ask before marriage. [One Frugal Girl] — “No matter how well you know one another, there are bound to be topics you’ve never discussed. Now is the time to focus on those hard questions that will help you envision your future life together. After asking these questions, be patient, open, and understanding. Marriages thrive when both partners feel free to share their ideas and beliefs.”

Deadly wage-slave thoughts and how to overcome them. [The Woke Salaryman] — “I’m not saying salarymen are lazy. Nor is this article about why ‘thinking like an employee’ is bad. What I’m saying is that the comfy white-collar, stable-income you take on has risks that you might not even be aware of.”

In praise of beater cars. [Root Simple] — “There’s another benefit to driving a beater…[A] lot of people measure status with the brand and upkeep of your car. These are exactly the sort of people you don’t want to hang out with. Your beater will act as a kind of filter for vain idiots.” Funny, but with a core of truth. [Related: How to buy a reliable used car at Good Financial Cents.]

Pay less for rent by choosing the minimum viable apartment. [City Frugal] — “Your goal should be to keep rent under 30% of your after-tax pay after maximizing your annual contribution to your 401(k). It can be much lower if you’re a high earner, but most of us have the opposite problem – it’s hard to keep rent under 30% of your take-home pay.”

Lastly, here’s a video I love from Syfy Wire. It’s a two-minute profile of New York artist who alters thrift store paintings, incorporating new pop culture elements into otherwise mundane landscapes. So fun!

And I love that his wife is involved in this project too…

That’s it for Tuesday. See you all tomorrow. TTFN!

Good morning, Apexians! Plenty of money stories to share this week, but because the U.S. in the middle of a Presidential campaign, let’s start today with something political. That ought to make a few folks angry. But it has to be done.

A lot of issues in the political arena have two sides, and I get that. I’m fine with it. Let’s argue about immigration and tax reform and how we should handle health care in this country. But sometimes? Sometimes an issue is complete bullshit. Voting by mail is one of those bullshit issues. How did this even come to be perceived as a problem? Because it’s not — and it never has been. Even my conservative friends are baffled as to why it’s suddenly in the news. And no wonder.

A recent article from the (centrist, non-partisan) Brooking Institute cites data from the right-wing Heritage Foundation that found — wait for it! — 309 cases of voting fraud involving mail-in and/or absentee ballots over the past 36 years (and nearly two billion votes).

That’s right, my friends. There have been 309 cases of mail-in vote fraud over 36 years and nearly two billion votes. And that’s data/info from a conservative source. Hardly a crisis to our democracy.

Bottom line? This is a made-up crisis. It’s complete and utter bullshit. It’s the bullshittiest of bullshit issues.

And that’s enough politics, don’t you think? 🙂 Let’s move on to money.

Six steps to finding your second act in retirement. [Kiplinger] — “Finding a second-act career isn’t easy, even for those with a track record of professional success. It requires much more than just announcing your retirement one day and signing on as a volunteer the next…Here are some practical steps to help you prepare for your next stage, whether you decide to volunteer, work part-time, start a business—or do all three.”

A remembrance of Forest Fenn. [Medium] — “Forrest Fenn was born in 1930 in Temple, Texas. A poor student who disappointed his educator father, he grew into a life of adventure — a decorated Air Force pilot who was shot down in the Vietnam War and survived the Laos jungle, a rakish and prominent art dealer who courted the rich and famous, and, in his third and final act, a compulsive memoirist who wrote a poem that launched a treasure hunt in the Rocky Mountains that inspired many thousands of regular folks the world over.”

Lastly, our buddy John over at ESI Money has just launched a new program that Jim and I think is interesting. Millionaire Money Mentors is exactly what it sounds like. John has taken his popular series of interviews with millionaires (over 200 of them now!) and used that as a springboard to launch a (for-pay) service that connects wealthy people with folks who want to be wealthy. If that describes you, you should check it out. If it’s not your cup of tea, no worries. But I suspect that some of you will find this worthwhile.

Okay, I’ll be back tomorrow with more great stuff — none of which will be political. See you then!

One of my favorite shows was The West Wing and “take out the trash day” refers to when the White House would release a bunch of bad news on a Friday so the media couldn’t focus on any one thing. While it seems like the current administration has employed this strategy 24/7, I’m only using it because I can’t come up with a good title or theme for today. 🙂

None of the items on the list are trash.

In fact, they’re great. That’s why I put them in the post. 🙂

But my creativity is at a minimum and I miss The West Wing so there you have it:

My Last Day Of Corporate Work: Stepping Into The Light [A Purple Life] – “It happened. Yesterday was my last day of corporate work.”

My friend Marcus Garrett’s book on getting out of debt – DEBT Free or Die Trying: How I Buried Myself $30,000 in Debt and Dug My Way Out – is free on the Kindle from October 1st through the 5th. Get your copy ASAP and forward this to whomever you think needs to see it.

Something funny is about to happen to some prices [IFOST Blog] – This post is an interesting thought exercise about what happens when electricity becomes plentiful, as it will likely be once solar panels are far more efficient than they are today. You may be paid to consume electricity, which changes the economics of a lot of different activities.

Why the Survival of the Airlines Depends on Frequent Flyer Programs [Marker] – “The Financial Times pegs the value of Delta’s loyalty program at a whopping $26 billion, American Airlines at $24 billion, and United at $20 billion. All of these valuations are comfortably above the market capitalization of the airlines themselves — Delta is worth $19 billion, American $6 billion, and United $10 billion. In other words, if you take away the loyalty program, Delta’s real-world airline operation — with hundreds of planes, a world-beating maintenance operation, landing rights, brand recognition, and experienced executives — is worth roughly negative $7 billion.”

This one is for J.D., something he’d enjoy and appreciate:

How I used the internet to painlessly relearn a foreign language & you could too [Robert Wiblin on Medium] – “Over the last year I’ve found many ways to practice Spanish every day that are extremely effective, and not only painless but outright enjoyable. I found that not only could I relearn Spanish from my home in the UK, I could learn it much faster than if I were living in Spain and just relying on daily life to instruct me.”

Have a great weekend!

The first story today reminded me of a story I heard when I had started working.

I was working in the defense industry and it was my first time working in a SCIF, which stands for Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility. It basically means your office is a big safe. You couldn’t bring in your cell phone, you had to enter a keypad to get in, and the area is locked down whenever someone isn’t inside.

Each day, one person is responsible for unlocking it. That same person is responsible for locking it up that night. If they’re not the last person, they pass it off to someone who is still there. In practice, the responsible person walks around the SCIF and calls out to see if anyone is still there. If they don’t hear anything, they just leave and lock up. It’s pretty simple… until it isn’t.

One particularly sad story was that someone had a heart attack on a Friday and fallen behind a bench. The “last” person walked around and called out to see if anyone was there… but heard no response. So they locked up for the weekend. They didn’t discover their co-worker until the next Monday.

The two lessons I took away from that were:

• Don’t die at work,
• Live a life where someone will look for you if you disappear for more than a day.

Retire Before Dead [Retired Before Dad] – “Early in my career, a coworker dropped dead in his cubicle one Tuesday morning. He was 60. That event changed the way I think about office work. He was good at his job, and he seemed to enjoy his role. But it certainly wasn’t his life’s passion. His death got me asking myself, what if I die before I can travel the world full-time again? Retirement suddenly became more urgent, even though I was only in my early thirties.”

The Financial Freedom Through Real Estate Conference is a conference put on by Dr. Peter Kim, of Passive Income M.D., and this year’s event is online and completely free. Last year’s event, which was much bigger, was held in Los Angeles and cost $800 so if you’ve had any interest in real estate as a path towards FI – you should register for this. It takes place from October 9 – 11 and once a talk is made available, you can watch it for the next 48 hours, then it’ll be taken down. (you can buy a lifetime pass sometime later)

How to Buy a Second Home that Pays for Itself [Good Financial Cents] – “Those who have the means to buy a second home are wise to take on mortgage debt in today’s low interest environment.”

Until tomorrow, Apexian!