Wow! We almost had a disaster on our hands, money nerds! Somehow I managed to duplicate Tuesday’s edition of Apex Money to today — and lose all of the links I had intended to share with you. Fortunately, I was able to reconstruct things. Ah, the hazards of blogging.
First up is this long, amazing piece. I often encourage people to write down their money histories, to identify their actual money blueprints (or money scripts, if you prefer). Here, Ali has done just that.
My money background. [All Options Considered] — “[My sister and I] didn’t learn anything about money directly from our parents. But in a sense we actually learned the most important lesson — how to set goals at an early age and work towards accomplishing them. I knew when I was tiny that I didn’t want to be anything like my parents when I grew up. My sister and I both wanted to be like our Grandma. As a little kid I decided I wanted to have a job so I could earn my own money and be self sufficient as quickly as possible.”
About half of young Americans receive financial help from their parents. [Pew Research] — “The share of young adults who could be considered ‘financially independent’ from their parents by their early 20s – an assessment based on their annual income – has gone down somewhat in recent decades. A new Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data finds that, in 2018, 24% of young adults were financially independent by age 22 or younger, compared with 32% in 1980.”
“How I align my time and money with my highest priorities.” [Frugalwoods] — “I’m ruthless about how I use my time and money. They’re both limited resources and how I deploy them dictates the type of life I lead. That doesn’t mean I never waste money and time. In fact, it was two recent failures – an $87 shopping spree at the co-op grocery store and a dirty upstairs bathroom – that prompted today’s reflection.”
How to properly dispute a medical bill. [The Frugal Gene] — “Hell has got to be where you expected an $85 bill but now you’re trying to find someone/anyone on the other end of the phone line (on a shoddy vulnerable connection) to answer why you were billed $2,000 for a set of routine labs. Hopefully, this article will help put an advocate in your corner for that ridiculous medical bill charge.”
Today’s video is from Mrs. Midwest on YouTube, in which she explains ten ways her family thrives on one income.
Last of all, here’s something completely unrelated to personal finance. It is related to pizza, however. (For whatever that’s worth.)
How I got bigger, stronger, and leaner by eating 222 large pizzas in a row. [Deep Dish] — “Everyone knows pizza is ‘bad’ for you. This healthy vs unhealthy binary is drilled into us from childhood. The compulsion to pigeonhole everything into distinct categories is probably human nature, but it sure causes a lot of problems. The truth is, there are almost no objectively ‘good’ or ‘bad’ foods; only good or bad diets. The appropriateness of that diet in turn depends entirely on each person’s circumstances.”