Welcome to Wednesday, money nerds. Come on in. We’re glad to have you here at Apex Money. Here are a few of the best personal-finances articles we’ve read recently. We hope you enjoy them like we do!
Life is not a buffet. [Emily Guy Birken] — “We spend a great deal of our time wishing to have the things that other people have…But even if you could trade places with the object of your envy, or swap out the missing ingredient from their life to yours, that life wouldn’t be yours and the missing item wouldn’t be yours.”
The now or later fallacy. [Physician on Fire] — “I am a firm believer in balance. Please, don’t save so much now that you cannot enjoy today. I also don’t encourage you to live it up so much right now that you cannot save for tomorrow. Learn to find the balance in moderation. You might realize that despite the saying, you can in fact have your cake and eat it, too, when it comes to living today and saving enough for tomorrow.”
Does delaying Social Security deliver an 8% return? [Morningstar] – “In order to know the actual ‘return’ you receive from a decision to delay Social Security, however, you’d have to know how long you’ll live. If you delay your benefit and live a long time (or your spouse does, if you’re the higher earner), your enhanced benefit is magnified and your ‘return’ from that decision to delay is higher. If, on the other hand, you delay filing and die shortly thereafter, your ‘return’ from delaying is negative; you would have been better off starting benefits earlier.”
“Would I be the asshole if I didn’t give up my honeymoon villa to my grandparents?” [/r/AmItheAsshole on Reddit] — If you’ve never read the “Am I the asshole?” subreddit, here’s how it works: People post situations they’re in that are causing (or have caused) division and strife in their lives. Some of their real-life friends and family think they’re jerks; others don’t. They ask internet strangers to weigh in on the situation. This particular question (and the answers) highlight many things ranging from wealth to class to generational differences to cultural differences. Entertaining and enlightening!
Our final piece for today captures three things that I’m a sucker for: (1) happy crowds, (2) performers moved by audience reaction, and (3) famous artists who bring their kids on stage. No wonder I love this. Here’s Dave Grohl bringing his daughter Violet on stage to perform an acoustic cover of an Adele song.
So much fun. So much fun. Can’t wait until live music is a thing again!
See you tomorrow, friends!