Hey, my friends, it’s Thursday. As always, I’ve gathered some cool money stories to share with you. Take a look.
The scammy underbelly of online self-publishing. [Vox] — “For the self-publishing grift, good reviews are crucial. The more five-star reviews a book has, the more likely Amazon’s algorithm is to push it toward readers. If you’re mostly publishing trash books, you’re not going to get tons of five-star reviews organically. Big Luca’s Facebook group gave grifters a place to offer to swap five-star reviews or sell five-star reviews.”
How to cancel your credit card without lowering your credit score. [Wallet Hacks] — “If you no longer need a credit card, your intuition would tell you to cancel it. Cut up the card and toss the pieces in the trash. But canceling a card can lower your credit score because of how the credit score calculation. If you no longer need a credit card, here’s how to safely deal with it without putting any pressure on your credit or credit score.” [My credit score is good (~825) and I have no complaints. But it would be outstanding if I hadn’t cancelled my credit cards when I was getting out of debt twenty years ago.]
Money pervades everything. [The Guardian] — “People with substantial debt are reportedly more likely to suffer from ulcers and migraines, and six times more likely to experience anxiety and depression. Clearly, an absence of money can have a serious impact on the quality of our relationships and our health. But Reynal sees money troubles among the wealthy, too.”
I recently spent a long weekend with friends. I brought my French press because I wanted to make my own coffee instead of sharing the communal coffee maker. Watching me brew one morning, my brother told me I was doing it wrong. When we got home, he sent me this video about how to brew coffee in a French press.
That’s like the most Portland video I have ever seen.
The hilarious thing (to me) is that I once lived half a block from the place this was filmed. This was my morning coffee shop. (It was also where I bought motorcycle gear once I bought a motorcycle. The place really is a very Portland hybrid of coffee shop and motorcycle store.)
Okay, that’s it for today. I’m actually in Portland this week for a conference (instead of home in Corvallis), so there’s a chance I’ll go swing by this place for a cuppa one morning. And I’ll be honest: There’s also a chance I’ll miss tomorrow’s post. We’ll see.