Hey, all! It’s J.D. here, back for another week of top money stories from around the web. This week, I’m in Lake Tahoe with some of my favorite blogging buddies. We’re taking a mid-winter break to hang out and enjoy one another’s company.
As we filtered into Reno over the weekend, there was one article that everybody wanted to talk about. Author Tim Ferriss — famous for The Four-Hour Workweek recently shared 11 reasons not to become famous. It’s a vulnerable (and sometimes disturbing) look at the price of fame.
Nobody in our blogging group is famous famous. We’re not movie stars. We’re not even Tim Ferriss. But each of us has stories of strange things that have happened — haters, stalkers, over-enthusiastic fans — and how that’s altered the way we present ourselves publicly. Some people (like me) haven’t made many changes. Others have made drastic changes. And the women, especially, have learned to be cautious. (See also: this article on sexual terror and how it costs women at The Dumpster Dog Blog.)
Okay, that’s a little dark and deep to start the week, I know. Let’s turn our attention to more mundane money stuff, shall we? Here’s some cool recent stuff.
The biggest lie in personal finance. [Of Dollars and Data] — “The biggest lie in personal finance is that you can be rich if you just cut your spending. And the financial media feeds this lie by telling you to stop spending $5 a day on coffee so that you can become a millionaire.” Preach! Unless you earn an out-sized income, a hard-core devotion to frugality will never make you rich. It’ll just make you miserable.
What is an investment policy statement? (And how do I write one?) [Women Who Money] — “An investment policy statement (IPS) is your investing roadmap. It’s a document outlining your financial goals and strategies, with guidelines for achieving them. And it will help you stay on the right path as you move forward, despite what the market or everyone else is doing. An IPS can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. It provides an overall vision of your investment strategy and holdings.”
Finally, to get your week started right, here’s a ten-minute film I love. While that Tim Ferriss article captures the dark side of humanity, this story captures the light. And that’s the side I prefer to see, the side I prefer to focus on.
This is a dramatized version of a popular Reddit comment. It’s simply called “Today You, Tomorrow Me”.
Screw all the bickering and strife in this country lately. People are people, man. Can’t we all just get along?