Good morning, money nerds, and welcome to Thursday. It’s J.D. again, and I’ve got some great money stories for you today. Let’s start with one from the always-excellent Mike Piper:
Asset location fundamentals: Which investments to own in which account. [Oblivious Investor] — “In most cases, a taxable account is not the best place to hold any investment intended for retirement (other than muni bonds). That is, almost everything is better in a retirement account than in taxable. So if all of a person’s retirement investments can be held in retirement accounts, they usually should be.
Input as collage. [Austin Kleon] — “Your output depends on your input, but a lot of your input is random: you’re interested in lots of different things, and those things, occasionally, will talk to each other in your work…Taking the principle of juxtaposition (1+1=3) and using that to guide your input: what weird, seemingly disparate things can you feed your brain that will come out later in a new mix?”
Mental liquidity. [Morgan Housel at Collaborative Fund] — “So much of what people call ‘conviction’ is actually a willful disregard for facts that might change their minds. It’s dangerous because conviction feels like a good attribute, while its opposite – being wishy-washy – makes you feel and sound like an idiot.” [I like this article, but that’s probably because it agrees with my worldview. I’m a proponent of mental liquidity. The older I get, the less sure I am about anything.]
And let’s wrapt things up today with a mind-blowing video about how we’ve all been tying our shoes wrong for forever:
I’m one of those whose laces constantly come undone. I’ve learned to double-knot them to prevent the Great Unraveling. But according to this video, one simple change to the way I tie them will accomplish the same thing. I tied it this morning! Let’s see if it works…