Curated Links: 11/27/23
It’s Giving Tuesday: Charity Strategies the Wealthy Can Apply
When markets are down and interest rates are high, philanthropy can take a hit. Here are some ways that affluent consumers can make the most of their charitable giving.
Source: Kiplinger
90/90 Minimalism Rule
Look at a possession. Pick something. Anything. Have you used that item in the last 90 days? If you haven’t, will you use it in the next 90? If not, then it’s okay to let go.
Source: The Minimalists
Everything You Can't Predict.
Predicting the future is easy, but predicting who wins in that future is much, much more difficult. By 2001, plenty of tech experts could have told you that cloud computing was going to emerge as an important technological development in a decade. But how many of those experts would have predicted that an online bookstore would dominate the cloud market?
Source: YoungMoney
Tech Doesn’t Make Our Lives Easier. It Makes Them Faster
Because we’re social animals we tend to go along with the trend, and because we live under capitalist acceleration the trend is always one way, because our system only has one gear. We also have the ability to edit our memories, so can find ways to convince ourselves that this was all our own choice. That very same adaptability, though, prevents us from using the new tech to save time, because – under a system with a growth fetish – we’ll be expected to adapt to a new normal in which we have to do more stuff and get more stuff in the same amount of time.
Source: Brett Scott
The Key to Good Luck Is an Open Mind
Really lucky people may have a specific set of skills that bring chance opportunities their way.
Source: Nautilus
Are You Living Your Ideal Life?
You could start living your ideal life now. Unless, of course, you have intentionally decided to wait for whatever reason.
Source: Retire By 40
The Mansion Next Door
It turns out that when people make enough money to meet their needs, they just find new things to need and new lifestyles to aspire to; they never quite manage to keep up with the Joneses, because whenever they’re in danger of getting close, they nominate new and better Joneses with whom to try to keep up.
Source: Accidentally Retired
Curated Links: 11/20/23
Why I Sold Our Target Date Retirement Funds
Target date retirement funds work great when you’re in your working years. You automatically invest the money (e.g., through your 401(k)), and let the fund do all of the work. “Set it and forget it” is a perfect mantra for these funds. The simplicity is attractive, and they do their job well.
How To Talk About Money Without Stressing Yourself Out
Talking about money is rarely fun. But at times when money is tighter it’s less so because, as Seth Gillihan, clinical psychologist in Ardmore, Pennsylvania and author of Mindful Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, points out, “money is never just about money.”
Do Hard Things if You Want an Easy Life
Having the freedom to do what you want and being comfortable doesn’t come easy. We must work hard for that privilege every single day. And we will never reach an end state where our lives will always be easy.
Why indexing and private markets are considered to be the biggest disrupters of the past 50 years
The rise of index funds and, more recently, private markets investments have been key disrupters in the story of U.S. retirement savings that Pensions & Investments has been covering over the past 50 years.
A Few Laws of Getting Rich
Correlation isn’t causation, and that sample size is tiny. But a statistic that is so much worse than the national average, on a topic so fundamental to happiness, among a group whose lives are envied by so many, is interesting, isn’t it?
