It’s Time To Start Thinking About Inflation
.It’s Time To Start Thinking About Inflation
Notes From The Field BY Simon Black April 20, 2021 Cancun, Mexico
In the year 215 AD, the young Roman Emperor Caracalla, then just 27 years of age, decided to ‘fix’ Rome’s perennial inflation problem by minting a brand new coin. Caracalla’s predecessors over the previous several decades had ordered an astonishing debasement of Roman currency; the silver content in Rome’s ‘denarius’ coin, for example, was reduced from roughly 85% in the early 150s AD, to less than 50% by the early 200s.
And with the silver content in their currency greatly reduced, government mints cranked out unprecedented quantities of coins. They spent the money as quickly as they minted it, using the flood of debased coins, for example, to finance endless wars and buy up food supplies for their soldiers.
Needless to say this caused rampant inflation across the empire.
It’s Time To Start Thinking About Inflation
Notes From The Field BY Simon Black April 20, 2021 Cancun, Mexico
In the year 215 AD, the young Roman Emperor Caracalla, then just 27 years of age, decided to ‘fix’ Rome’s perennial inflation problem by minting a brand new coin. Caracalla’s predecessors over the previous several decades had ordered an astonishing debasement of Roman currency; the silver content in Rome’s ‘denarius’ coin, for example, was reduced from roughly 85% in the early 150s AD, to less than 50% by the early 200s.
And with the silver content in their currency greatly reduced, government mints cranked out unprecedented quantities of coins. They spent the money as quickly as they minted it, using the flood of debased coins, for example, to finance endless wars and buy up food supplies for their soldiers.
Needless to say this caused rampant inflation across the empire.
Egypt was a province of Rome at the time, and the one of the Empire’s major agricultural producers. Its local provincial coin, the drachma, had also been heavily debased.
A measure of Egyptian wheat in the early 1st century AD, for example, cost only 8 drachmas. In the third century that same amount of Egyptian wheat cost more than 100,000 drachmas.
Caracalla tried to fix this by simply creating a new coin– the antoniniamis.
It was originally minted with 50% silver content. But the antoniniamis was debased down to just 5% silver within a few decades.
Caracalla’s undisciplined attempt at controlling inflation was about as effective as Venezuela trying to ‘fix’ its hyperinflation by chopping five zeros off its currency.
In fact this same story has been told over and over again throughout history:
Governments who spend too much money almost invariably resort to debasing the currency.
In ancient times, ‘debasement’ meant reducing the gold and silver content in their coins.
In early modern times, it meant printing vast quantities of paper money.
Today, it means creating ‘electronic’ money in the banking system.
But the effect is the same: every new currency unit they create reduces the value of the existing ones. This is not the path to prosperity.
Economies flourish when talented, hardworking people are free to produce valuable goods and services.
It’s ridiculous to expect that an economy becomes wealthier when people are paid to NOT work, when debt levels soar, and when central bankers conjure trillions of dollars out of thin air.
Debasing the money supply does not create REAL wealth. It does, however, create inflation.
Central banks around the world, especially in Europe and the United States, debased their currencies last year in record proportions.
The Federal Reserve in the US roughly DOUBLED the size of its balance sheet last year, with ‘M2 money supply’ growing faster than any year in history except 1943.
More importantly, there’s no end in sight. The Federal Reserve, the US Treasury Department, and influential members of the United States Congress, all want even MORE expansion of the money supply.
Of course, they call it ‘stimulus’. But giving it a positive-sounding name doesn’t change the truth: they’re engineering inflation. And we’re already seeing signs of it.
Commodities prices, for example, have surged over the last year. Lumber has tripled. Corn has doubled.
Bear in mind that commodities represent the input costs to other products; so if lumber is more expensive, for example, it means that home construction prices will also rise.
Just this morning, consumer product giant Procter & Gamble announced it would raise prices across the board for its products, from diapers to beauty products, due to rising commodity prices.
Even official statistics from the US federal government show that inflation last month reached a multi-year high. We can also see inflation when we look at asset prices.
Stocks are trading at peak valuations; the average Price/Earnings ratio in the S&P 500, for example, is now 42, roughly 3x the historic average. It has only been higher two other times– just before the 2000 crash, and just before the 2008 crash.
Bonds are so expensive that more than $13 trillion worth trade at negative yields.
Real estate prices are so expensive that cap rates in many sectors have hit record lows.
These are all obvious signs of inflation.
It’s important to think about inflation, and to prepare for it… because the government’s options to deal with it are extremely limited.
In theory they could clean up their fiscal imbalance and stop spending so much money, which means the central bank would no longer have to debase the currency.
But such political responsibility is highly improbable.
Alternatively, if inflation continues to rise, the central bank could raise interest rates to reign it in.
But higher interest rates could easily cause a meltdown in financial markets; stocks, bonds, and even real estate, whose current record high prices depend on 0% interest rates, could experience a sudden crash.
More importantly, higher interest rates would push the federal government beyond its breaking point; if rates were to rise to just 5%, the government’s annual interest expense would eventually reach $1.5 trillion.
So that leaves the final option: the Federal Reserve could simply ignore the inflation data and continue financing government deficits.
They’ll tell us that the inflation is ‘temporary’ and ‘transitory’, and not to worry because they’re still in control of the situation. But anyone who visits a grocery store, fills up a gas tank, or pays tuition, will know the truth.
I’m not suggesting the sky will fall and we’ll see some Zimbabwe-style hyperinflation. But a return to the painful inflation levels in the 1970s? That’s absolutely a possibility.
In a future letter I’ll discuss different ways to prepare for it. But for now I’ll leave you with a simple thought–
I am not fanatical about any asset, and I would never describe myself as a ‘gold bug’. I do, however, recognize that gold has a 5,000 year track record of performing well during times of inflation, with very few exceptions.
And at the moment, both gold and silver are among the only major assets that are NOT selling for record high prices.
On another note… We think gold could DOUBLE and silver could increase by up to 5 TIMES in the next few years.
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To your freedom and prosperity, Simon Black, Founder, SovereignMan.com
https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/its-time-to-start-thinking-about-inflation-31989/
Safety in the Face of the Climate Crisis
.Safety in the Face of the Climate Crisis
Jamie Greenberger Updated Apr 22, 2021
Six years, 261 days, and just under 20 hours. At the time of writing, this is how long we had to achieve zero emissions. By the time you see this article, we’re closer to the point of no return than ever before.
Millions of people all over the world are already experiencing the dire consequences of climate change. Closer to home, an increase in the frequency, strength, and devastation of hurricanes, wildfires, droughts, heatwaves, winter storms, and rising sea levels marked 2020 as a record-breaking year for climate catastrophe.
But not every corner of the country faces the same threats. Some states are safer than others when it comes to a warming planet, while others are at risk of nearly every climate change threat we know of. Utilizing States at Risk’s data set, we narrowed down exactly which threats each state faces to determine the safest and most vulnerable locations. We also surveyed over 1,000 people to get a better idea of how the public approaches the climate crisis. Keep reading to see the risks facing your state and what you can do to combat the climate crisis straight from your home.
Safety in the Face of the Climate Crisis
Jamie Greenberger Updated Apr 22, 2021
Six years, 261 days, and just under 20 hours. At the time of writing, this is how long we had to achieve zero emissions. By the time you see this article, we’re closer to the point of no return than ever before.
Millions of people all over the world are already experiencing the dire consequences of climate change. Closer to home, an increase in the frequency, strength, and devastation of hurricanes, wildfires, droughts, heatwaves, winter storms, and rising sea levels marked 2020 as a record-breaking year for climate catastrophe.
But not every corner of the country faces the same threats. Some states are safer than others when it comes to a warming planet, while others are at risk of nearly every climate change threat we know of. Utilizing States at Risk’s data set, we narrowed down exactly which threats each state faces to determine the safest and most vulnerable locations. We also surveyed over 1,000 people to get a better idea of how the public approaches the climate crisis. Keep reading to see the risks facing your state and what you can do to combat the climate crisis straight from your home.
The Impacts
According to our survey, 62% of U.S. adults believe climate change is a threat, but 11.5% don’t believe in climate change at all. These perceptions have a tremendous impact on the steps people take to protect the environment. The majority of Americans said they recycle (64.3%), nearly half also pick up trash (48.7%) and just over a quarter have purchased smart devices to limit energy use (15.8%). Nevertheless, 24% of those that don’t believe in climate change or don’t think it’s a threat refrain from practicing any environment-related habits.
Believe in it or not, climate change causes a plethora of problems. For this piece, we focused on the top five: extreme heat, drought, wildfires, inland flooding, and coastal flooding. Here’s a breakdown of what each is and how it affects our safety.
Extreme heat
Extreme heat is exactly what it sounds like: periods of weather that are significantly hotter than the average temperature of a specific time and place. But this doesn’t just mean that summers will be a bit warmer or pool days will outnumber snow days. Extreme heat events kill hundreds of Americans each year and cause even more to become ill. Plus, extreme heat often comes with increased humidity, making it more difficult for water to evaporate and sweat less effective at cooling us. This combination makes extreme heat one of the most threatening aspects of climate change.
Drought
While there are various definitions and types of droughts, meteorologists agree that “droughts are prolonged periods of dry weather caused by a lack of precipitation that results in a serious water shortage for some activity, population, or ecological system.” Simply put, droughts occur when little water comes in, and too much goes out.
As the Earth heats up and extreme heat periods become more common, droughts will also increase in frequency and severity. Since extreme heat events often accompany droughts, it’s difficult to nail down the mortality rate associated with dry spells. However, droughts are known to negatively impact agriculture, water supplies, and energy production — all of which increase the risk of people dying.
Wildfires
Humans ignite more than 84% of wildfires, but climate change is a key factor in the spread and severity once the fires start. Temperature, soil moisture, and the presence of trees, shrubs, and other potential fuels determine the range, intensity, and longevity of wildfires. As climate change causes warmer, drier conditions and an increase in droughts, wildfires become more and more of a risk.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://www.safety.com/safety-in-the-face-of-the-climate-crisis/
Could Reading Literature Make You Better With Money?
.Could Reading Literature Make You Better With Money?
Posted by Robin Powell on April 19, 2021
Could Reading Literature Make You Better With Money? By Jacon Schroeder
To make better choices and build wealth, have you tried investing time with the works of Shakespeare? Our relationship with money is forged by experience. Why wouldn’t we then want the broadest experience possible to help us make important financial decisions? Experience by proxy is one of the values literary fiction offers.
Reading can be more than just a way to accumulate knowledge. Some of the most useful money skills you won’t acquire from traditional personal finance and investing books. Qualities such as self-discipline, self-awareness, creative problem-solving, empathy, adaptiveness, among others. All of which science suggests can be honed by losing yourself in a novel.
Could Reading Literature Make You Better With Money?
Posted by Robin Powell on April 19, 2021
Could Reading Literature Make You Better With Money? By Jacon Schroeder
To make better choices and build wealth, have you tried investing time with the works of Shakespeare? Our relationship with money is forged by experience. Why wouldn’t we then want the broadest experience possible to help us make important financial decisions? Experience by proxy is one of the values literary fiction offers.
Reading can be more than just a way to accumulate knowledge. Some of the most useful money skills you won’t acquire from traditional personal finance and investing books. Qualities such as self-discipline, self-awareness, creative problem-solving, empathy, adaptiveness, among others. All of which science suggests can be honed by losing yourself in a novel.
It is why, when people ask the timeless question, What are the best finance books to read?, I’m likely to recommend the names of Tolstoy, Hemingway and Morrison, alongside those of Bogle, Graham and Hill.
Many notable business and finance personalities are voracious readers. Famously, Bill Gates releases an annual reading list and Warren Buffett often name-drops books in his Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter. But rarely do high-profile people in these industries recommend literary fiction. The attitude is seemingly reminiscent of a character in the movie Sideways who disparages fiction by saying: “There is so much to know about the world that I think reading a story someone just invented is kind of a waste of time.”
Research, however, shows that reading fiction is very much a worthwhile activity. It can help us develop the abilities to manage our emotions and behaviours and plan for the future. Two necessary traits for good financial decision-making.
Here’s the story of how.
Conflict: We don’t recognize our future selves
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
How Much is Your Time Worth?
.How Much is Your Time Worth?
April 20, 2021 by Ben Carlson
In his final letter to shareholders as CEO, Jeff Bezos took a victory lap by calculating all of the time Amazon Prime has saved for its customers:
Customers complete 28% of purchases on Amazon in three minutes or less, and half of all purchases are finished in less than 15 minutes. Compare that to the typical shopping trip to a physical store – driving, parking, searching store aisles, waiting in the checkout line, finding your car, and driving home. Research suggests the typical physical store trip takes about an hour. If you assume that a typical Amazon purchase takes 15 minutes and that it saves you a couple of trips to a physical store a week, that’s more than 75 hours a year saved. That’s important. We’re all busy in the early 21st century.
So that we can get a dollar figure, let’s value the time savings at $10 per hour, which is conservative. Seventy-five hours multiplied by $10 an hour and subtracting the cost of Prime gives you value creation for each Prime member of about $630. We have 200 million Prime members, for a total in 2020 of $126 billion of value creation.
How Much is Your Time Worth?
April 20, 2021 by Ben Carlson
In his final letter to shareholders as CEO, Jeff Bezos took a victory lap by calculating all of the time Amazon Prime has saved for its customers:
Customers complete 28% of purchases on Amazon in three minutes or less, and half of all purchases are finished in less than 15 minutes. Compare that to the typical shopping trip to a physical store – driving, parking, searching store aisles, waiting in the checkout line, finding your car, and driving home. Research suggests the typical physical store trip takes about an hour. If you assume that a typical Amazon purchase takes 15 minutes and that it saves you a couple of trips to a physical store a week, that’s more than 75 hours a year saved. That’s important. We’re all busy in the early 21st century.
So that we can get a dollar figure, let’s value the time savings at $10 per hour, which is conservative. Seventy-five hours multiplied by $10 an hour and subtracting the cost of Prime gives you value creation for each Prime member of about $630. We have 200 million Prime members, for a total in 2020 of $126 billion of value creation.
You may quibble with his estimates on how much your time is worth on an hourly basis but the amount of time saved for consumers is probably low for many households.
In 2020, my family placed more than 600 orders through Amazon. This number was higher than normal because of the pandemic but I doubt it goes down considerably in the years ahead.
My wife and I have three young children. It’s not exactly a walk in the park to take them all to the mall for new clothes or a sporting goods store to get soccer cleats. Now we can simply buy this stuff on Amazon and it shows up at our front door the very next day.
No rounding up the kids to get in the car. No trips to the store. No searching for parking spots. No aimlessly wandering around the store looking for just the right size or style.
All of that is avoided by ordering directly on your phone or computer with the click of a button.
Some people claim Amazon’s prices aren’t the best and that’s probably true. I’m sure you could find lower prices elsewhere.
But that’s not the point.
You’re not necessarily going to Amazon for the best prices. You’re going to Amazon for convenience. Prime as a convenience is worth every penny and then some. And convenience is something I’ve grown to appreciate more in life as I’ve gotten older and accumulated more responsibilities.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2021/04/how-much-is-your-time-worth/
Classic “Money Rules” Applied to TIME
.Classic “Money Rules” Applied to TIME
FIRE is not a single point in time. It’s a lifestyle. If you follow a basic set of money rules it will lead to a financially successful life. The same thing can be said about TIME. To me, 5am is not a single point in time, or a number on a clock face. It’s a lifestyle. Similar to FIRE, following a simple set of time rules will lead to a satisfying and life well spent.
I’ve written before about how the Pay Yourself First rule is similar to getting up early each day. (I pay the first few hours of every day to ME, not others – more here). It doesn’t matter if it’s 5am, 6am or 7… Paying yourself first each morning ensures you never lose out on personal time.
So this got me thinking…. What other classic money rules can we apply to TIME?
Classic “Money Rules” Applied to TIME
FIRE is not a single point in time. It’s a lifestyle. If you follow a basic set of money rules it will lead to a financially successful life. The same thing can be said about TIME. To me, 5am is not a single point in time, or a number on a clock face. It’s a lifestyle. Similar to FIRE, following a simple set of time rules will lead to a satisfying and life well spent.
I’ve written before about how the Pay Yourself First rule is similar to getting up early each day. (I pay the first few hours of every day to ME, not others – more here). It doesn’t matter if it’s 5am, 6am or 7… Paying yourself first each morning ensures you never lose out on personal time.
So this got me thinking…. What other classic money rules can we apply to TIME?
Applying “Money Rules” to TIME
Money Rule: Equivalent TIME Rule:
Track your spending Track your time
Create a budget → follow it! Create a to-do or goal list → follow it!
Always max out your 401k Always max out your vacation time
Don’t buy shit you don’t need Don’t waste time on dumb stuff
Donate to charity / Tithe Volunteer and give time to others
Diversify, diversify, diversify! Always try new experiences!
Invest early, invest often Don’t wait. Do stuff while you’re young
You can’t predict a market crash, it could be tomorrow. You can’t predict when you’re gonna die, it could be tomorrow!
Tracking Your Time:
Just like your finances… Create a nerdy spreadsheet and track what you do each hour of the day. Start by gathering a full month of data, and tally up the results. If you’ve never done this before, I promise you the results will be sobering!
Next, compare all of your hours spent with your priorities in life.
How much time do you spend driving each week? How much time do you spend watching TV and movies? What about time spent browsing social media?
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
A Thought Experiment from Warren Buffett
. A Thought Experiment from Warren Buffett
By Kyle Kowalski
Being born at the right time and the right place
The “Ovarian Lottery” is a short thought experiment popularized by Warren Buffett.
The idea is borrowed from John Rawls, a Harvard philosopher and author of A Theory of Justice. There are also earlier references like “Ovarian Roulette” from Dr. Reginald Lourie in the 1960s.
In The Snowball by Alice Schroeder (Amazon), Warren Buffett is quoted as saying:
“When I was a kid, I got all kinds of good things. I had the advantage of a home where people talked about interesting things, and I had intelligent parents and I went to decent schools. I don’t think I could have been raised with a better pair of parents. That was enormously important. I didn’t get money from my parents, and I really didn’t want it. But I was born at the right time and place. I won the ‘Ovarian Lottery.’“
A Thought Experiment from Warren Buffett
By Kyle Kowalski
Being born at the right time and at the right place
The “Ovarian Lottery” is a short thought experiment popularized by Warren Buffett.
The idea is borrowed from John Rawls, a Harvard philosopher and author of A Theory of Justice. There are also earlier references like “Ovarian Roulette” from Dr. Reginald Lourie in the 1960s.
In The Snowball by Alice Schroeder (Amazon), Warren Buffett is quoted as saying:
“When I was a kid, I got all kinds of good things. I had the advantage of a home where people talked about interesting things, and I had intelligent parents and I went to decent schools. I don’t think I could have been raised with a better pair of parents. That was enormously important. I didn’t get money from my parents, and I really didn’t want it. But I was born at the right time and place. I won the ‘Ovarian Lottery.’“
The Ovarian Lottery — A Thought Experiment from Warren Buffett
I’ve found a few different versions Warren Buffett has shared over the years. The remainder of this post outlines two of them.
The Ovarian Lottery from Warren Buffett’s Annual Meeting in 19971
For this version, you can actually listen to Warren Buffett tell the story (beginning around the 4:15 mark in the video). The full transcript is also available below the video.
“Imagine that you were going to be born 24 hours from now. And you’d been granted this extraordinary power. You were given the right to determine the rules — the economic rules — of the society that you were going to enter. And those rules were going to prevail for your lifetime, and your children’s lifetime, and your grandchildren’s lifetime.
Now, you’ve got this ability in this 24-hour period to make this decision as to the structure, but — as in most of these genie-type questions — there’s one hooker.
You don’t know whether you’re going to be born black or white. You don’t know whether you’re going to be born male or female. You don’t know whether you’re going to be born bright or retarded. You don’t know whether you’re going to be born infirm or able-bodied. You don’t know whether you’re going to be born in the United States or Afghanistan.
In other words, you’re going to participate in 24 hours in what I call the ovarian lottery.
It’s the most important event in which you’ll ever participate. It’s going to determine way more than what school you go to, how hard you work, all kinds of things. You’re going to get one ball drawn out of a barrel that probably contains 5.7 billion balls now, and that’s you.
Now, what kind of a society are you going to construct with that in prospect?
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
The Art of Spending
.The Art of Spending
Sanjib Saha | April 17, 2021
I GREW UP IN a middle-class family in Kolkata, India. Like most folks, my relationship with money was shaped by my parents’ financial habits. They were on different sides of the saver-spender continuum. My homemaking mother strove to live beneath our family’s means and never seemed to feel deprived. By contrast, my father—even with a modest salary from his government job—was focused on the art of spending.
At my mother’s insistence, my father bought most of our household supplies from wholesalers and cooperative stores, instead of the pricier local bazaar. Branded condiments and drink concentrates were missing from our grocery list, because my mother considered them overpriced. Instead, she joined a community food-processing center to learn how to make tomato ketchup, rose syrup and the like. She used to make enough for our family, as well as neighbors and relatives. My childhood friends still reminisce about the homemade mango-flavored drinks that she served them on hot summer days.
The Art of Spending
Sanjib Saha | April 17, 2021
I GREW UP IN a middle-class family in Kolkata, India. Like most folks, my relationship with money was shaped by my parents’ financial habits. They were on different sides of the saver-spender continuum. My homemaking mother strove to live beneath our family’s means and never seemed to feel deprived. By contrast, my father—even with a modest salary from his government job—was focused on the art of spending.
At my mother’s insistence, my father bought most of our household supplies from wholesalers and cooperative stores, instead of the pricier local bazaar. Branded condiments and drink concentrates were missing from our grocery list, because my mother considered them overpriced. Instead, she joined a community food-processing center to learn how to make tomato ketchup, rose syrup and the like. She used to make enough for our family, as well as neighbors and relatives. My childhood friends still reminisce about the homemade mango-flavored drinks that she served them on hot summer days.
Meanwhile, my father had no problem paying up for convenience and life-enhancing extras. He wasn’t extravagant, but he wouldn’t be deterred by the price tag if he felt an item was worthwhile. Years before television became mainstream, he bought a black-and-white set for our home. A few years later, a basic refrigerator appeared in our kitchen to give my mother a break from daily cooking. To manage these expensive purchases, he’d set a financial goal and then save regularly toward the cost.
When I first started working, I continued to live with my parents and—similar to my father—made a few big purchases. I installed an inverter power generator to combat the frequent electricity cuts at that time. I learned to drive and bought a used car—our family’s first ever vehicle—for occasional commutes when public transport was inconvenient. Each purchase emptied my accumulated savings but was worth every paisa.
This balance between saving and spending, alas, eroded over time. My attitude toward money increasingly came to resemble my mother’s. Ironically, this change happened because I started earning more—thanks to taking jobs overseas. I had grown up in a city with an incredibly low cost of living. Faced with higher costs abroad, my resistance to spending kicked into high gear.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
Final Thoughts A Legacy Letter
.Final Thoughts A Legacy Letter
Kathleen M. Rehl | February 12, 2021
YOUR ESTATE PLAN specifies what you want done with your money and possessions after your death. But your life’s treasures extend beyond these material items—to your values, heritage, relationships, hopes, dreams, memories and stories. You can share some of this with family and friends through a legacy letter, sometimes called an “ethical will.”
Not long before my mother died, she wrote her legacy letter. She asked that it be read during her memorial service. Her letter began: “To you, my family, who are reading my legacy letter, please know how important you are to me and how much I love you. Life has been such a fascinating and interesting adventure. I apologize for the times I wasn’t the Mom you would have liked me to be. Please know that I really tried my best. Forgive me if I have hurt you in any way.”
Final Thoughts A Legacy Letter
Kathleen M. Rehl | February 12, 2021
YOUR ESTATE PLAN specifies what you want done with your money and possessions after your death. But your life’s treasures extend beyond these material items—to your values, heritage, relationships, hopes, dreams, memories and stories. You can share some of this with family and friends through a legacy letter, sometimes called an “ethical will.”
Not long before my mother died, she wrote her legacy letter. She asked that it be read during her memorial service. Her letter began: “To you, my family, who are reading my legacy letter, please know how important you are to me and how much I love you. Life has been such a fascinating and interesting adventure. I apologize for the times I wasn’t the Mom you would have liked me to be. Please know that I really tried my best. Forgive me if I have hurt you in any way.”
Mom’s two-page letter went on to talk about what mattered most to her, emphasizing a great love for family. It was the major theme of my mother’s life: “As I’ve grown older, I continue to value family more and more. It’s so important to keep in touch by calling or writing. So much of who I am today is because of my mother and Grandma Green and Aunt Frances. They were very special ladies in many ways.”
A couple of times a year, I reread Mom’s legacy letter, written 14 years ago. Her wisdom and advice still speak to me today. How many times do you think I have revisited my mother’s legal will? Never.
I wrote my first legacy letter after my husband’s death. I’ve updated my message for family several times since, usually triggered by unique events—my son’s marriage, birth of a grandchild, a move across the country, starting a business, remarriage, retirement and the pandemic. Three years ago, expanding my legacy letter, I began writing poetry and stories, including photos from decades past. There are 62 pieces to date. I continue adding to my collection, sometimes sharing several of these with my children. They especially love the stories about themselves.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://humbledollar.com/2021/02/final-thoughts/
Free booklet I created, Legacy Lifeprint Letters & Stories, & Video:
Overnight Millionaires
.Overnight Millionaires
Posted April 13, 2021 by Ben Carlson
It’s basically impossible to discover new TV shows, music or movies before anyone else these days because everything is dissected immediately by some corner of the Internet, social media or podcast But back when Mad Men came out in 2007 my wife and I were into the show before it became a huge success.1 I wore this as a badge of honor as people eventually played catch-up on Netflix. It remains one of my favorite shows of all time.
The star of the show, Jon Hamm, took some time to find his own success as well.
Hamm was 36 when he got cast to play the ever-mysterious Don Draper. Despite being a struggling actor for many years before finally hitting it big, Hamm credits finding success later in life with his ability to cope with his newfound fame:
I think if you find crazy success at a very young age, then it can be quite dangerous. The road to celebrity is littered with people who got too much too soon and weren’t equipped to handle it.
Overnight Millionaires
Posted April 13, 2021 by Ben Carlson
It’s basically impossible to discover new TV shows, music or movies before anyone else these days because everything is dissected immediately by some corner of the Internet, social media or podcast But back when Mad Men came out in 2007 my wife and I were into the show before it became a huge success.1 I wore this as a badge of honor as people eventually played catch-up on Netflix. It remains one of my favorite shows of all time.
The star of the show, Jon Hamm, took some time to find his own success as well.
Hamm was 36 when he got cast to play the ever-mysterious Don Draper. Despite being a struggling actor for many years before finally hitting it big, Hamm credits finding success later in life with his ability to cope with his newfound fame:
I think if you find crazy success at a very young age, then it can be quite dangerous. The road to celebrity is littered with people who got too much too soon and weren’t equipped to handle it.
He also claims this helped him manage his spending and finances better:
I didn’t go crazy and buy some plane or anything nonsensical. Because I’m really not, that’s not my thing. I don’t love stuff. I have too much of it and it kind of just accumulates and gets in the way. So I’ve just kind of tried to definitely put some of it away for a rainy day and then try to make life more comfortable.
Bill Murray once said, “I always want to say to people who want to be rich and famous: Try being rich first.” In many ways, getting rich overnight is much like becoming famous overnight.
People look at you differently. They treat you differently. But you feel like the same exact person. There are far bigger problems in the world than coming into newfound riches but it does create a new set of challenges.
A newly minted tech millionaire wrote an anonymous piece for the New York Magazine called Confessions of an Overnight Millionaire. The article says since this past summer almost 750 companies have gone public raising more than $200 million. This has minted thousands of new millionaires. Throw in all of the early adopters of crypto and you have young people who have made more money in a short period of time than most people will make in a lifetime.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMZrEfvwVPY
https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2021/04/overnight-millionaires/
Two Words What If
.Two Words What If
Dennis Friedman | April 13, 2021
I’VE LATELY BEEN having a hard time sleeping—and I have a pretty good idea why. It has to do with two words that keep bouncing around inside my head. If you let them, those two words will also keep you up at night. They’re powerful because there’s no end to them. You ask, “What are the two terrible words?” The answer: what if.
What ifs are about what could happen in the future and, if you let your imagination run wild, it’s usually something bad. I’ve been thinking a lot about my future. I don’t know if it has to do with turning age 70. I don’t think so. I actually feel pretty optimistic about the next decade. I’m looking forward to spending some quality time with my wife once this pandemic is under control.
Two Words What If
Dennis Friedman | April 13, 2021
I’VE LATELY BEEN having a hard time sleeping—and I have a pretty good idea why. It has to do with two words that keep bouncing around inside my head. If you let them, those two words will also keep you up at night. They’re powerful because there’s no end to them. You ask, “What are the two terrible words?” The answer: what if.
What ifs are about what could happen in the future and, if you let your imagination run wild, it’s usually something bad. I’ve been thinking a lot about my future. I don’t know if it has to do with turning age 70. I don’t think so. I actually feel pretty optimistic about the next decade. I’m looking forward to spending some quality time with my wife once this pandemic is under control.
Still, I’ve been thinking a lot about my wife’s future, too. What happens to her if I’m no longer around? Will she have trouble supporting herself financially? Questions like these keep popping up in my head. They shouldn’t, because I believe we have these kinds of things under control.
The trust we set up and our well-funded investment portfolio should help her weather any unforeseen financial challenges that come her way. Also, all our important documents and contacts are stored in a centralized location, so they’re easily accessible. If she needs professional advice, we have a relationship with a low-cost financial advisor, tax accountant, attorney and insurance agent.
When pondering what ifs, there always seems to be another one. The other day, I started thinking about household emergencies. What if the hot water tank leaks? What if the electric garage door won’t close? How do I prepare my wife for those kinds of hassles?
I realize the real problem resides with me. My wife is a fiercely independent and intelligent woman. She can handle these types of everyday headaches herself. She doesn’t need me to try to prepare for every problem that might occur in her life.
Trouble is, I want certainty, but life doesn’t offer much. If you’re like me, and sometimes you’re unsure and hesitant, especially when it comes to managing your portfolio, here are nine money tips:
1. What if international stocks outperform U.S. stocks? What if small-caps outperform large-caps? What if interest rates go up? This sort of endless uncertainty can paralyze investors.
o continue reading, please go to the original article here:
Fit But Not Healthy, Wealthy But Not Rich
.Fit But Not Healthy, Wealthy But Not Rich
Your Money Life – Fit But Not Healthy
By Dave @ Accidental Fire · Published April 13, 2021
I took my training too far and became super-fit but not healthy. It got me thinking then, can you take the accumulation of money too far and end up in the same situation?
Can you become wealthy but not rich?
Let me give you my definitions of those two words for the purpose of this post. Being wealthy means having tons of money, plain and simple. How about being rich? If someone asks you “Do you lead a rich life?” most folks (I would hope) do not directly equate being rich to a monetary net worth or income level.
A rich life is defined by one’s relationships, happiness, and how much they give back and engage with others in the world.
Fit But Not Healthy, Wealthy But Not Rich
Your Money Life – Fit But Not Healthy
By Dave @ Accidental Fire · Published April 13, 2021
I took my training too far and became super-fit but not healthy. It got me thinking then, can you take the accumulation of money too far and end up in the same situation? Can you become wealthy but not rich?
Let me give you my definitions of those two words for the purpose of this post. Being wealthy means having tons of money, plain and simple. How about being rich? If someone asks you “Do you lead a rich life?” most folks (I would hope) do not directly equate being rich to a monetary net worth or income level.
A rich life is defined by one’s relationships, happiness, and how much they give back and engage with others in the world.
So can someone be wealthy and not rich? Hell yeah. If one pursues the accumulation of money at the expense of relationships and happiness, then I would argue they are wealthy but not rich.
If you put the relentless quest of something on steroids and go too far, you jeopardize missing the broader goal of where that thing fits into your life. You can easily wind up overshooting it and start doing damage.
That’s where I found myself with my fitness in the fall of 2019. Sure I was fitter than ever – for cycling. But I overshot and had weakened my immune system from the constant stress inflicted on my body.
Likewise if you’re seeking to be wealthy while also having a rich life, you risk the latter in the relentless pursuit of more money. Charles Dickens may have written a famous novella about a character like that.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://accidentalfire.com/2021/04/13/fit-not-healthy-wealthy-not-rich/