Want money advice that you can actually understand? So much money advice ignores who we are, our background, our values, and our emotions. I’ll show you how to be in better control of your money every week, even if you’re just starting out.
🏃🏽 December: a mad dash to the finish
Hi friend,
December always feels like a mad dash to the finish. It’s a couple weeks of speeding up in order to earn a couple weeks of slowing down.
To make the season even more hectic, there are a few other important administrative and financial things I wanted to remind you about.
For many in the U.S., December is typically open enrollment. Now is a good time to make sure you’re maximizing your benefits.
For all the self-employed folks, if your accountants are still available, don’t forget to have a year-end tax planning meeting so you can strategize your tax bill, including maxing out retirement accounts and avoiding sticker shock when it comes to next year’s tax bill.
May the holiday season be gentle on your wallets and well being.
Your friend,
1. 💸 Breaking the Taboo of Talking About Money with Maya Lau (Weird Finance) In this episode of Weird Finance, Paco talks to Maya Lau (@itsmayamoney and @mayalau) to pierce the taboo surrounding money talks. They delve deep into Maya's journey from being an investigative journalist to starting her podcast, Other People's Pockets, a venture that allowed her to explore her guests' careers, including their finances. This episode also features The Economic Outlook with financial astrologer Susan Gidel.
2. 🤔 TikTok Streamers Are Staging ‘Israel vs. Palestine’ Live Matches to Cash In on Virtual Gifts (WIRED)
3. 💭 Real mindfulness would transform the economy (Vox) Mindfulness without worker power is capitalism at its worst.
4. 🤓 A bookkeeping thing - Common Tax Mistakes and How to Avoid Them (HYG Original)
5. 🧑💻 Big Tech Founders Are America’s False Idols (The Atlantic) Today’s tech billionaires think they’re self-made geniuses who deserve veneration. But we don’t have to believe that.
6. 🏠 In Switzerland, Most People Rent for Life. Is That Really What They Want? (The New York Times) At a time when many young people in places like California and New York can’t see a path to buying a home, Switzerland offers a glimpse of a post-ownership society.
7. 💻 An exhaustive debunking of the dumbest myths about Social Security (Los Angeles Times) “The poverty rate among Americans older than 65 is 10.3%. Without Social Security, it would be nearly 38%. To put it another way, Social Security keeps more than 15 million seniors out of poverty.”
8. 💰 ‘We’re killing the youth of America’: calls grow for crackdown on US gambling (The Guardian) “The United States is heading into a ‘quagmire, if not crisis’ of gambling addiction among young people, according to counselors and clinicians – prompting calls for a regulatory crackdown.”
If you have a question you’d like me to answer on the Weird Finance podcast, you can leave me a voicemail at 1-833-ASK-PACO. You can also email me your question by replying to this email or emailing us at weirdfinancepod@gmail.com.
The Nerdletter by Paco de Leon
Want money advice that you can actually understand? So much money advice ignores who we are, our background, our values, and our emotions. I’ll show you how to be in better control of your money every week, even if you’re just starting out.
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