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.
🎧 How many Spotify streams does it take to earn minumum wage? And other numbers.
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Hello friend, Here are some numbers that caught my eye this week. Revenue between $10k - $50k and production costs between $30k - $80k. What emerging artists on the 2026 Coachella line up earn and spend in production costs. Compare that to headliners like Justin Beiber’s record-breaking $10M fee. After $500k - $2M in production costs, there’s still a hefty profit. $0.004. What Spotify pays per stream. In California, artists must rack up ~733,000 streams a month in order to earn minimum wage. 47.6. The all-time record low measuring consumer sentiment. “The deterioration in sentiment was across age, income and political party affiliation.” In other words, everybody’s bummed. $417 billion. What natural catastrophes/climate disasters cost globally in 2024. Only $154 billion was insured. $263 billion, or 63% of total losses, were under or uninsured. 33 million. The number of informal workers (contractors/freelancers) in Mexico who had no guaranteed healthcare until this month, when Mexico went all in on universal health care for all. Take care, 💸 I’m a semi-successful adult with a decent job. Why do financial conversations still make me feel clueless? (Vox) Money stuff can feel embarrassing even when your life looks “together,” but confusion isn’t permanent. I shared a few simple, high-impact ways to start getting comfortable with your finances. 💰 My dad made the biggest jewelled egg in the world. The obsession would destroy his marriage, family and fortune (The Guardian) "Growing up, I’d often wished Dad had never made the egg and our lives could go back to how they were before. But I see now that would have been impossible. With or without it, the House of Kutchinsky’s foundations were already shaky and my parents were pulling in different directions. In some ways the egg became a shimmering scapegoat for my family’s misfortunes." 🎓 Is an Elite Education Worth It? (New York Magazine) “’I feel like I got out of spiritual poverty. don’t actually think of our upbringing as a leg up. We were around a lot of miserable people when we were kids. They were very, very wealthy, and they were pretty unhappy.’ Mishkin didn’t quibble with the excellence of our education — none of my classmates did — but he felt we were groomed for achievement at the expense of our development. ‘We were thrust into adulthood, in some ways, way before we should have been,” he said. “We didn’t get the chance to be carefree kids.’” (Pair with What an Ivy League Education Really Gets You) 🤫 The Last Quiet Thing (Terry Godier) A lovely illustrated essay making the case that our gadgets are less products than dependents: always needing updates, attention, and upkeep. I especially like how the author uses the language of of money (debt) and labor (unpaid labor) to examine how our relationship to technology has evolved from simple “ownership” into a permanent obligation. Makes me realize how much tech has become like money — a similar invisible system that impacts the actual experience of our daily lives. 🥤 How do we justify spending $22 on a smoothie (In this economy!)? (Fortune) “When big luxuries feel out of reach, consumers find a small substitute. A $60 lipstick is extravagant for a cosmetic, but next to the Hermès handbag it psychologically replaces, it feels like a bargain. Then, as now, people seek agency wherever they can find it. Consumer psychologists call this 'compensatory consumption': buying things to feel in control when life feels out of control. While even beauty sales are softening, that impulse hasn’t disappeared. It has just found better hosts – such as food. In many ways, food is an ideal product for this compensation. It’s experiential – something you taste, smell and savor. It’s also emotional – carrying associations with comfort, care and home. And it’s visible, because if you’re on social media, what you eat is now as public as what you wear. Premium food isn’t just eaten – it’s filmed, posted and performed. Most importantly, it’s still relatively accessible. Twenty-two dollars may be an absurd price for a drink, but it’s cheap compared with a $400 wellness retreat.” This Week's Featured Story: A 40-year-old retiree who reached financial independence early, moved abroad to stretch their money, and is redefining what “enough” looks like for their family. 👤 Who: Male, 40, Retired 📍 Location: Ecuador 💰 Income: $0 🏦 Savings & Investments: • $500K in investable assets • ~$50K equity in an investment property (previous primary home) 💳 Debt: ~$32K mortgage on investment property 💼 Net Worth: ~$550K 🛍️ Spending Priorities: Babysitters — so we can go to the symphony 💡 Biggest Financial Win: Becoming financially independent early. We reached this point faster than expected, partly due to medical issues that shifted our priorities. My wife plans to return to part-time work to improve our lifestyle, not out of necessity. 💎 Inheritance: Possibly from my spouse’s parents in ~30 years — likely significant, but not something we plan around. 👪 Who I Support Financially: My daughter — and no one else expected. 😬 How I Deal with Jealousy: I try not to. We live modestly but feel secure. 📉 Biggest Money Regret: For a long time, I didn’t know how to cook for myself — which led to unnecessary spending. 🏠 Money Lessons from Childhood: My mother spent money freely. Watching that made me much more cautious and intentional with my own spending. 🤐 Ever Hidden Money? I once made a change to our investments (consolidating funds) without explaining it — just did it. 💰 Financial Windfalls: A small inheritance from my grandmother — I invested it and kept it for long-term security. 📚 Best/Worst Financial Advice: Best: Invest your money. Worst: Buy the biggest house you can afford — yes, it may appreciate, but other investments often perform better. 😅 Quirky Money Habit: We moved to Ecuador to stretch our dollars and retire early. 🧠 Biggest Financial Realization: I learned to invest early, but it took years to truly understand the power of compounding — you really have to see it over time. 💸 How I Talk About Money: We talk about it constantly. I share everything I know with my wife, especially around investing. 🗣️ Money Outlook: Buy used cars, drive them as long as possible, and buy less house than you’re approved for. If you'd like to share your personal story with us, submit it here! And if you'd like to share your business story with us, submit it here!
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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.
Hi there, I had a roommate who, at one point, was one of the most powerful assistants in Hollywood. She was 1 of 4 assistants and her life was chaotic, but when you’re in your twenties, you have the energy for it. One day I remember coming home, walking into the kitchen and seeing several deli platters full of uneaten food. There were multiple loaves of bread and packs of cigarettes. My immediate thought was, “Score.” “Where did all this come from?” I asked my roommate. She was standing in...
Hello there, I’m writing this from a hotel room in Paris, where I’ve been staying for a bit over a week. Since I arrived, the news out of the U.S. has been a steady drumbeat: a military parade during the largest protests on record, political assassinations, attacks exchanged between Iran and Israel, and talk of the U.S. going to war. The headlines shift, but the chaos doesn’t, that part stays the same. From this strange vantage point—physically, far from it all but, emotionally, still wired...
Hi there, Last week, I learned that before Regan popularized “trickle-down economics”, it was known as the Horse and Sparrow theory: “If you feed the horse enough oats, some will pass through to the road for the sparrows.” In other words, sparrows benefit when horses are overfed since eventually, they’ll shit some undigested oats. Stumbling across this reminds me of when I learned that the phrase “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” was originally a joke because it’s absurd and physically...