Howdy,
This quote has been living in my head rent free lately: “Not wanting something is as good as having it.”
I think the reason why these words have been haunting me is because I’m at this place in my life where simplicity is suddenly so much more attractive than the complexity of more.
Not long ago I wanted to earn more to spend more and do more. But now, what feels like suddenly, I’m starting to wonder how I can get off the hedonic treadmill and appreciate the peace that comes along with less.
Have you experienced a similar shift in your life? Have you ever suddenly realized the cost of more? Don’t be shy; hit reply!
Your friend,
1. 💸 The Surprising Ties Between Money & Relationships with Joel Larsgaard (Weird Finance) In this episode of Weird Finance, Paco speaks with Joel Larsgaard (@howtomoneypod) about how his childhood experiences shaped his relationship with money and catalyzed his personal finance journey. This episode also features The Price Report, a short segment with Michael “Frosti” Snow(@FrostiFresh), where he takes us on a journey, examining the cost of one thing in the hopes that it helps us better understand everything.
2. 💭 Flipping Grief (Guernica) This is loss. Memory, damp and compact as clods of earth, is dried out in the marketplace and burned as turf.
3. 💵 America’s shoplifting problem, explained by retail workers and thieves (Vox) “At the core of retail theft are all sorts of financial incentives on multiple sides that contribute to the problem.”
4. 🤓 A bookkeeping thing - How to Determine Who Receives a 1099-MISC or a 1099-NEC (HYG Original)
5. 💼 Inside an OnlyFans empire: Sex, influence and the new American Dream (Washington Post) The fast-growing platform represents the creator economy at its most bluntly transactional, where sex is just another unit of content to monetize.
6. 📺 Arlan Hamilton Went From Homeless to Running $20 Million in VC Funds. Here's How She Did It (TIME) “I think ownership is a big deal. People starting their own companies, people working at companies early that are successful. So that’s why I like entrepreneurship so much.”
7. 💻 Kanye West and Adidas: How Misconduct Broke a Lucrative Partnership (The New York Times) A year ago, after producing hundreds of shoe styles and billions of dollars together, Adidas broke with Kanye West as he made antisemitic and other offensive public comments. But Adidas had been tolerating his misconduct behind the scenes for nearly a decade.
8. 💰 It Will Never Be a Good Time to Buy a House (The Atlantic) “At this time 15 years ago, real-estate agents had 2.2 million vacant housing units available to show prospective buyers. That number has dwindled and dwindled and now sits at just 732,000, despite the country having added 30 million people to its population. The Case-Shiller index of home prices sits near its highest-ever inflation-adjusted level; houses are unaffordable for middle-class families across the country. Rural areas are expensive. Suburbs are expensive. Cities are absurdly expensive. Nowhere is cheap. That’s in part thanks to mortgage rates. The monthly payment on a new home has increased by more than 50 percent in the past three years, as 30-year mortgage rates have climbed from less than 3 percent to nearly 8 percent.”
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.
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