The 7 Personal Finance Articles We Loved This Week
As you may already know, I’m a self-declared sports atheist. I don’t intuitively gravitate towards athletic spectacles, and I don’t feel terribly compelled to force myself to attend anything that takes place on a “pitch” or field or stadium (UNLESS IT’S QUEEN BEY AT HALFTIME). Plus, tickets to games are expensive…from a financial triage point of view, I’d infinitely rather put my money towards the sort of esoteric, angst-ridden (LOVE me some angst) modern dance show that would send half-naked, greasepaint-smeared, beer-drinking sports fans running. “Oh god! Run..RUN. The avant-garde leotards, the deconstructionist music, the…pretension! NOOOOO!”
That’s why I was surprised by how quickly I clicked on J. Money’s fourth personal finance pick of this week, “Kobe Bryant’s Financial Letter To His 17-Year-Old Self.” It’s a moving letter, marked by an undercurrent of regret and hard-won, grounded insight that everyone (yes, even a sports atheist like me) can learn from, regardless of what stage of life they’re in. For a global celebrity and multimillionaire, Kobe’s message is relatable: family is complicated, money is complicated, and the two of them together are even more so. The earlier you make the harder (less popular, less conciliatory) financial decisions in life, the better off you, your family, and your relationships with kin will be.
Enjoy the rest of J. Money’s reading — there’s some real gems this week.
1. 7 Things I Learned Working in Corporate America — Think $ave Retire
“Number one. Showing up is half the battle. As a child, my dad preached to me how important just showing up for work truly is, and my experience has shown that he was absolutely right. The fact is, in many areas of corporate America, it’s not hard to look good.”
2. How to Read a Personal Finance Blog Post — The Fire Starter
“Just because you disagree with someone or you read something that challenges your current world view doesn’t make the author an idiot, or what you read incorrect.”
3. The One and Only Step to Financial Independence — Afford Anything
“Financial independence boils down to one simple focus: the gap. Grow it. Invest it. Repeat…do this one thing, and everything else falls into place.”
4. Kobe Bryant’s Financial Letter To His 17-Year-Old Self — The Players’ Tribune
“When your Laker dream comes true tomorrow, you need to figure out a way to invest in the future of your family and friends…Invest in their future, don’t just give. Use your success, wealth and influence to put them in the best position to realize their own dreams and find their true purpose.”
5. How to Become a Millionaire the Hard Way — Dough Roller
“Assume we can save $1,000 a month. How long will it take us to accumulate $1 million?”
6. Two Years Without Shopping — Cait Flanders
“What I learned from tracking all my purchases this year is that there is a huge difference between talking yourself into thinking you need to buy something and actually needing to buy something.”
7. Making Space for Badassity — Mr. Money Mustache
“If you’re going to become rich, you need to either earn way more money than you spend, or spend way less money than you earn. This is the basic math of it, which even the worst complainy-pants cannot dispute.”
Image via Unsplash
