It's been a long time since I've written up a weekender - apologies for that! My wife and I have been on vacation (I don't think we warned you anywhere; apologies for a second time) and we just got back. The Weekender, unfortunately, wasn't at the top of our priorities list during that time - but now that we're back, expect more frequent updates. Also, give me some credit for keeping you fed with some articles!
There are some great articles out there this week, and, as a bonus, there are some great episodes coming up on the Stacking Benjamins podcast (my part is, of course, named Fractional Sense) - for the first time, Joe from SB and I recorded a couple interactive segments. You can hear one of our efforts, a discussion about emergency funds, over here!
Finally, work on the video card continues - the next major milestone is on August 17th. Go read my work on Hackaday.io, Hackaday's project hosting site!
I know, I know... you don't care about our updates; "hurry up and post some calculators, PK!". We've got some planned - stay tuned!
Links We Liked!
- Apropos since we just returned from a vacation (spending more than a few dollars in the process) - SaveSpendSplurge asks what the point of hardcore savings is if you don't make any effort to enjoy the fruits of that saving!
- Nelson at Financial Uproar has a shocking confession - he's a Millennial (I don't know - I thought the cutoff was seeing Beavis and Butthead before it was all reruns? Weigh in!). Also, he recently learned to cook, and shares how much money that one recently gained skill can save a couple. Go read!
- Speaking of Millennials, Bloomberg had an excellent piece which graphed when cities became too expensive (aka, over 30% of income) for them. Go for the graphs, stay for the discussion about whether 34 year olds today are Millenials!
- Our friend Jeremy at Go Curry Cracker details his experiences as a homebuyer, and talks about many of the hidden costs you don't see broken out in analysis. We tried to do this sort of analysis in a calculator once, but I'm not sure how it holds up, haha (check out the advanced section).
- We've noted before that savers - at least the "in the bank" kinds - have been treated poorly in the low interest rate environment. Ben Carlson at a Wealth of Common Sense picks up the torch with some hard numbers.
- Who makes the most money? If you answered "rule-breakers", you'd be right. (Of course, the common advice is you've got to learn the rules before you know which ones you can break...)
- The PoPs discuss infecting the neighborhood with the DIY spirit (or disease). We've inspired more than a few neighbors, but we're no longer the youngest homeowners on our street (we were recently eclipsed!). I think our new drippers (this is the Bay Area, we conserve water!) out front will inspire some copycats, though!
- Americans have been cutting back, right? Well, maybe not...
- Silicon Valley is affordable to just 25% of workers and 40% of households. Yet, people keep moving in... and folks wonder why I see a bit of a bubble lurking? (Hat tip: Burbed)
- J. Money shares the results of the 'one drawer challenge' - the move to clean a single drawer to see what treasures and value lurks inside. My wife and I are more of the 'one closet' types; throwing everything on the floor to force ourselves to deal with the aftermath.
- At Greenbackd, an examination of expected returns versus Shiller's CAPE and the Hussman model.
