Type: Essays
All the posts of type "Essays".
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The Optionality Approach to Getting Lucky
What is optionality? My favourite tool for finding juicy asymmetries between risk and reward, and creating your own luck.
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How to Make Your Own Luck
There’s no such thing as cosmic justice. But over the course of a lifetime, at least we can vaguely shuffle in the direction of getting what we deserve.
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Same Salad, Different Day
If you wear the same outfit over and over, nothing bad happens. Maybe you don’t get invited to Fashion Week. But what if you eat the same food every day?
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Beware of Geeks Bearing Formulas
The history of finance is a history of brains splattered on the pavement. Just how safe is the buy-and-hold index funds orthodoxy?
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If the Stock Market Crashed Today
The standard line is that market crashes just don’t matter a damn if you're a long-term investor. Today, I'm no longer so sure that's true.
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Office Hours
As it turns out, hammocks are not ergonomically designed workspaces, and sand and electronics don't play nicely together.
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The Barbell Strategy for Buying Quality Stuff
The idea that buying high-quality stuff saves you money in the long run is overrated, but there's a way to get the best of both worlds.
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Constraints That Liberate
Something I’ve learned the hard way is that you can absolutely have too much of a good thing. Unconstrained freedom is, well... kind of freaky, actually.
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Goals Gone Wild
There’s a huge body of evidence that goal setting works, which is why everyone refuses to shut up about it. But could it be that goals are too powerful?
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Meditations on Momentum
First, work your butt off to get some momentum behind you. Keep a watchful eye out for entropy. Then, focus your efforts on helping other people up.
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Fat People Are Heroes
When I see an overweight person slogging away on the treadmill next to me, I think to myself: that person is a goddamn hero.
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Fuck-You Money Part II
For a refresher on the importance of fuck-you money, go peel off a $100 bill, and subject yourself to the silent, brooding judgment of Benjamin Franklin.
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The Joy of Fuck-You Money
According to Humphrey Bogart, the only good reason for making money is “so you can tell any son-of-a-bitch in the world to go to hell”.
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The Brave New World of Wireheading
The proverbial drunk searches for his keys under the streetlight, despite having lost them out in the darkness.
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Is The Law of Attraction Real?
If you convince yourself the Law of Attraction is true, maybe it will improve your life. Placebos can be good medicine, even if you know they’re only sugar pills… right?
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The Madness Of Crowds
If you skip the top-tier or ‘must-do’ attraction, you will usually have a way better time at a fraction of the price.
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Futurama Taught Me Everything I Know About Compound Interest
During the 1000 years Fry spent as a human popsicle, the interest on his bank balance of 93c compounded into the staggering sum of $4.
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Why I'm Buying the iPhone X (And You Should Too)
The iPhone really has changed my life. I sleep with it, eat with it, make love with it.
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Life Lessons on the Road
Travel presents a never-ending stream of problems to be solved: Which one of God’s creatures is staring up at me from my bowl, and what’s that wobbly pink bit?
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Specialization is For Insects
Developing broad interests and skills not only dovetails perfectly with the frugal life, but acts as a force multiplier that propels you towards your financial goals at blistering speed.
