What I Wrote Last Week
3-Day Experience In Granada, Spain
3-Day Experience In Malaga, Spain
Business
The Rise of the Forever Renter Class. Treat your personal finance as a business. Every decision should be geared towards being the best for the business. I said the best, not the highest ROI. If we care only about ROI over the long term, I doubt anything can beat the stock market. However, people buy houses for all kinds of reasons and usually home ownership is more personal than financial. Nick’s article is an interesting one about renting because that’s what makes sense for some people, given the preferences and the environment.
The truth about hybrids. I am, too, bullish about hybrids.
How retailers like Best Buy, T.J. Maxx and Home Depot quietly target ‘problem’ returners. No matter how much these retailers try to target the fraudulent returners, they have a much bigger problem in Amazon. Amazon Prime’s biggest draw is the convenience in delivery and return. As long as it is out there and Amazon is the place to shop online, it’s hard for other retailers to make returns too restrictive. Yes, it is expensive to get an item back and put it on a shelf. But it’s NOT cheap either to acquire a new customer.
The rule capping credit card late fees at $8 is on hold — here’s what it means for you. The credit card industry gets what it wanted: a hold on the late fee cap rule. Now, I expect that if this goes all the way to the Supreme Court, the government won’t get exactly what it wants. In other words, I don’t think the $8 cap will stand, but the government likely will get something. Another scenario is that the government will extract a concession from the credit card industry. But by the time that happens, the issuers will have already increased APR to pre-emptively account for the loss of late fee revenue. Hence, consumers may still have to deal with late fees AND higher APR.
Apple Will Revamp Siri to Catch Up to Its Chatbot Competitors. I am very curious to see what an AI-supported Siri would do for Apple’s business model. The example given in the article is interesting, but what about non-native English speakers?
Other Stuff I Find Interesting
How I Think About Debt. A bang-on post by Morgan that illustrates how debt affects flexibility and freedom.
How TikTok Is Wiring Gen Z’s Money Brain. A solemn read, if I am being honest. Gen Zers are not kids any more. The youngest GenZers should be already 22. Hence, it’s alarming to see them consider “Lululemon leggings” a must-buy or make purchase decisions based on what they see on TikTok. Lessons on personal finance should be mandatory even at high schools.
Hospitals Are Refusing to Do Surgeries Unless You Pay in Full First. It is sad and frightening that people now have to set up GoFundMe pages for money to pay off medical bills to survive. Hospitals that are supposed to save lives now require advance payments to do their job. It’s sickening.
Two Men Persecuted in Xi’s China Tried to Escape. Only One Succeeded. People who live in the free Western societies should read this piece to know that some in other countries are risking their lives to escape. They should read it not to take the freedom for granted. Godbless the Canadian government and the US government for helping these two cases and many untold others.
The Secret to Lasting Romance? Doing New Things Together. “According to a growing body of research, the answer isn’t to buy flowers or make a restaurant reservation (though these things never hurt). Instead, we need to make sure that our relationships are still encouraging us to learn, grow and become better versions of ourselves. Essentially, our strongest bonds broaden our sense of what is possible—a phenomenon psychologists call “self-expansion.”. I often joke to my wife that art museums excite her, but drain my battery. I still gladly do it because I learn a thing or two from such visits and it allows us to do things together. More importantly, she must feel the same way when she watches sports and does active things with me.
Stats
“The average credit-card balance for 22- to 24-year-olds was $2,834 in the last quarter of 2023”
Minh Quang Duong 
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