Seven Years On and The Monday Read

Seven years ago one of the biggest earthquakes in history happened off the coast of Miyagi. Luckily my family made it through without any permanent damage, but many many people around us were not so fortunate. It had a big impact on my lifestyle and psyche that continues to this day.

Just after the earthquake and for about a year afterwards I wrote some blog posts about it for my personal/teaching blog. I’ve had a few questions about it, so here are the links for posterity.

A short essay about the earthquake and minimalism.
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Some thoughts a year after the disaster.

Our experience in three posts. It was supposed to be five, but I never got around to writing about the month we spent in Kanazawa, or our return to Sendai. Here is part one, the earthquake. Part two, the nuclear accident, and part three, refugee.

And here are this week’s links:

More dodgy real estate deals: be careful out there!

Pretty horrific article about mental health in Japan.

Derek Sivers reminds us to keep in touch: that is where the opportunities come from.

Another good millionaire inverview: very ‘millionaire next door’.

Slides from a presentation on branding and investing.

Great article about perceptions of risk and living in China. I lived in China for a year twenty years ago and some of this still feels familar.

Lessons we can learn from various professions.

Banking trends in Japan. I for one am very happy with our streamlined, paperless future.

Divorce in the US for financially responsible people.

Over the past 100 years or so, the US went from 15% to almost 50% of the world economy. The UK went from 25% to 6%. Wonder what’s going to happen in the next 100 years?

Article about retirement calculators. Probably more interesting the closer you are to retirement!

Great (and slightly technical) article about why most people don’t actually spend their money in retirement. This is actually my plan 😉

A really cute video of kids talking to a 101-year old woman.

Different types of retirement. I like the Tim Ferriss version, but sadly I couldn’t leave my work for a year and come back to it.

Wages continue to fail to rise in Japan, despite the government asking companies to act.

Shrines, temples, and churches in Japan pay no tax. Why?

Progress towards self-driving cars seems to be accelerating (heh).

All you wanted to know about gold as an investment.

This post has a great way of illustrating the process of building income streams.

A great post with examples of why you should completely ignore the mass media on investing.

Big ideas from Morgan Housel.

Warren Buffett’s annual shareholder letter. Well worth reading.

This was probably the most popular link this week: a great story about a couple who cracked a lottery in the US and made millions (legally).

We should all read more books.

Mister Money Mustache has a theory that optimism and confidence can reduce the need for money.

I always enjoy the Chenmark weekly email, but this one on productivity is particularly good.

The Reformed Broker with a convincing argument for why passive investing won’t wreck the stock market.

This is a great post about making bets with limited downside and unlimited upside, particularly with your career.

Eric Barker not only has the best blog name, he also writes really well. This post is specifically how to work smarter, not harder.

I just finished reading Jonathan Clements’ excellent book (review coming soon), but this post explores some of the most important points.