The Monday Read

Golden Week Edition!

I presume no-one will read this, as you’re all on holiday and not wasting time at work 😉

I am planning to have an excellent Golden Week. I am going to stay home, sleep a lot, go to jiu-jitsu every day, take naps, play with the grandkids, and maybe write some stuff if I feel like it. I have no intention of going anywhere along with half of Japan…

By the way, if you have a chance, check out the Japan Times on Thursday (May 2nd).

Have a great week!

Here are this week’s links:

  1. Having enough is in your mind: The Real Benefit of Being Rich
  2. Incredibly important for parents (and grandparents): Raising Financially Independent Kids Is Serious Business
  3. Use it or lose it: Vote in Your Home Country if You Live in Japan
  4. Can’t name a single major government focusing on this: Climate change targets are slipping out of reach
  5. Noam Chomsky agrees: ‘In a couple of generations, organized human society may not survive.’
  6. As do the world’s central banks: A call for action, Climate change as a source of financial risk
  7. Some nice nuggets: A Chat With Daniel Kahneman
  8. Maybe don’t live in Tokyo? Downsized dwellings: Inside Tokyo’s tiny living spaces
  9. It’s not easy… How to Make Passive Income
  10. Be happy with what you have: LACKING THIS ONE THING MAKES ME FAR RICHER THAN I APPEAR TO BE
  11. Good. Stubbed out: Japanese university stops hiring smoking professors
  12. The latest post on building a house in Osaka: Brutalist Architecture and Sloping Gardens
  13. I recognise most of these… You Played Yourself
  14. Big thumbs up to this thinking: 10 Reasons Why I Prefer a Cheap Car
  15. The sales are over for now: What a Strange Round Trip It’s Been
  16. It’s a process, not a number: How to improve your sustainable withdrawal rate
  17. I wouldn’t want to, but I’m glad someone is doing this: The World’s Weirdest Architectural Feat Involves Building a Cathedral With Ninth-Century Tools
  18. Reckless driving is far worse, but as a cyclist bad cyclists annoy me: Reckless bicycle riding endangers lives
  19. 10m by 2020? Number of abandoned homes hits record high of 8.5 million in 2018
  20. Good news for Japan? Automation Could Wipe Out Almost Half of All Jobs in 20 Years
  21. Do not get the Japanese obsession with hydrogen vehicles (hydrogen as energy storage, no problem): Hydrogen Cars Have 4× Annual Fuel Cost & 2–70× The Carbon Debt As Electric Vehicles
  22. Another retired interview
  23. Comfortably level 2, very far from level 3: The Three Levels of Wealth
  24. Fantastic deal if you are eligible (UK state pension): 97% off annuity rates – with Class 2 NI contributions
  25. This tells me I want my long-term money in stocks (but your situation may be different): A Bad Year in the Bond Market is a Bad Day in the Stock Market
  26. Some incredible numbers in here but the main takeaway is how valuable flexible spending in retirement can be: What If You Retire at a Stock Market Peak?

Phew. Bit of a monster edition this week. Anything good in there?

I also managed to keep reading books.

Here are this week’s reads:

So I have been binge-reading the Orphan X series by Gregg Hurwitz. It’s basically a mix of Jason Bourne and the A-Team. The structure is pretty ingenious too as in each book there is both a central plot and a kind of side-quest (and a lot of the books slip between the past and the present too). Fun, light reads although the second and third books had some unfortunate elements that I would have definitely cut…

5 Responses

  1. In #22, another retired interview, I read:

    “Net worth $1.76M
    • $225K in home equity
    • $1.290M Retirement Accounts (401K, Roth)
    • $100K Cash, Emergency Fund, etc.
    • $145K Cars and Boat (debt-free)”

    I don’t think home equity really counts for anything when figuring net worth. As people usually say, “you have to have to live somewhere,” and these folks are retired and have made this housing/location choice (for the next few decades). Home equity isn’t going to matter much till they have to move–up/down market, or into assisted living (when they might be selling). Or maybe their heirs would like to know this? 😉

    Second, cars are known to depreciate, and they have to be insured and maintained. And a boat? The same expenses, except more (probably). Their parking is likely free at home, but what does a boat slip cost? Or their (necessary) associated club membership at the marina? While these two things may be listed as assets, their value will likely shrink–will *certainly* shrink–over the next year, and coming years. If a retirement/investment account produces ‘passive income’, then I’d call cars and a boat ‘passive liabilities’. Personally, I’d hesitate to include passive liabilities as a part of my net worth–or I’d list them as such, rather than grouping them together in a positive way with an investment account and emergency fund.

    1. I also read that interview with interest (maybe getting closer to retirement…) and agree with you about the cars and boat (my lifetime ownership of vehicles is less than his current ownership of cars) and for most purposes about the home. The one advantage to owning a more expensive home is the buffer it provides for converting equity to savings when you downsize. I noticed elsewhere –either in that interview or their earlier “millionaire” interview that was linked within this one– that their boat slip is part of their property. More importantly, they have defined benefit pensions of about $40,000/year and heavily subsidized healthcare until they reach Medicare age (two things I’ll never see). A pension is technically not an “asset” but that income is like having an additional million dollar portfolio the generates the classic 4% withdrawal rate but finally dies with you. Because of that I thought this actually somewhat understates their effective net worth.

  2. i too am just planning to chill over gw. napping….love it! the simple things eh! keep up the good work!

  3. The 3 levels of wealth article was interesting, as was the article about retiring at market peak.

    And I agree with captainspoke, I don’t consider home/car/boat equity to provide much meaning in net worth. (Anything other than a rowboat is truly a financial black hole.) It may be good to know in a purely informational sense (bragging rights), but practically speaking, I think the other categories that make up net worth are what matter.

  4. The article about voting didn’t mention one pertinent point for Australia – ALL expats lose their right to vote after living out of the country for 5 years. You only get back onto the electoral roll if you return to Aus. I would love to be able to vote but that right has been taken off me and countless others.