The Heavy Cost of False Signaling
I have previously admitted my affinity for the field of academic economics. Not that I’m a scholar in the field—far from it—but whenever I encounter a concept or principle in economics I am usually...
Trapped In Work
Why I’m NOT Saving for Three Weddings
It’s a Thursday night and I’m helping the two youngest of my three girls get ready for bed. They are mostly on auto-pilot at this point—these two are 10 and 7—so I’m able to...
Plato’s Cave: Do the Working Joes Want To Be Set Free?
I spend a fair amount of time considering philosophical issues related to money and financial independence. One that I keep returning to is the question of whether the lifestyle philosophy of frugality, efficient resource...
FI and Crunchy In Nor-Cal and Oregon
San Francisco was simply our port of entry. A good place to fly to in order to start our journey up the northern California and Oregon coastline. The redwood forests of No Cal and...
Reading Signs In San Francisco
It’s summer, and as a semi-retired FI-type, I figure I have an obligation to be out doing stuff that I just wouldn’t be able to do if I were still a Working Joe that...
Meet the (Real) Joneses
By now just about everyone knows about the Joneses. That prototype consumer family that we are told that we shouldn’t try to keep up with in our consumption habits. Everyone seems to have this...
Distinguishing Between Things “I Don’t Like” and Things “That Aren’t True”
I’ve noticed a recurring and troublesome phenomenon in my peer group in particular and throughout our culture at large. People seem to be confusing and conflating the concept of labeling something—a fact, a policy,...
The Scrupulous Saver v. The Savvy Investor
We’ve been talking a lot lately about the relative importance of financial behaviors as compared to other factors such as investment returns. I have advanced the idea that saving copious amounts of money is...
Nine Traits That Got Me to Financial Independence at 41
A pervasive theme here at Trapped in Work is that behaviors and psychology matter more than your skills as a savvy investor. With that thesis in mind, I’ve endeavored to put together a list...
How Cold Showers Can Help You Achieve Financial Independence
Some days are better than others. A whole bunch of factors go into determining whether any particular day is good, bad, or exceptional, but there is one constant variable for me: whether I get...
A Golden Age of BS Detection
We are living through a period of time that has experienced a number of significant BS detections—that is, situations where a previously sacred institution is called out as BS. Here are a few that...
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