The Strategic Side Gig

Five takeaways:

  1. While career-based ambition can lead people to be almost obsessively focused on job performance, this article argues that actively maintaining multiple interests is important for long term success.
  2. Leaders are well served to find ways to expand their range of knowledge, skills, and connections outside their daily work– especially in a world where industries and fields are rapidly shifting and intermixing.
  3. Make sure your “side gigs” are meaningful and aligned with your personal goals. Work on boards, teach/mentor, or volunteer in public service.
  4. Aside from building new skills, a strong “side gig” will allow time to recharge, and to grow your perspective.
  5. Taking on extracurricular activities may seem like a difficult thing given your busy work schedule, but it can and will open opportunities and give you a competitive advantage.

From Ken Banta and Orlan Boston at Harvard Business Review:
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Note: At the time of this posting Harvard Business Review offers two free article views per month. Four if you register for a free account.


This site may contain links to articles or other information that may be contained on a third-party website. Advisory Services Network, LLC and MAP Strategic Wealth Advisors are not responsible for and do not control, adopt, or endorse any content contained on any third party website. The information and material contained in linked articles is of a general nature and is intended for educational purposes only. Links to articles do not constitute a recommendation or a solicitation or offer of the purchase or sale of securities.

This Mom Is Charging Her 5-Year-Old “Rent”

Five takeaways:

  1. This article is about a mom who charges her five year old daughter $5 out of her $7 weekly allowance– for rent, utilities, food, water, and cable. The remaining $2 is the child’s money to spend however she wishes. The $5 that the mother takes for “bills” actually goes into a savings account she’ll give to her daughter when she turns 18.
  2. The piece debates the merits of such a plan– ultimately applauding the mother for making the value of money less abstract.
  3. Teaching kids that bills come before less necessary expenditures can have hugely positive long term effects.
  4. This practice can teach children that nothing in life is free and that budgeting is the key to saving for things you want.
  5. It can also help overcome a child’s sense of immediate gratification. Saving will introduce the concept of delayed gratification, which will help them become less impulsive.

From Denise Hill at WiseBread:
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This site may contain links to articles or other information that may be contained on a third-party website. Advisory Services Network, LLC and MAP Strategic Wealth Advisors are not responsible for and do not control, adopt, or endorse any content contained on any third party website. The information and material contained in linked articles is of a general nature and is intended for educational purposes only. Links to articles do not constitute a recommendation or a solicitation or offer of the purchase or sale of securities.

The One Parenting Decision that Really Matters

Five takeaways:

  1. This piece opens by citing a recent study that says that in the first year of a baby’s life, parents face 1,750 difficult decisions– and then applies data to the question: what is the most important decision a parent can make?
  2. There have been many debates over the factors that correlate most strongly with the success and stability of a child relating to almost every aspect of socioeconomic condition, family structure, domestic situation, and more.
  3. Citing data from economist Raj Chetty, this piece argues that the single most important factor in predicting a child’s success is where they grow up.
  4. Using anonymized IRS and Census Data, they found that three of the biggest predictors that a neighborhood will increase a child’s success are the percent of households in which there are two parents, the percent of residents who are college graduates, and the percent of residents who return their census forms.
  5. Basically, it is best to raise your kids in neighborhoods with many role models: adults who are smart, accomplished, engaged in their community, and committed to stable family lives.

From Seth Stevens-Davidowitz at The Atlantic:
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Note: At the time of this posting The Atlantic offers five free article views per month.


This site may contain links to articles or other information that may be contained on a third-party website. Advisory Services Network, LLC and MAP Strategic Wealth Advisors are not responsible for and do not control, adopt, or endorse any content contained on any third party website. The information and material contained in linked articles is of a general nature and is intended for educational purposes only. Links to articles do not constitute a recommendation or a solicitation or offer of the purchase or sale of securities.

10 Things to Remember About Memorial Day

Five takeaways:

  1. It began as a grassroots holiday– many towns had small yearly celebrations of the sacrifices of the nation’s veterans before the holiday was made official in 1868.
  2. The holiday was first celebrated after the Civil War, when it was called Decoration Day
  3. On Memorial Day in 1922, the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated– by Supreme Court Chief Justice and former president William Howard Taft
  4. In 1971, the Uniform Monday Holiday Act shifted Memorial Day from May 30 to the last Monday in May.
  5. In 2000, Congress established a National Moment of Remembrance, which asks Americans to pause for one minute at 3 p.m. in an act of national unity.

From David Holzel at Mental Floss:
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This site may contain links to articles or other information that may be contained on a third-party website. Advisory Services Network, LLC and MAP Strategic Wealth Advisors are not responsible for and do not control, adopt, or endorse any content contained on any third party website. The information and material contained in linked articles is of a general nature and is intended for educational purposes only. Links to articles do not constitute a recommendation or a solicitation or offer of the purchase or sale of securities.