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How to Make Better Coffee at Home

Five takeaways:

  1. This article starts with an important distinction: it is not chasing a café-level cup of coffee. It is simply trying to help you get the most out of your coffee at home.
  2. The first step is selecting a grinder. There are so many of these available, but the article is clear: the quality of your home coffee will increase exponentially when you grind your coffee yourself rather than buy it pre-ground. Pre-ground coffee loses much of the oils that provide the flavor and caffeine boost as well as having a shorter shelf-life than whole beans.
  3. Next, upgrade your beans. This article suggests a couple subscription services that each highlight beans from different roasters and country of origin. There are also many ways to guarantee you are purchasing beans that are cultivated ethically and sustainably.
  4. Last, decide on a brewing technique. If you like dark roasts, try a Moka pot. Medium Roast lovers might consider a pour-over, which provides a smooth cup but can be a bit labor intensive. For light, refreshing roasts, an Aeropress coffee press might be your best bet.
  5. And of course, don’t forget your classic home coffee machine. They’re often programmable and always get the job done!

From Scott Gilbertson and Jaina Grey at Wired:
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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.

What We Gain from a Good-Enough Life

Five takeaways:

  1. This article discusses a new book called The Good Enough Life that makes a broad ideology of “Good-enoughness”– a healthy mental alternative to the burden of over-aspirational “greatness thinking.”
  2. While there is no problem with wanting to be great, the book argues that we must be conscious of clinging too tightly to extraordinarily lofty goals– and that doing so sets us up for both practical and emotional failure.
  3. If we can accept that frustration, roadblocks, and limitations both personal and external are unavoidable, the book argues, we begin to approach problems and goals in a much more practical way. This, in turn, brings us a feeling of momentum and positivity.
  4. “Greatness” thinking can be very limiting in interactions and effort in life– if we view our lives on a single tracked path to a distant “great” goal (say, winning an Oscar or publishing a best-selling book), then we are forced to devalue certain relationships and hobbies as wastes of time– even if they bring us overall joy.
  5. The “Good Enoughness” concept can be applied to external goals as well. For instance, the global scale of a problem like climate change can cause “inflexible” thinking about its eventual solution. Since we cannot do the great thing of solving it ourselves, we often overlook the smaller, shorter-term changes we actually can control.

From Lily Meyer 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.

Why Quitting is Underrated

Five takeaways:

  1. Opening with the phenomenon of marathon runners who finish races on broken legs (which turns out to be more common than you might think), this article is about knowing when to quit!
  2. Duke argues that there is a downside to grit. While it can get you to stick to hard and worthwhile pursuits, it can also push you into harmful wastes of time.
  3. One force that keeps us holding on to harmful things for too long is the famous “sunk cost fallacy” – the cognitive error in which people think that the time, money, and effort they’ve invested on a pursuit means they should continue at it.
  4. People often fall victim to “status quo bias” – when considering making a change, a person is likely to stick with the current situation, because the new option represents an unknown. “We prefer the devil we know,” as the old adage goes.
  5. We fear that when we quit we are admitting failure. But we need to start looking at the waste of time and resources as a forward-looking problem, not a backward-looking one.

From Annie Duke 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.

Should You Pay Off Your Mortgage Before Retirement?

Five takeaways:

  1. This article explores both sides of this argument. It is always better to reduce expenses, McKenna notes, but there are times where it may not make as much sense to rush paying it off.
  2. While paying off the mortgage early may reduce costs in retirement, it also reduces liquidity. In extreme examples, this can be referred to as being “house poor” as your home has eaten away at your liquidity and burdened your financial situation.
  3. However, not having a mortgage in retirement can be beneficial if it reduces overall lifestyle costs and lowers the amount you’ll need to draw from your portfolio in retirement.
  4. Don’t be afraid of leverage: Leverage is when your expected rate of return on an investment exceeds financing costs. If you can borrow money for less than an amount you can reasonably expect to earn by investing the funds instead, then it makes sense to keep the loan.
  5. There is no shortage of factors that would affect this decision, and it varies from portfolio to portfolio. it is best to work with a financial professional to make the best choice!

From Kristin McKenna at Forbes:
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Note: At the time of this posting Forbes offers 4 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.
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