Howdy friend,
We’ve all probably heard something like, “being kind doesn’t cost anything.” On its surface, it seems true, but I’m beginning to believe it costs a lot. It costs energy, intention, and a few extra seconds to take a deep breath instead of reacting. It requires the willingness to see beyond our lived experience. For some people, it costs years of therapy to learn how to first be kind to ourselves, which is something I’ve experienced firsthand.
When I spoke to Vivian Tu (@yourrich.bff) for this week’s episode of Weird Finance, I asked her to share the biggest lesson she learned from working as a Wall Street trader. Her response was surprising because it had nothing to do with investing. She told a story about a colleague that was kind to everyone and how it paid dividends because folks always wanted to help him when he was in need. Her story made me realize that kindness can be a currency.
It turns out that being kind does have a price. I hope you’ll take a moment to appreciate how truly valuable it is.
Your favorite finance friend, |
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1. 💓The Internet's Rich BFF, Vivan Tu (Weird Finance) In this episode of Weird Finance, Paco talks to Vivan Tu about how she became the internet’s rich BFF, her prior work as a wall street trader, how kindness is an under appreciated currency, and some financial advice, including how to avoid bad financial advice on social media. This episode also features a segment called Stock Watch with Amanda Holden (@dumpster.doggy) and a special PSA about the importance of saving for taxes as a freelancer.2. 👶 Have Babies Become a Luxury Item? (Vogue) “If you want to be safe and healthy, you can spend your way out of this broken healthcare system, but it takes a lot of money to do that.”3. 💏 Questions About Money to Ask While Dating (The New York Times)4. 🤓 A Bookkeeping Thing - 2023 Tax Season FAQ: Late Filing, Payment Plans, & More (Paco for Refinery29) In this month’s Taking Stock column, we're answering tax questions: from whether or not to enlist a personal accountant, to what to do if you miss the deadline.5. 🎬 Influencer Parents and Their Children Are Rethinking Growing Up On Social Media (Teen Vogue) “It almost feels like exploiting your children has become a career choice. […] If you have a baby now, you have a new career opportunity.”6. 📣 On the Trail of the Fentanyl King (WIRED) An Iraqi translator for the US military emigrated to Texas to start a new life. He ended up becoming one of the biggest drug dealers on the dark web.7. 💻 Tech guru Jaron Lanier: ‘The danger isn’t that AI destroys us. It’s that it drives us insane’ (Guardian) “There are two ways this could go. One is that we pretend the bot is a real thing, a real entity like a person, then in order to keep that fantasy going we’re careful to forget whatever source texts were used to have the bot function. Journalism would be harmed by that. The other way is you do keep track of where the sources came from. And in that case a very different world could unfold where if a bot relied on your reporting, you get payment for it, and there is a shared sense of responsibility and liability where everything works better. The term for that is data dignity.”8. 💡 The venture capitalist's dilemma (Molly White) The embarrassing investor meltdown surrounding Silicon Valley Bank should drive us to consider new models. “We are coming to a point, I think, where the shine is wearing off. People are realizing that despite the hundreds of billions of dollars being deployed each year by venture capital firms in pursuit of ‘innovation’, the world doesn’t really feel hundreds of billions of dollars better off for it. For all the talk of unbridled innovation, venture capital services only very specific types of innovation: those that stand to produce large exits for investors, and with relatively low risk, regardless of whether the business itself holds much promise or provides any societal benefit.”
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If you have a question you’d like me to answer on the Weird Finance podcast, you can leave me a voicemail at 833-ASK-PACO. You can also email me your question by replying to this email or emailing us at weirdfinancepod@gmail.com.
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Thanks for being part of the crew and reading this far. Peace. |
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